Lyric Opera of Chicago Announces Matthew Ozawa as Chief Artistic Administration Officer

A newly created senior position at Lyric Opera of Chicago

CHICAGO (2/28/2022) – The leadership team at Lyric Opera of Chicago is pleased to announce that Matthew Ozawa will join the company in a newly created senior position: Chief Artistic Administration Officer. Ozawa returns to Lyric, having served as Interim Head of Lyric Unlimited, the company’s learning and creative engagement division, and through his many artistic roles with the company as Director and Associate Director.

In this new role, Matthew will have oversight of a number of important departments at the world-renowned opera company including casting and artistic planning, music administration, The Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center and Lyric’s company management department. He will join Lyric’s Executive Leadership Team and participate in formulating and implementing strategies for the company, as a whole.

"I am delighted to welcome Matthew as our new CAAO. Beyond his considerable work for and at Lyric, he has extensive experience as a director working with companies around the country," says Anthony Freud, Lyric’s general director, president & CEO. "Matthew is also an artistic director and educator, with experience in disciplines ranging from opera and musical theater to dance and visual arts. We are looking forward to Matthew joining the company in this newly created position. He will play a key role in our ongoing efforts to build a vital and vibrant future for Lyric Opera of Chicago through our shared deep commitment to advancing our art and our artists in service to our ever broadening audiences."

Passionate about collaborative interdisciplinary performance, new work, and reigniting operatic classics, Ozawa’s productions have been seen at Lyric and at other significant houses across the country including San Francisco Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center and many more. As an educator, Ozawa taught at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance, has lectured extensively and worked with some of the most prestigious artist training programs in the nation. Learning the world of opera from the ground up, in Matthew’s career to date, he has held many pivotal roles within a working opera company - from the technical to the directorial.

Ozawa was raised in California, followed by Singapore, and is a graduate of United World College of South East Asia and Oberlin Conservatory.

The nationwide search for Lyric’s first Chief Artistic Administration Officer was conducted by the Catherine French Group. Ozawa begins his new role at Lyric on April 12, 2022.

About Lyric

Lyric Opera of Chicago is committed to redefining what it means to experience great opera. The company is driven to deliver consistently excellent artistry through innovative, relevant, celebratory programming that engages and energizes new and traditional audiences.

Under the leadership of General Director, President & CEO Anthony Freud, Music Director Enrique Mazzola, and Special Project Advisor Renée Fleming, Lyric is dedicated to reflecting, and drawing strength from, the diversity of Chicago. Lyric offers, through innovation, collaboration, and evolving learning opportunities, ever-more exciting, accessible, and thought-provoking audience and community experiences. We also stand committed to training the artists of the future, through The Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center; and to becoming increasingly diverse across our audiences, staff, programming, and artists—magnifying the welcoming pull of our art form, our company, and our city.

Through the timeless power of voice, the splendor of a great orchestra and chorus, theater, dance, design, and truly magnificent stagecraft, Lyric is devoted to immersing audiences in worlds both familiar and unexpected, creating shared experiences that resonate long after the curtain comes down.

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