Elektra Program

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P R O F I L E S | L Y R I C O P E R A O F C H I C A G O
February 2 - 22, 2019 | 27
Giulio Cesare, Il trovatore, Tosca, and Cavalleria
rusticana/Pagliacci. His international career has also
encompassed other works of Handel (Agrippina,
Barcelona, Brussels, Paris, Frankfurt; Semele, Paris;
Giulio Cesare, Glyndebourne, Chicago; Alcina,
English National Opera/London) and Mozart (Così
fan tutte, Strasbourg, Scottish Opera; La clemenza di
Tito, Aix-en-Provence; e Marriage of Figaro, Don
Giovanni, Sydney), as well as Cherubini (Medea ,
ENO); Verdi (Macbeth , St. Petersburg; Don Carlo,
Tokyo; Falstaff, Vienna); Wagner (Ring cycle,
Strasbourg; Tristan und Isolde, Tokyo, Vienna; Die
Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Glyndebourne, Chicago);
Offenbach (Les contes d’Hoffmann , Salzburg); Strauss
(Der Rosenkavalier, Scottish Opera, Opera North,
ENO); and Britten (Billy Budd, Lyric; e Turn
of the Screw, ENO). In 2012 McVicar received a
knighthood and was made a Chevalier de l’Ordre des
Arts et des Lettres.
NICK SANDYS
(Revival Director)
Lyric directorial debut
Previously at Lyric:
Fight choreographer for
48 productions since
1995/96, most recently
Il trovatore (2018/19,
2014/15); Jesus Christ
Superstar, Faust (both
2017/18).
A resident fight director at Lyric for over 20 years,
Sandys directed the McVicar Elektra production
in Houston last January, having worked on the
violence and movement for the Lyric premiere.
Sandys has been an artistic associate at Chicago’s
Remy Bumppo eatre Company since 2002 and
artistic director since 2012. For Remy Bumppo,
he has directed Puff: Believe It Or Not (world-
premiere adaptation), Great Expectations (U. S.
premiere), Pirandello’s Henry IV, Life of Galileo,
Travesties (2015 Jeff Award nominations for direction,
production), Our Class (2014 Jeff nominations
for direction, production, ensemble), Seascape , and
Fiction, among others. He has performed in many
shows for the company, most recently Frankenstein
and Pygmalion . Sandys has also directed for First
Folio, Eclipse eatre, Chamber Opera Chicago,
Fort Worth Shakespeare in the Park, and Stage West,
among others. His Jeff-winning fight direction has
been seen throughout Chicagoland, on Broadway,
and at the Metropolitan Opera (Il trovatore, Giulio
Cesare, Prince Igor). Adjunct faculty at e eatre
School at DePaul University since 1995, Sandys
has received 15 Jeff nominations (winning once for
combat choreography), an After Dark Award, a Dallas
Critics Circle Award, and a 2011 Achievement Award
from e Meier Foundation for the Arts.
JOHN MACFARLANE
(Set and Costume Designer)
Previously at Lyric:
Rusalka (2013/14);
Hansel and Gretel
(2012/13, 2001/02);
Elektra (2012/13).
e Scottish designer, who
studied at the Glasgow
School of Art, works extensively in opera and dance.
His frequent collaborators in opera include directors
Sir David McVicar, Willy Decker, Richard Jones,
and Francesca Zambello. Among his opera credits
internationally are Tosca (Metropolitan Opera),
Benvenuto Cellini (Geneva), Hansel and Gretel (Welsh
National Opera, Met), e Queen of Spades (WNO),
War and Peace and La clemenza di Tito (Paris),
Agrippina (Brussels), Boris Godunov (Amsterdam),
Euryanthe (Glyndebourne), A Midsummer Night’s
Dream (Cologne), Les Troyens (English National
Opera), Don Giovanni (Brussels, San Francisco),
Idomeneo (Vienna), and Maria Stuarda (Met).
Macfarlane made his Royal Ballet debut in 1985 with
Giselle. He has since returned regularly to the Royal
Opera House, designing Glen Tetley’s La Ronde and
Liam Scarlett’s Asphodel Meadows, Sweet Violets, e
Age of Anxiety, Frankenstein, and Swan Lake for e
Royal Ballet, and Erwartung/Bluebeard’s Castle, Peter
Grimes, e Magic Flute, Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk,
Gianni Schicchi, and L’heure espagnole. His many
other designs include e Nutcracker, Le Baiser de
la fée and Cinderella for Birmingham Royal Ballet.
Macfarlane’s painting and printmaking are widely
exhibited across the U.K. and Europe. He was created
a Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2006.
John Macfarlane is supported by the Richard P. and
Susan Kiphart Costume Designer Endowed Chair.
JENNIFER TIPTON
(Lighting Designer)
Previously at Lyric:
Eight productions since
1988/89, most recently
Il trovatore (2018/19,
2014/15, 2006/07);
Romeo and Juliet
(2015/16); La clemenza
di Tito (2013/14).
e American lighting designer is well known for
her work in theater, dance, and opera. Her designs
for La traviata were seen in seven cities throughout
Britain earlier this season in Welsh National Opera’s
production. Other projects this season include David
Lang’s e Loser at LA Opera. Tipton’s most recent
opera productions include L’elisir d’amore and Maria
Stuarda (the latter in its company premiere) at the
Metropolitan Opera, David Lang’s Love Fail at the
Brooklyn Academy of Music, and Bartlett Sher’s
production of Romeo and Juliet at both the Met and
La Scala. Her recent work in dance includes e Age
of Anxiety for the Royal Ballet, and, in theater, Harold
Pinter's e Room for the Wooster Group. Tipton
teaches lighting at the Yale School of Drama. She
received the Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize in 2001,
the Jerome Robbins Prize in 2003, and in April 2004
the Mayor’s Award for Arts and Culture in New York
City. In 2008 she was made a United States Artists
“Gracie” Fellow and a MacArthur Fellow. Jennifer
Tipton is supported by the Mary-Louise and James S.
Aagard Lighting Director Endowed Chair.
MICHAEL BLACK
(Chorus Master)
Chorus master since
2013/14; interim chorus
master, 2011/12.
Chorus master from to 2001
to 2013 at Opera Australia in
Sydney, Black prepared the
OA chorus for more than 90
operas and many concert works. He has served in this
capacity for such distinguished organizations as the
Edinburgh International Festival, Opera Holland Park
(London), and, in Australia, the Sydney Symphony
Orchestra (including Rachmaninoff’s e Bells, led by
Vladimir Ashkenazy), the Philharmonia Choir, Motet
Choir, and Cantillation chamber choir. Black has also
worked with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra in
Australia with Sir Andrew Davis. His recent activities
include preparing the Damnation of Faust chorus,
continuing his association with the Grant Park Music
Festival, where he has worked for two seasons. As one
of Australia’s most prominent vocal accompanists,
Black has regularly performed for broadcasts and
recordings (he has been heard numerous times in
Australian Broadcast Corporation programs). He has
served as chorus master on four continents, and his
work has been recorded and/or aired on ABC, BBC,
PBS, and for many HD productions in movie theaters
as well as on television. He has also been a lecturer
at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, of which
he is an alumnus. Black holds a master’s degree in
musicology from the University of New South Wales.
Michael Black is the Howard A. Stotler Chorus
Master Endowed Chair.
SARAH HATTEN
(Wigmaster and
Makeup Designer)
Wigmaster and makeup
designer since 2011/12.
Lyric’s wigmaster and
makeup designer has worked
in a wide repertoire at Des
Moines Metro Opera and
Michigan Opera eatre, as well as Columbus Opera,
Toledo Opera, the Cabrillo Music Festival, and the
University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of
Music. She has also worked at the Glimmerglass
Festival and the major opera companies of Los
Angeles, Omaha, Cleveland, Sarasota, and Central
City, as well as Wisconsin’s American Players eatre
and, in Los Angeles, the Pantages eatre and the
Geffen Playhouse. Hatten earned a B.A. in music at
Simpson College. Sarah Hatten is the Marlys Beider
Wigmaster and Makeup Designer Endowed Chair.