CHICAGO (7/29/2021) – Lyric Opera of Chicago launches its 67th season with Sunday in the Park with Lyric’s Rising Stars at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion on Sunday, August 29, at 6:00 p.m. This free outdoor performance, presented in cooperation with The City of Chicago and Millennium Park, is part of Chicago In Tune, a citywide festival celebrating our city’s legendary music community.
Lyric’s outdoor concerts at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion have historically attracted large crowds to the seating bowl, great lawn, and surrounding areas of the park. Lyric will follow all up-to-date safety guidelines and protocols of Millennium Park and The City of Chicago to ensure that audiences are comfortable and safe.
Enrique Mazzola, Lyric's new music director, will be on the podium to conduct Lyric's first live performance in nearly 18 months. Appearing with the Lyric Opera Orchestra, the concert features the members of The Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center — sopranos Mathilda Edge, Maria Novella Malfatti, and Denis Vélez; mezzo-sopranos Katherine Beck, Katherine DeYoung, and Kathleen Felty; tenors Martin Luther Clark and Lunga Eric Hallam; baritone Leroy Davis; basses Rivers Hawkins and Anthony Reed; conductor/pianist Donald Lee III; and pianist Chris Reynolds.
Highlighting the program will be several excerpts from Lyric’s upcoming season: Verdi's Macbeth, Donizetti’s The Elixir of Love, Mozart’s The Magic Flute, Catán's Florencia en el Amazonas, Puccini's Tosca, and Blanchard/Lemmon's Fire Shut Up in My Bones. The concert will open with a crowd favorite — Rossini’s William Tell Overture, performed by the Lyric Opera Orchestra. Special ensemble selections from Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor and Bernstein’s Candide will close out the evening.
Join the conversation by tagging @LyricOpera in your posts on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. There will be chances to win tickets to the 2021/22 Season during the evening, and the first 2,000 guests to arrive will receive a free Lyric giveaway item.
Lyric Opera of Chicago opens its 67th Season on Friday, September 17, presented by Invesco QQQ, that will include six mainstage operas: Verdi’s Macbeth (Sept. 17 – Oct. 9), Donizetti’s The Elixir of Love (Sept. 26 – Oct. 8), Mozart’s The Magic Flute (Nov. 3 – 27), Catán’s Florencia en el Amazonas (Nov. 13 – 28), Puccini's Tosca (Mar. 12 – Apr. 10), and Blanchard/Lemmon’s Fire Shut Up in My Bones (Mar. 24 – Apr. 8), as well as the Mazzoli/Vavrek chamber opera Proving Up (performed at The Goodman Theatre, Jan. 22 – 30).
Lyric’s 2021/22 Season also includes a special concert celebrating Sir Andrew Davis’s magnificent two-decade tenure as Lyric’s music director with one of his favorite works, never previously performed at Lyric: Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, featuring the Lyric Opera Orchestra and Chorus on April 1. The concert will begin with a new choral work by Sir Andrew’s son, composer Ed Frazier Davis.
All of Lyric’s regular-season performances take place at the Lyric Opera House with projected English texts for every opera. Subscriptions are still available and single tickets go on sale on August 3. For information on specific performance dates and ticket availability, please call (312) 827-5600 or visit lyricopera.org.
Chicago In Tune (August 19 – September 19) is a new citywide festival celebrating music in the key of Chicago — during the 2021 Year of Chicago Music. This month of music will bring iconic neighborhood venues, presenting organizations, and musicians from across the city together to celebrate all music genres and forms — with both large and small, free and ticketed events at clubs, concert halls, and beyond. As part of Chicago In Tune, the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events will present four special evenings at Jay Pritzker Pavilion honoring music born and innovated in Chicago, presented by the Millennium Park Foundation: Gospel music (September 3), Jazz (September 4), House (September 11), and Blues (September 18) — all at 5:30–8:30pm. For details, please visit millenniumpark.org. For other Chicago In Tune events across the city, please visit do312.com/chicagointune.
