CHICAGO (9/24/2026) — Lyric Opera of Chicago presents Wagner: Myth & Music, a concert program of orchestral and choral favorites by towering composer Richard Wagner, for two performances only on November 20 and 22, 2026. Conductor Alexander Soddy — a noted Wagnerian who recently led triumphant performances of Wagner’s Ring cycle at Teatro alla Scala — makes his Lyric debut leading more than 90 members of the Lyric Opera Orchestra. Lyric’s reigning Brünnhilde, soprano Christine Goerke, joins the evening as soloist, and Lyric Chorus Director Michael Black prepares the 90-member Lyric Opera Chorus for a program devoted to Wagner’s most stirring choral and orchestral writing.
Choral splendor and orchestral might. Valiant heroes, vengeful spirits, and gods locked in mortal combat move through Wagner’s most iconic music — grand, mythic, and instantly recognizable. The concert program pairs the Prelude & Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde and the Immolation Scene from Götterdämmerung — some of Wagner’s most legendary, monumental, fan-favorite passages — both sung by Goerke, with orchestral and choral highlights from Tannhäuser, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, and Parsifal.
A new shell, built for Wagner’s sound. These performances also introduce the David W. and Orit K. Carpenter Concert Shell, a specially designed acoustic shell that will bring audiences an even richer listening experience for Wagner’s thrilling music. Engineered to project the full weight and detail of a large orchestra and chorus out into the house, the new shell marks a significant enhancement to the concert experience at the Lyric Opera House — and there may be no more fitting composer than Wagner, whose dense orchestration and layered choral writing demand every ounce of clarity a hall can offer, to inaugurate it.
“The music of Richard Wagner demands scale, clarity, and power — exactly what this new shell is designed to deliver, and its unveiling at these concerts is the ideal way to open this new chapter of the Lyric audience experience,” says Lyric General Director John Mangum. “Wagner is exactly the composer this shell needed to christen it, and his music will remain an important part of our programming in the seasons to come. We’re deeply grateful to Orit K. Carpenter for her generosity in supporting the commission of this shell in loving memory of her husband David W. Carpenter — a gift that will resonate in our theater for generations.”
A conductor steeped in Wagner, in his Lyric debut. British conductor Alexander Soddy is one of the most sought-after conductors of his generation, regularly engaged by leading orchestras and opera houses across Europe and the United States. At Teatro alla Scala, he recently conducted the house’s first new Ring cycle in a decade, directed by Sir David McVicar and starring Michael Volle, Camilla Nylund, and Klaus Florian Vogt. His other recent Wagner engagements include the world premiere of Kirill Serebrennikov’s production of Lohengrin at the Opéra national de Paris, Der fliegende Holländer with the NHK Symphony Orchestra at the Tokyo Spring Festival, Parsifal at the Vienna State Opera, and Tannhäuser at the Royal Ballet and Opera. Later this season, Soddy returns to Tristan und Isolde — first at the Vienna State Opera, then in a new production by director Keith Warner at the Maggio Musicale in Florence.
One of today’s foremost Wagnerian singers returns. American soprano Christine Goerke has a long and highly praised history with Lyric, having sung the title role in Richard Strauss’s Elektra (2012/13, her company debut), Cassandre in Berlioz’s Les Troyens (2016/17), Brünnhilde in Wagner’s Die Walküre (2017/18) and Siegfried (2018/19), and Brünnhilde again in Twilight: Gods, director Yuval Sharon’s condensed reimagining of the final chapter of Wagner’s Ring cycle, staged in Lyric’s 2020/21 Season at the Millennium Lakeside Garage. Beyond Chicago, she has performed Wagner’s Ring operas at the Metropolitan Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Canadian Opera Company, and Washington National Opera, and her celebrated Wagner roles include Kundry in Parsifal and Ortrud in Lohengrin, both at Houston Grand Opera, with Ortrud also at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. She is also highly acclaimed in the title role of Puccini’s Turandot at the Metropolitan Opera. This season, Goerke joins the University of Michigan’s Department of Voice & Opera as an assistant professor. She is the recipient of the Richard Tucker Award, the Musical America Vocalist of the Year Award, and the Opera News Award.
The voice behind the voices. Australian-born Michael Black is Lyric’s Chorus Director; he joined Lyric full-time in the 2012/13 Season, after serving as interim director the season before, and was named Head of Music in the 2023/24 Season. He is the first chorus director to work across the choruses of Lyric, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and the Grant Park Music Festival, where he served for six seasons preparing works including Haydn’s The Creation, which he will prepare for Lyric later this season. Black was Chorus Director of Opera Australia in Sydney from 2001 to 2013, and has held the same role with the Edinburgh International Festival, Opera Holland Park in London, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. A recipient of the Opera Foundation Bayreuth Scholarship — which funded study at the Bayreuth Festival, founded by Wagner to showcase his own works — Black has prepared choruses for more than 150 operas on four continents, and his work has been recorded and broadcast on ABC, BBC, and PBS.
An evening built for the gods. On November 20 and 22, the gods truly do take the stage: a debuting conductor, a returning Brünnhilde, and more than 180 artists united beneath a concert shell built to carry every note they play and sing. It is, in every sense, an event built for the size of Wagner's imagination and impact.
Performance dates: Two chances to experience Wagner: Myth & Music:
- Friday, November 20, 2026 at 7:00 p.m.
- Sunday, November 22, 2026 at 2:00 p.m.
Language: Sung in German with projected English titles.
Running time: Approximately 2 hours and 30 minutes, including one intermission.
Accessibility: New Auracast assistive listening technology is available at all performances. Braille and large-print programs, high-powered opera glasses, assistive listening devices, and booster seats are available from the theater’s Steiner Parquet coat checks. For more information on these and other accessibility services, visit lyricopera.org/accessibility.
Location: Lyric Opera House, 20 N. Wacker Drive, Chicago, Illinois.
For more information and tickets, visit lyricopera.org/wagner or call 312.827.5600.
