The Merry Widow Bios
ELIZABETH FUTRAL
(Hanna Glawari)
Previously at Lyric Opera: 17 roles since 1990-91, most recently Violetta/ La traviata (2007-08); Mabel/ The Pirates of Penzance (2003-04).
One of the Ryan Opera Center’s most celebrated alumni, the soprano has starred internationally in roles ranging from Susanna (Vienna) and Lucia (Santiago) to Violetta (Berlin) and Thaïs (London, Athens). Futral made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Lucia, returning as Princess Yueyang/Tan Dun’s The First Emperor (world premiere), Eudoxie /La juive, and Elvira/ I puritani. She is also a favorite with the San Francisco, Los Angeles, Santa Fe, and Washington opera companies. Earlier this season she returned to Handel ( Acis and Galatea, Chicago’s Music of the Baroque), having been hailed for the same composer’s Semele (Santa Fe, New York City Opera), Giulio Cesare (Los Angeles), Partenope and Xerxes (both at Lyric). Earlier this season Futral sang Strauss’s Four Last Songs and Stephen Paulus’s Dylan Thomas Songs (world premiere) with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra. Other highlights this season include Violetta (San Diego) and Euridice/Ricky Ian Gordon’s Orpheus and Euridice (Long Beach). Last season Futral triumphed as Laura/ Brief Encounter (Houston, world premiere) by André Previn; previously, in Previn’s A Streetcar Named Desire, Futral had created Stella (San Francisco, CD, DVD). Recent successes in bel canto include I puritani (Vancouver), The Siege of Corinth (Baltimore), and Mercadante’s Il giuramento (Washington). Futral’s extensive discography encompasses a solo operatic recital and many complete operas, ranging from Rossini’s Otello to Carlisle Floyd’s Of Mice and Men.
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ROGER HONEYWELL
(Count Danilo Danilovich)
Previously at Lyric Opera: Five roles since 2002-03, most recently James Nolan/ Doctor Atomic (2007-08); Frederic/ The Pirates of Penzance (2003-04).
In addition to his highly praised appearance in Lyric’s Pirates of Penzance, the Canadian tenor’s other successes in operetta include Pluto and Aristaeus/Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld at Glimmerglass Opera. A Ryan Opera Center alumnus, Honeywell has earned international attention for numerous contemporary-opera roles in recent seasons, among them Troilus/William Walton’s Troilus and Cressida (St. Louis) and two roles at Santa Fe Opera: Geoff/Paul Moravec’s The Letter (world premiere) and the Prince/Tan Dun’s Tea (American premiere). He returns to Santa Fe next summer to perform the central role of Segismundo/Lewis Spratlan’s Life Is a Dream (world premiere). Last season Honeywell debuted at the Metropolitan Opera in one of his Lyric Opera roles, James Nolan/John Adams’s Doctor Atomic. The tenor began the current season at the Opera Company of Philadelphia, where he portrayed Pinkerton/ Madama Butterfly. His other leading roles in Puccini repertoire include Cavaradossi/ Tosca (Miami) and Dick Johnson/ La fanciulla del West (Glimmerglass Opera). Honeywell has also been heard in major roles of Verdi (Macduff/ Macbeth in Montreal), Bizet (Don José/ Carmen in Fort Worth), Wagner (Erik/ The Flying Dutchman in Salt Lake City), and both Strausses – Johann (Eisenstein/ Die Fledermaus in Seattle) and Richard (Leukippos/ Daphne at the New York City Opera).
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ANDRIANA CHUCHMAN
(Valencienne)
Previously at Lyric Opera: Poussette/ Manon (2008-09); Servant and Unborn Child/ Die Frau ohne Schatten (2007-08).
A third-year Ryan Opera Center member, the Canadian soprano portrays Adina/ The Elixir of Love in Lyric Opera’s student matinees later this season and has been engaged for leading roles in future Lyric seasons.Her immediate future plans include Alinda/Cavalli’s Giasone at Chicago Opera Theater. Chuchman, who recently made her role debut as Marie/ La fille du régiment at Edmonton Opera and her Spoleto USA debut as Irma /Louise, was singled out for critical praise as Dorinda/ Orlando at Chicago Opera Theater. The Winnipeg native made her Manitoba Opera Company debut as Giannetta/ The Elixir of Love and returned in subsequent seasons as Ida/ Die Fledermaus and Barbarina/ The Marriage of Figaro. In recent seasons she has also appeared with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra in Christos Hatzis’s Sepulcher of Life and Bach’s Coffee Cantata; with Saskatoon Opera as Adina/ The Elixir of Love; with the Prince George Symphony Orchestra in Gabriel Thibaudeau’s Le fantôme de l’opéra; and with the Northwest Indiana Symphony Orchestra as Musetta/ La bohème. Chuchman is an alumna of San Francisco Opera’s Merola Program (Carolina/ Il matrimonio segreto, Barbarina) and the University of Manitoba. In 2009 the soprano was a finalist in the prestigious Neue Stimmen competition in Gütersloh, Germany.
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STEPHEN COSTELLO
(Camille de Rosillon)
Lyric Opera debut
Recipient of the 2009 Richard Tucker Award , the tenor has previously portrayed Lehár’s Camille at The Dallas Opera. Costello debuted at the Metropolitan Opera on opening night of the 2007-08 season as Arturo/ Lucia di Lammermoor (new production), later taking on the work’s male lead, Edgardo, conducted by James Levine. Costello began the 2009-10 season at Covent Garden as Carlo/ Linda di Chamounix (debut) and Rinuccio/ Gianni Schicchi. This season’s highlights also include Gounod’s Roméo in Moscow and Greenhorn/Jake Heggie’s Moby Dick (world premiere) in Dallas. In addition to other performances of Rinuccio (Spoleto Festival) and Edgardo (Montreal), Costello’s recent successes onstage have included the title role/ Roberto Devereux (Dallas), Cassio/ Otello (new Salzburg Festival production under Riccardo Muti), the Duke of Mantua (Berlin), Nemorino (Detroit), Roméo (San Diego, Moscow), Rodolfo (Berlin, Cincinnati), and Christian/David DiChiera’s Cyrano (Philadelphia). Costello has appeared twice in recital for London’s prestigious Rosenblatt Series. In 2006, while still a student, Costello made his European debut as Nemorino (Bordeaux). He also made muchpraised debuts in Dallas (as Leicester/ Maria Stuarda ) and at Carnegie Hall (as the Fisherman/ Guillaume Tell with Opera Orchestra of New York).
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DALE TRAVIS
(Baron Mirko Zeta)
Previously at Lyric Opera: 22 roles since 1994-95, most recently Sacristan/ Tosca (2009-10); Benoit and Alcindoro/ La bohème (2007-08).
The American bass-baritone previously portrayed Zeta at Houston Grand Opera, where his other roles include Geronte/ Manon Lescaut, Dulcamara/ The Elixir of Love, and the Grand Inquisitor/ Don Carlo. Travis made his Metropolitan Opera debut in a role he created, Louis/William Bolcom’s A View from the Bridge (available on CD in Lyric’s world-premiere production). He has returned to the Met for Manon Lescaut and Gianni Schicchi. Travis is sought after by prestigious opera companies and festivals in America and abroad, including Los Angeles Opera (Bartolo /The Barber of Seville, the Bailiff/ Werther, Brétigny /Manon ), Opera Colorado (Osmin/ The Abduction from the Seraglio, Don Alfonso/ Così fan tutte, Rocco/ Fidelio, Daland/ The Flying Dutchman ), the major companies of Turin (Flint /Billy Budd ), Genoa (Starek /Jen°ufa ), Berlin (Don Alfonso), and Tel Aviv (Don Pasquale), and Japan’s Saito Kinen Festival (Doctor/ Wozzeck, Haraˇsta/ The Cunning Little Vixen ). Highlights of the current season include Travis’s return to San Francisco Opera as Kolenat´y/ The Makropulos Case and to Santa Fe Opera as the Speaker/ The Magic Flute and Superintendent Budd/ Albert Herring. Travis is especially proud of his wonderful artistic relationships with Lyric Opera, San Francisco Opera (more than 25 roles since 1988), and Santa Fe Opera (12 roles since 1992).
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JEFF DUMAS
(Njegus)
Lyric Opera debut
The veteran Chicago-based actor recently originated the role of Patsy, King Arthur’s squire/horse, in Monty Python’s Spamalot for its firstU.S. national tour (starring opposite Michael Siberry, Richard Chamberlain and John O’Hurley), for which he received Washington D.C.’s 2007 Helen Hayes Award. Dumas’s Chicago credits include numerous world premieres, among them Harold Prince’s production of Stephen Sondheim’s Bounce (Goodman Theatre, later Washington’s Kennedy Center and original-cast recording); The House of Martin Guerre (Goodman); and Kid Twist in David Bell’s Bowery Boys (Marriott Theatre). With director Gary Griffin, his credits include PacificOvertures and Sunday in the Park with George (Chicago Shakespeare Theater). Other credits include Joe Welling and Enoch Robinson/ Winesburg, Ohio at Steppenwolf (2004 Jeff Award); the original Chicago cast of Wicked (Ford Center-Oriental Theater); Nicely-Nicely Johnson/ Guys and Dolls (Court Theatre); Sancho/ Man of La Mancha (Light Opera Works); and Fielding/ Babes in Arms (Auditorium Theatre’s “Ovations!” series). Regionally, he appeared as Seymour/ Little Shop of Horrors (Madison Repertory Theatre) and Robert Benchley/ At Wit’s End (Florida Stage, world premiere).
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DAVID PORTILLO
(Raoul St. Brioche)
Previously at Lyric Opera: Five roles since 2007-08, most recently Riccardo/ Ernani (2009-10); Sailor/ Tristan und Isolde (2008-09).
The tenor, a third-year Ryan Opera Center member, will be heard later this season as Don Curzio in Lyric’s production of The Marriage of Figaro. He also sings his first Don Ottavio/ Don Giovanni (Fort Worth Opera). Portillo spent last summer at Wolf Trap Opera,where hemade his role debut as Ferrando/ Così fan tutte and also portrayed Pisandro/ The Return ofUlysses. He began the current season as Goro/ Madama Butterfly at Opera Company of Philadelphia, where he debuted during 2008-09 in three roles as part of a double bill: the Little Old Man and the Tree-Frog/ L’enfant et les sortilèges and Gherardo/ Gianni Schicchi. During the summer of 2008 Portillo portrayed Count Almaviva/ The Barber of Seville at the Southern Illinois Music Festival. Among his orchestral engagements have been Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 (Phoenix Symphony) and Haydn’s Creation (Colorado Music Festival). Portillo has participated in the young-artist programs of San Francisco Opera, Florida Grand Opera, Chautauqua Opera, Cincinnati Opera, and Opera North. In 2008 he won first place in the Union League Civic and Arts Foundation competition. Daivd Portillo is sponsored by Stepan Company.
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PAUL LA ROSA
(Viscount Cascada)
Previously at Lyric Opera: Kuligin/ Katya Kabanova (2009-10).
The baritone, a first-year Ryan Opera Center member, was recently a member of the JuilliardOperaCenter. His roles there included Raimbaud/ Le Comte Ory, Adam/Krenek’s Die Ehre der Nation (James Conlon conducting), the Black Cat/ L’enfant et les sortilèges, Rambo/John Adams’s The Death of Klinghoffer (under the composer’s baton), and Ford/ Falstaff. La Rosa was a 2008 Young Artist at Glimmerglass Opera, singing Curio/ Giulio Cesare. Previously he participated in San Francisco Opera’s Merola Opera Program, where he portrayed Dandini/ La Cenerentola. The baritone’s recent repertoire includes such diverse roles as Mozart’s Don Giovanni and Figaro, Nick Shadow/ The Rake’s Progress, Marcello/ La bohème, Silvio/ Pagliacci, and the Music Teacher/ Ariadne auf Naxos. La Rosa has performed with pianist Steven Blier for the New York Festival of Song, and he has appeared with the Chateauville Foundation in Virginia, where he sang the role of Junius/Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia under Lorin Maazel. La Rosa, who earned a master’s degree and artist’s diploma fromJuilliard, is also an alumnus of Williams College, where he was a double major in philosophy and English. Paul La Rosa is sponsored by Donna Van Eekeren.
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LARRY ADAMS
(Pritchitch)
Lyric Opera debut
The singer-actor has performed many starring roles in musical theater throughout the Chicagoland area. He is closely associated with Light Opera Works, where he has portrayed Fred Graham-Petruchio/ Kiss Me, Kate, Starbuck/ 110 in the Shade, Emile de Becque /South Pacific, Frederick/ A Little Night Music, and Danilo/ The Merry Widow. Adams is also a favorite atDrury LaneOakbrook (11 roles to date, among them Ravenal/ Show Boat, Sky Masterson/ Guys andDolls, and Che/ Evita) and Theater at the Center (seven roles, ranging from Coach Harper/ Knute Rockne: All-American and Renato/ Do IHear aWaltz? to Old Deuteronomy/ Cats, Georges/ La Cage aux Folles, and the title role/ Phantom, the latter nominated for a Jeff Award). Adams has been directed numerous times by his colleague from Lyric’s Merry Widow, Gary Griffin, including as Lt. Barri/ Passion (Chicago Shakespeare Theater) and in Drury Lane’s Guys and Dolls and Evita. Adams appeared on Broadway in Phantom of the Oper a, with which he has toured nationally.
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JAMES RANK
(Kromov)
Lyric Opera debut
The singer-actor has been seen throughout the Chicago area in many major roles of American musical theater and operetta. Among them have been Billy/ Carousel and Tommy/ Brigadoon (both at Candlelight Dinner Playhouse); Morell/ A Minister’s Wife (Writers’ Theatre of Glencoe); Sam/ Trouble in Tahiti (Next Theatre); El Gallo/ The Fantasticks, File/ 110 in the Shade, and Voltaire-Pangloss/ Candide (all three at Light Opera Works), and Lt. Cable/ South
Pacific,
The Baron/ Grand Hotel, and Aaron /Curtains (all at Drury Lane Theatres). He has also performed at the Goodman Theatre ( Turn of the Century ) and Chicago Shakespeare Theater ( A Little Night Music, Passion ). Rank’s opera-company credits include Central City Opera ( The Pirates of Penzance ), Santa Fe Opera ( The Beggar’s Opera ), Chicago Opera Theater ( The Face on the Barroom Floor ), and Pamiro Opera Company ( Hansel and Gretel, Amahl and theNight Visitors ).He holds a B.A. in political science from the University of Illinois and a Master’s in music from Northwestern University, where he sang Proctor/ The Crucible, Guglielmo/ Così fan tutte, and Tarquinius/ The Rape of Lucretia.
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BERNIE YVON
(Bogdanovich)
Lyric Opera debut
Highlights of the actor’s varied career include the role of Harry Houdini/ Ragtime (Frank Galati’s world-premiere production on Broadway), a character he also portrayed on that show’s national tour and – in Houdini, the Musical – at the Marriott Theatre. Among his 13 other leading roles at the Marriott are Pharaoh/ Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Albert Peterson/ Bye Bye, Birdie, and the upcoming Harold Hill/ The Music Man. A five-time Jeff Award nominee, he won the After Dark Award as Horton/ Seussical at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, where he also played the title role/ Joseph…Dreamcoat. Yvon has appeared at the Goodman Theatre ( The Visit, world premiere), the National Jewish Theatre, Drury Lane Oakbrook, Theater at the Center, and in five musicals at Candlelight Dinner Playhouse. Regionally he has been seen at the Ordway Music Theater ( Adventures in Love ), Paper Mill Playhouse ( You Never Know ), Coconut Grove Playhouse ( Matador ), and Little Theatre on the Square ( Sweet Charity ), among many other companies. His other touring credits include The Producers and Cabaret.
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MARY ERNSTER
(Sylviane)
Lyric Opera debut
The singer-actress is a familiar figure in leading roles with major theaters throughout Chicago. She has won Jeff Awards for her portrayals of Mrs. Anna/ The King and I (Marriott, also seen at Drury Lane Oakbrook) and Lady Jacquie/ Me and My Girl (Candlelight Theater), as well as Jeff nominations for Margaret/ The Light in the Piazza (Marriott), Emily/ Wings (Apple Tree Theatre), Rosabella/ The Most Happy Fella (Drury Lane Oakbrook), and Abigail Adams/ 1776 (Marriott). Among Ernster’s other successes have been Alice Challice/ Darling of the Day (Light Opera Works), Glinda/ The Wizard of Oz (Chicago Shakespeare Theater), and the Beggar Woman/ Sweeney Todd (Marriott). Her range extends to such classics as The Merchant of Venice (as Portia, seen at Oak Park Shakespeare Festival), Cyrano de Bergerac (as Roxane, Apple Tree Theatre), and A Christmas Carol (as Ghost of Christmas Past, Goodman Theatre). Television credits include dramas for HBO ( Normal ), ABC ( Missing Persons and Love Hurts, the latter an Afterschool Special), and CBS ( Early Edition ).
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ANN McMANN
(Praskovia)
Lyric Opera debut
Among the singer-actress’s roles in the Chicagoland area have been the title role/ Countess Maritza and Marianne/ The New Moon (both with Light Opera Works), Mrs. Squires/ The Music Man (Drury Lane Oakbrook), Anna/ Some Enchanted Evening (Drury Lane Evergreen Park), and the heroines of both The Mikado and The Pirates of Penzance (G&S Opera Company). With Green Bay’s Pamiro Opera she has been heard as Pamina/ TheMagic Flute and theMother/ Amahl and the Night Visitors. McMann has toured nationally with Phantom of the Opera and Show Boat. She was soprano soloist for a program entitled “Hooray for Hollywood” with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and she has appeared in concert performances of Kiss Me, Kate (as Lilli Vanessi-Kate for Light Opera Works), Show Boat and Porgy and Bess (as Magnolia and Bess, respectively, both for the Wheaton Symphony Orchestra), Strike Up the Band and One Touch of Venus (both for the Auditorium Theatre’s “Ovations!” series), and West Side Story (Green Bay Symphony Orchestra).
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SUSAN MONIZ
(Olga)
Lyric Opera debut
The singer-actress, who portrayed both Sandy and Rizzo in Fran and Barry Weissler’s production of Grease on Broadway, has toured nationally in that show and in the Missouri Repertory Theater production of Woody Guthrie’s American Song. Moniz’s many credits in the Chicagoland area include 11 leading roles at the Marriott Theatre, among them Julie/ Show Boat, Svetlana/ Chess, the title role/ Peggy Sue Got Married, and her Jeff-Award-winning portrayal of Marsinah/ Kismet. She received Jeff nominations for Into theWoods, West Side Story, The King and I (all at Marriott), The Spitfire Grill (Provision Theater), and Romance Romance and Dessa Rose (both at Apple Tree Theatre). She won the After Dark Award as Susan/ Big (Metropolis Theater). Among her many appearances at Drury Lane Oakbrook have been as the heroines of Evita, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, and Guys and Dolls. She starred as Fran in Promises, Promises with Chicago’s “Ovations!” series. Her roles in classic theater include Olivia/ Twelfth Night and Hermia/ A Midsummer Night’s Dream, both at Providence Art Theatre.
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LEAH BARSKY
(Margot)
Lyric Opera debut
The dancer was seen at the Metropolitan Opera in the 2007 production of Iphigénie en Tauride. Among her other appearances in the New Yorkmetropolitan area have been The Elegant Universe (Armitage Gone!), The Nutcracker (Rockland Youth Dance Ensemble), El Rey del Tango (New Generation Dance Company at Symphony Space), and various works with the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company (also in Poland and Korea). She trained at the California Institute of the Arts, the American Dance Festival, the Juilliard School Summer Intensive Program, New York State Summer School of the Arts, and the Coupe Dance Studio in Nanuet, New York.
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ANDREA BEASOM
(Frou-Frou)
Lyric Opera debut
The singer-dancer’s credits with major opera companies include The Merry Widow (as Lolo, Los Angeles Opera; as Margot, Dallas Opera), Rigoletto (San Diego Opera), and La traviata (Los Angeles). She portrayed Cupid/ Venus and Adonis with Musica Angelica Baroque (SantaMonica, California). InNew York she was seen in On the Town (City Center’s “Encores” series), and at Pasadena Playhouse she played Annette/ Can-Can. She has worked with Lines Contemporary Ballet Ensemble (San Francisco) and is a former principal with Pasadena Dance Theatre. She trained at Miami City Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, and L. A. County High School for the Arts.
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STEPHANIE MARTINEZ BENNITT
(Jou-Jou)
The dancer has performed in Lyric Opera’s Manon (2008-09) and with numerous Chicago-based ensembles including Luna Negra Dance Theater, Same Planet Different World, River North Chicago Dance Company, Gus Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago, James Kelly Choreography Project, and Concert Dance Inc. She was a featured dancer for Diana Ross’s appearance in the 2006 World Cup Opening Ceremonies. She has extensive experience inmajor industrial and trade shows, and she has made several appearances on PBS and MTV. She is a former Ruth Page Award winner and has studied on scholarship with Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Gus Giordano Jazz Dance, and Joseph Holmes Chicago Dance Theater.
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CHRISTINA LUZWICK
(Dodo)
Luzwick was previously seen in Lyric Opera’s Manon and Giulio Cesare. Formerly a member of The Joel Hall Dancers, she later freelanced with Ballet Theatre of Chicago, Judith Svalander Dance Theatre, Tyego Dance Project, Salt Creek Ballet, and Kalamazoo Ballet. Other Chicago credits include Radio City’s Christmas Spectacular (Rosemont Theater) and musicaltheater productions such as Miss Saigon, The King and I, West Side Story (Drury Lane Oakbrook), and Funny Girl, Damn Yankees, Miss Saigon (Marriott Theatre, Lincolnshire). She hails from varied dance training with the Ellis DuBoulay School of Ballet, Joffrey Ballet N.Y., Lou Conte Dance Studio, Ruth Page Foundation, and Alvin Ailey. Currently she teaches throughout the Chicagoland area.
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YAEL LEVITIN SABAN
(Lolo)
The Israeli dancer, who will also be seen in The Damnation of Faust at Lyric this season, has appeared in many Lyric productions, most recently Eugene Onegin and Die Fledermaus. She trained at the studios of Tel Aviv’s Bat-Dor Dance Company and began her performing career with The Haifa Ballet. Saban has previously appeared with Hubbard Street Dance (1999-2004), and Ballet Hispanico of New York (soloist, 1994-99). She is also a former principal of both Connecticut Ballet and the Bat-Dor Dance Company. Saban was a guest artist in Ballet Hispanico’s “First Steps” education program, performing in colleges and universities nationwide. She received the silver medal in the Paris Opera Dance Competition, in which she represented Israel.
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LAURA E. TAYLOR
(Clo-Clo)
Lyric Opera debut
Locally the dancer has been seen at theMarriott Theatre in Nunsense, Joseph..., Thoroughly Modern Millie, and The Producers. Taylor garnered a Jeff Award nomination for her performance as Ulla/ The Producers at Theater at the Center and has also appeared atDrury Lane Oakbrook in Sweet Charity and at Northlight Theatre in The Marvelous Wonderettes. Nationally she appeared in the Kennedy Center’s productions of Mame, The Radio City Christmas Spectacular, and in national tours of Beauty and the Beast and Oklahoma! She is an alumna of FordhamUniversity and Interlochen Arts Academy.
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VICTOR ALEXANDER
(Solo Dancer)
The Cuba native, who will also be seen in The Damnation at Faust at Lyric this season, has appeared in many Lyric productions, most recently Eugene Onegin and Manon. He trained at Havana’s National Dance School and for ten years was a principal with his homeland’s National Contemporary Dance Company. Alexander has toured and danced internationally, and has participated in major dance festivals in America and Europe. He has performed at Houston Grand Opera and, in Chicago, with Hedwig Dances, Luna Negra Dance Theater, Concert Dance Inc., and the Ruth Page Foundation’s Billy Sunday (Chicago-Midwest Emmy Award nominee). In 2008 he visited China as a guest artist with theHSDC tour and to teach at theNanjing Normal University.
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HOGAN McLAUGHLIN
(Solo Dancer)
McLaughlin debuted at Lyric Opera as a principal dancer in the 2006-07 production of Iphigénie en Tauride. He is a former apprentice with Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, where he worked with such choreographers as Ohad Naharin, Johan Inger, and Marguerite Donlon. Prior to his association with HSDC he was a principal dancer withHubbard Street 2, a guest artist with the Civic Ballet of Chicago, and a soloist with Momenta Dance Company in Oak Park, Illinois. He trained in Chicago with Lou Conte Dance Studio and the Ruth Page Foundation, in Oak Park with the Academy of Movement and Music, and in Boston with the School of the Boston Ballet.
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LAWRENCE NEUHAUSER
(Solo Dancer)
Lyric Opera debut
Among the dancer’s roles onstage have been Eddie/ Movin’ Out (national tour of the Broadway production), Mistoffelees/ Cats (Smithtown Performing Arts Center, New York), and Bottom/A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Wisconsin Dance Ensemble). He has been seen with the ensemble of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s “Welcome Yule” shows, and as a lead dancer with Royal Caribbean International. Neuhauser’s multifaceted training, which began with the Boston Ballet Summer Programand the Virginia School of the Arts, has included classes from 2003 to 2008 with Flying by Foy (he is skilled in bungee, double-wire, silks, hoop, and halo harness aerial work) and during 2008-09 under the supervision of the legendary Twyla Tharp.
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TODD RHOADES
(Solo Dancer)
The dancer has been seen at Lyric Opera in The Midsummer Marriage (debut, principal), Iphigénie en Tauride (corps), and Doctor Atomic (soloist), choreographed by Wayne McGregor, Philippe Giraudeau, and LucindaChilds, respectively. In the Chicagoland area he has also performed with Chicago Opera Theater ( A Flowering Tree, Dido & Aeneas, The Padlock ), Marriott Theatre ( All Night Strut ), the Schaumburg Dance Ensemble ( The Nutcracker ), and has been a member of Luna Negra Dance Theater. Other credits nationwide include performances with Pittsburgh’s PlayhouseDinnerTheatre (principal 1996-1999), Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre (guest artist 1999 ), and Ballet Austin (soloist 1999-2003).
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JOHN ROSS
(Solo Dancer)
The dancer’s performing experience includes Lyric Opera (six productions, most recently Manon and Eugene Onegin ), Hubbard Street Dance Chicago (2005-06, 1995-00), The Joffrey Ballet of Chicago (2003-05), Ballet Chicago, Pacific Northwest Ballet, and Oregon Ballet Theatre. He has also been seen in Andrea Chénier and TheMerry Widow (Portland Opera), the Susan Stroman/John Weidman musical Contact (national tour), the Columbia Pictures feature Waiting for the Light, and with Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines. His repertoire includes major works of George Balanchine, Twyla Tharp, Nacho Duato, John Cranko, Jiri Kylián, andmany other leading choreographers. He has been a dancer and model for Nike Sportswear and Fila Footwear.
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JAMES MONROE STEVKO
(Solo Dancer)
Lyric Opera debut
Thatcher studied on scholarship at the Academy of DanceArts (DownersGrove), BalletTech Ohio Institute, Milwaukee Ballet, and Northern Illinois University (B.F.A. degree). He danced with Northern Dance Theatre from 2004 through 2007, where his leading roles included Albrecht/ Giselle, Jeane de Brienne/ Raymonda, and Conrad/ Le Corsaire. In 2008 he debuted withMilwaukee Ballet, where he has appeared in Sleeping Beauty and The Nutcracker. With Beth Fowler Dance Company in DeKalb, he has danced in The Nutcracker in both 2005 and 2006. He has also appeared with Dance Chicago, DanceLoop Chicago, Dance West Ballet (Naperville), BalletTech Ohio (Cincinnati), and Salt Creek Ballet Westmont).
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EMMANUEL VILLAUME
(Conductor)
Previously at Lyric Opera: Manon (2008-09); Samson et Dalila (2003-04).
The French conductor began the 2009-10 season collaborating with Anna Netrebko for concerts in Copenhagen,Oslo, and Stockholm.Other highlights include his return to San Francisco Opera for Werther and to the Opéra de Marseille for Samson et Dalila. In 2008 Villaume began his tenure as music director of the Slovenian Philharmonic (Ljubljana). The current season sees him also taking up the position of music director of the Slovakian Philharmonic Orchestra. This season marks his tenth anniversary as music director of Charleston’s Spoleto Festival USA, where his many acclaimed performances have included a Mahler symphony cycle and operas of Henze, Mozart, Wagner, Strauss, Puccini, Delibes, Charpentier, and Anthony Davis. Villaume’s native repertoire has brought him during recent seasons to the Metropolitan Opera ( Carmen, Samson et Dalila ), Los Angeles Opera ( Carmen ), Turin’s Teatro Regio ( Les contes d’Hoffmann, Dukas’s Ariane et Barbe-bleu ), Madrid’s Teatro Real ( Hoffmann ), and the Teatro Lirico in Cagliari (Massenet’s Chérubin, released on DVD). He has also led productions at Covent Garden, Paris, Toulouse, and at the major companies of Dallas, and Santa Fe. Villaume has been widely hailed for appearances with major orchestras of North America (Boston,Montreal, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Detroit), and those of La Scala, Radio France, Bonn, and Sydney.
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GARY GRIFFIN
(Stage Director)
Lyric Opera debut
The Illinois-born director is associate artistic director of Chicago Shakespeare Theater, where he is directing Private Lives this season. His tenure there has encompassed much-acclaimed productions of four Sondheim musicals, as well as Amadeus, The Herbal Bed and – for CST’s “Short Shakespeare” series – A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Romeo and Juliet. Highlights of the current season include Evita at Canada’s Stratford Shakespeare Festival (where he directed West Side Story for the 2009 festival) and the national tour of The Color Purple. Griffin has directed in London’s West End ( Kismet and the Olivier Award-winning Pacific Overtures ); on Broadway ( The Color Purple, Amour, The Apple Tree ); and off-Broadway ( Saved, Beautiful Thing ). Griffin’s close association with New York’s City Center “Encores” series includes A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, The Apple Tree, Pardon My English, and The New Moon. His groundbreaking production of My Fair Lady played both the McCarter Theatre and Hartford Stage after its debut at Chicago’s Court Theatre. Other regional credits include productions for the Old Globe, Alliance Theatre, Signature Theatre, and Goodspeed Opera House. The eight-time Jefferson Award winner has also directed for Chicago’s Pegagus Players and the Northlight, Apple Tree, Famous Door, Marriott, and DruryLane Oakbrook theaters.
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DANIEL OSTLING
(Set Designer)
Lyric Opera debut
The designer debuted in opera with Trouble in Tahiti (Chicago Opera Theater), later designing Galileo Galilei (Goodman Theatre) and Lucia di Lammermoor and La sonnambula (Metropolitan Opera). His previous projects with Gary Griffin include Pacific Overtures, A Little Night Music, and Amadeus, all at Chicago Shakespeare Theater. Ostling’s current season includes A Civil War Christmas (Boston’s Huntington Theatre), Having Our Say (Princeton’s McCarter Theater), and David Schwimmer’s play Trust (Lookingglass Theatre Company). His ongoing association with Lookingglass has included 15 productions to date, with repertoire ranging from Arabian Nights to Metamorphoses, The Brothers Karamazov, and Hillbilly Antigone. He received a Tony Award nomination for the Broadway production of Metamorphoses. Ostling has worked at Steppenwolf Theatre Company, the Goodman Theatre, Lincoln Center, New York’s Public Theater, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, New Haven’s Long Wharf, Playwrights Horizons, the Mark Taper Forum, Seattle Rep, Berkeley Rep, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, San Francisco’s American Conservatory Theater, Pittsburgh Public Theater, Washington’s Shakespeare Theatre, San Francisco Opera Center, and Tanglewood Opera Center, among other companies. He is an associate professor at Northwestern University.
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MARA BLUMENFELD
(Costume Designer)
Lyric Opera debut
The Chicago-based designer made her Metropolitan Opera debut two seasons ago with Mary Zimmerman’s production of Lucia di Lammermoor, and then returned the following season for her production of La sonnambula, both starring Natalie Dessay. Blumenfeld’s designs have been seen frequently at the Goodman Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, and Court Theatre. She joined the Lookingglass Theatre Company ensemble in 2004, having served as an artistic associate from 1998 to 2004. Blumenfeld has designed costumes for more than 20 Lookingglass productions, including The Arabian Nights, Lookingglass Alice, Hard Times, The Secret in the Wings, and Eleven Rooms of Proust. Among her New York credits are the Broadway and off-Broadway productions of Mary Zimmerman’s Metamorphoses and The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci at Second Stage; The Glorious Ones, a new musical by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty for Lincoln Center; Measure for Measure for The Public/New York Shakespeare Festival; and Tony Kushner’s Homebody/Kabul and the Philip Glass/Mary Zimmerman opera Galileo Galilei at Brooklyn Academy of Music. Blumenfeld’s work has also been seen at many regional theaters across America and internationally. She is the recipient of three Joseph Jefferson Awards for costume design and has been nominated for New York’s DramaDesk and London’sOlivier awards.
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CHRISTINE BINDER
(Lighting Designer)
Previously at Lyric Opera: 14 productions since 1997-98, most recently Faust, Tosca (both 2009-10).
This season the Chicago-based designer continues her ongoing association with Lookingglass Theatre, where she is an artistic associate. At Lookingglass she designed Phaedra: Queen of Haiti and the premiere of David Schwimmer’s Trust. Her designs for Lookingglass Alice will be seen on tour to Louisville, Syracuse, and Atlanta (after previous performances in Princeton, New York, and Philadelphia). Binder’s previous Lookingglass productions include The Brothers Karamazov, Sita Ram, 1984, and Hillbilly Antigone. Among her operatic credits are Eugene Onegin (Detroit, Miami), Don Giovanni (Tulsa, Pittsburgh, Costa Mesa, New York City), I Capuleti e i Montecchi (Los Angeles, Minnesota, New York City, Pittsburgh), Dialogues des Carmélites (Vienna’s Theater an der Wien), La clemenza di Tito and La tragédie de Carmen (both for Chicago Opera Theater), and several operas for DePaul Opera Theatre. Her many other important Chicago credits include productions for Blair Thomas and Company ( The Oxherder’s Tale ), Northlight Theatre ( The Lieutenant of Inishmore and the Jeff-nominated Pride and Prejudice ), About Face ( Winesburg, Ohio, Proust, Loving Repeating ), and Redmoon Theater ( Frankenstein, The Ballad of Frankie and Johnny ). She has also designed for Oregon Shakespeare Festival ( Tartuffe ) and Milwaukee Shakespeare ( Love’s Labours Lost ).
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JOHN BOESCHE
(Projection Designer)
Previously at Lyric Opera: Three operas since 1988-89 most recently Lulu (2008-09); The Voyage of Edgar Allan Poe (1990-91).
The projection designer’s current season also includes Lyric Opera’s new production of The Damnation of Faust. Boesche began his theatrical career in the mid-1980s with several productions for Robert Falls at Chicago’s Wisdom Bridge Theatre. Boesche has worked with all of Chicago’s major theater companies. Among his productions in the city have been Julius Caesar and Sunday in the Park with George, both for Chicago Shakespeare Theater; Space, Libra, and Slaughterhouse V for Steppenwolf Theatre Company; Race, directed by David Schwimmer, for Lookingglass Theatre; and both TheOdyssey and Galileo Galilei for the Goodman Theatre. Regionally, he has designed for New York’s Roundabout Theatre ( The Glass Menagerie, directed by Frank Galati), the New York Shakespeare Festival ( Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2, directed by Joanne Akalaitis), San Francisco’s Theater on the Square, Denver Center Theatre Company, Brooklyn Academy ofMusic, and the major opera companies of Washington, Toronto, San Francisco, and Dallas. His designs were seen in Peter Sellars’s world-premiere production of John Adams’s The Death of Klinghoffer in Brussels (1991).
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DONALD NALLY
(Chorus Master)
Previously at Lyric Opera: Chorus master since 2007-08.
Lyric Opera’s chorus master is in his first season as music director of Cincinnati’s Vocal Arts Ensemble. During 2009-10Nally is alsoperforming commissioned premieres of works by David Lang, Lansing McLoskey, and Paul Fowler with The Crossing, his Philadelphiabased professional chamber choir, which specializes in new music. Nally is the winner of the 2009 ASCAP/Chorus America National Award for Adventuresome Program with The Crossing. The ensemble’s much-acclaimed recording of Kile Smith’s Vespers was released last April. Former chorus master of Welsh National Opera, Nally conducted that company on tour in major cities throughout England, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. While in the U.K., Nally often guest-conducted London’s Philharmonia Chorus and collaborated with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Sinfonia Cymru of Wales, and the Philharmonia Orchestra. He was previously based in Philadelphia as chorus master at the Opera Company of Philadelphia, director of music at Saint Mark’s Church, and artistic director of the Choral Arts Society of Philadelphia. He also collaborated regularly with the Philadelphia Orchestra and Pennsylvania Ballet. Nally was for many years chorus master at the Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto, Italy.
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DANIEL PELZIG
(Choreographer)
Previously at Lyric Opera: Three productions since 2003-04, most recently Die Fledermaus (2006-07); The Cunning Little Vixen (2004-05).
Among Pelzig’s credits in operetta and musical-theater are Countess Maritza (Santa Fe Opera, a production he also directed); A Year with Frog and Toad (Broadway debut); and My Fair Lady (Paper Mill Playhouse). This season he choreographs As You Like It for Washington’s Shakespeare Theatre and Into the Woods for Kansas City Repertory Theater. His extensive operatic work includes Iphigénie en Tauride, Lucia di Lammermoor and La sonnambula at the Metropolitan Opera, where he returns this season for the company’s first production of Rossini’s Armida. He has directed and choreographed The Bartered Bride for Opera Boston, Iphigénie at the Reina Sofia opera house in Valencia, Spain, Akhnaten at Stras-bourg’s Opéra National du Rhin, and Turandot for Fort Worth Opera. Other opera credits include Aida (Los Angeles), Samson et Dalila (Houston, Los Angeles), Death in Venice (Chicago Opera Theater), and Florencia en las Amazonas and Salome (Seattle). Recent theater choreography includes 33 Variations starring Jane Fonda (Broadway), War Music ( American Conservatory Theater, San Francisco) and productions for such major American theaters as the Goodman, Kennedy Center, Old Globe and Manhattan Theatre Club. Pelzig served four years as resident choreographer for Boston Ballet.
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AUGUST TYE
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(Ballet Mistress)
Previously at Lyric Opera: 15 productions since 1994-95, most recently The Pearl Fishers, Manon (both 2008-09).
The Chicago-based dancer choreographer recently presented a 20-year retrospective of her work, Level 41, at Chicago’s Vittum Theater and Ruth Page Dance Center, as well as in Tye’s hometown of Kalamazoo, Michigan. Two seasons ago she remounted the choreography of Lyric Opera’s Iphigénie en Tauride at San Francisco Opera and Covent Garden, and she will do the same for Lyric’s Salome (starring Deborah Voigt) at the 2010 Saito Kinen Festival (Japan). Tye is a past recipient of Regional Dance America’s Best Young Choreographer and the Monticello Choreogra-pher’s Award. In addition to Lyric Opera, she has performed in Chicago with Joel Hall Dancers, Salt Creek Ballet, and Second City Ballet. Tye is artistic director and principal in-structor of ballet at the Hyde Park School of Ballet, which she founded in 1993. Her company, Tyego Dance Project (founded in 1997), has performed at Steppenwolf, the Athenaeum, and toured the country in a revival of Spike Jones’s Nutcracker.
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RICHARD JARVIE
(Wigmaster and Makeup Designer)
Previously at Lyric Opera: Wigmaster and makeup designer since 2000-01; supervisor of the wig department and principal makeup artist, 1982-2000.
Lyric’s wigmaster and makeup designer served in both of those positions for Chicago Shakespeare Theater from 1989 to 2000. He has previously served as wigmaster for Minneapolis’s Tyrone Guthrie Theater and wig/makeup supervisor for the Thomas Patterson Theatre of the Stratford Festival in Ontario, Canada. Later this season he will design wigs and makeup for The Magic Flute at Atlanta Opera and The Ghosts of Versailles at Northwestern University. He currently teaches at both Northwestern University and DePaul University.
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