New-to-Chicago Production The Queen of Spades

Tchaikovsky’s broodingly romantic thriller is a tour de force for a great tenor. He plays the terrifyingly obsessed Gherman, an unhappy soldier desperate to know a secret hidden by a mysterious old countess—the mystery of winning at cards. The tension turns truly unnerving as Gherman’s obsession begins to overwhelm him. It leads to devastation both for him and for the countess’s granddaughter, Lisa, whom Gherman loves. Tchaikovsky’s music is the height of Russian romanticism in its melancholy soulfulness, its white-hot passion, and the sweeping grandeur of its orchestra—a masterpiece from the genius who gave the world Eugene Onegin and Swan Lake.

Language: Sung in Russian with projected English translations
Running Time: 3 hours, 45 minutes with 2 intermissions

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The arias offering one exquisitely arching melody after another, the orchestral passages as profound as the best of any Tchaikovsky symphony.”

Chicago Tribune

Jovanovich turned in an intense, involving performance, vividly conveying through subtleties of vocal timbre, nervous tics and his sagging body Gherman’s fevered breakdown.”

Chicago Sun-Times

Sir Andrew Davis conducted the Lyric Opera Orchestra through Tchaikovsky’s complex score, though with the emotion and bombast that are trademarks of the composer, the music sometimes competed with the singing.”

Third Coast Review

Radvanovsky and Jovanovich powerfully, wrenchingly, give voice to their characters, and everyone in the huge cast—including the Lyric Opera Chorus and members of the Chicago Children's Choir—plays up to their game.”

Chicago Reader

Long Live This Queen”

NewCity Stage

The Queen of Spades videos

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Tchaikovsky's The Queen of Spades

Tchaikovsky's broodingly romantic thriller is a tour de force for a great tenor. He plays the terrifyingly obsessed Gherman, an unhappy soldier desperate to know a secret hidden by a mysterious old countess—the mystery of winning at cards. The tension turns truly unnerving as Gherman's obsession begins to overwhelm him. It leads to devastation both for him and for the countess's granddaughter, Lisa, whom Gherman loves. Tchaikovsky's music is the height of Russian romanticism in its melancholy soulfulness, its white-hot passion, and the sweeping grandeur of its orchestra—a masterpiece from the genius who gave the world Eugene Onegin and Swan Lake.

Soprano Sondra Radvanovsky on the music of The Queen of Spades

Soprano Sondra Radvanovsky tells you why Tchaikovsky's music is so brilliant and why you absolutely can't miss Lyric's production of The Queen of Spades.

Tenor Brandon Jovanovich invites you to The Queen of Spades

Tenor Brandon Jovanovich inviutes you to experience the wonderful opera from Tchaikovsky, The Queen of Spades.

Patter Up! 60 seconds with Brandon Jovanovich

Tenor, Brandon Jovanovich, who stars as the Gerhman in Queen of Spades, talks his first job, his most favorite role and who his best opera-bud would be.

Sir Andrew invites you to Tchaikovsky's Queen of Spades

Lyric's Music Director, Sir Andrew Davis, invites you to experience the drama and romanticism of Tchaikovsky's Queen of Spades.

The Queen of Spades

By Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Performed by Mirella Freni, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Tanglewood Festival Chorus, Maureen Forrester, Katherine Ciesinski, et al.
Courtesy of Sony Masterworks
By arrangement with SONY MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT

"Introduction"

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"Pique dame"

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Queen of Spades

By Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Lyric Opera Commentaries are sponsored by the Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Foundation in memory of their parents.

© 2019/20 Lyric Opera Commentaries. All rights reserved.
Music courtesy of Sony Masterworks. By arrangement with Sony Music Entertainment.
A project of the Women’s Board.

Commentary by Roger Pines, Dramaturg

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The Queen of Spades articles

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Tenor Brandon Jovanovich will blow you away

Brandon Jovanovich has long been a Lyric favorite, and he's among the most versatile tenors performing internationally. Luckily for Lyric, he's here in four widely contrasting roles this spring!

Scene 1.

In a park in St. Petersburg, governesses and nurses mind their charges. A troop of children playing soldiers drills. Two army officers, Chekalinsky and Sourin, discuss the previous evening’s gambling, during which their friend Gherman placed no bets. Count Tomsky notices that Gherman is distracted. Confessing that he’s in love, Gherman admits that he doesn’t know her name, only that his passion for her is hopeless. The adults in the park enjoy the first day of spring. Prince Yeletsky is congratulated on his recent engagement, while Gherman thinks only of his own torment. When the Countess appears, Yeletsky identifies her granddaughter Lisa as his fiancée. She is also the young woman with whom Gherman is obsessed, and he is left in despair.

Tomsky reveals that the Countess had been a beauty in Paris, where one evening she lost everything at cards. In return for a tryst, Count St.-Germain offered her the secret of the three winning cards. The next day she played them and was repeatedly successful. She told two people the secret, but an apparition later came to her, warning that the third person seeking the secret would prove her undoing. Gherman – who longs to know the secret – vows to take Lisa from the prince, or die.

Scene 2.

In Lisa’s room, she and Pauline sing for their friends, which leads into a lively folk dance, prompting Lisa’s governess to scold the girls for making such a commotion. Left alone, Lisa is disturbed about having feelings for Gherman rather than Yeletsky. When Gherman appears, he tells her he intends to die, since she can never be his. He hides when the Countess admonishes Lisa for not going to bed. Once the old woman has gone, Gherman insists that Lisa must decide whether he will live or die.
Scene 1.

At a party, Chekalinsky and Sourin encourage Gherman in his obsession with the secret of the three cards. Lisa is cold to Yeletsky, instead arranging to meet with Gherman. After some entertainment, Lisa gives him a key to a secret door to her grandmother’s house and explains how to reach her own room. The party excitement builds in anticipation of the arrival of Empress Catherine the Great.

Scene 2.

Gherman enters the Countess’s bedroom through a secret door, hiding as her servants enter to prepare for her return from the party. The Countess nostalgically recalls the elegance of Parisian nobility and an aria she once sang for the French king. Her staff leaves and she falls asleep, but soon awakens to find Gherman before her, insisting she tell him about the three cards. She dies of fright. Lisa rushes in, horrified, as Gherman curses not having learned the winning secret.
Scene 1.

In his barracks room, unable to sleep, Gherman reads a letter from Lisa asking him to meet her by the river. The Countess appears to Gherman as a ghost, against her will, commanding him to marry Lisa in return for the mystery sequence of the winning cards: three, seven, ace.

Scene 2.

Lisa desperately anticipates seeing Gherman. He responds passionately to her at first, but she’s terrified by his obsession with winning at cards as he abandons her to go to the gambling house. Believing that he murdered the Countess, Lisa takes her own life.

Scene 3.

At the gambling house, Yeletsky tells Tomsky his engagement is over. Tomsky entertains the rabble. Gherman arrives and bets everything he has, winning the first two rounds. Now only Yeletsky will play against him. Gherman announces that his ace wins, but he loses. The card is the Queen of Spades. Cursing the Countess’s ghost, Gherman shoots himself and dies begging forgiveness.

Program Book

Go inside this production of The Queen of Spades with engaging articles, notes from the director, a complete plot synopsis, artist bios, and more.

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Meet The artists

Brandon Jovanovich

Gherman

Brandon Jovanovich is a renowned American tenor who has performed many roles at Lyric Opera or Chicago.

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Sondra Radvanovsky

Lisa

The internationally celebrated Illinois-born soprano is widely regarded as today’s preeminent interpreter of the dramatic-coloratura heroines in the bel canto repertoire.

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Jane Henschel

Countess

Lyric debut

Mezzo-soprano Jane Henschel made her Lyric Opera debut as Countess/The Queen of Spades in 2019|20

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Samuel Youn

Tomsky

South Korean bass-baritone Samuel Youn's Lyric credits include The Queen of Spades (2019/20) and Das Rheingold (2016/17)

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Lucas Meachem

Yeletsky

American baritone Lucas Meachem sung The Queen of Spades, and Don Giovanni (2019|20) at Lyric Opera

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Elizabeth DeShong

Pauline

Ryan Opera Center alumna

American mezzo-soprano and Ryan Opera Center alumna Elizabeth DeShong has sung 14 roles with Lyric Opera.

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Kyle van Schoonhoven

Chekalinsky

American tenor Kyle van Schoonhoven made his Lyric debut as Chekalinsky/The Queen of Spades (2019|20).

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Sir Andrew Davis

Conductor

Sir Andrew Davis served as music director and principal conductor of Lyric Opera of Chicago from 2000 through the 2020/21 Season.

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Richard Jones

Original Director

British director Richard Jones was the original director of The Queen of Spades and Ariodante at Lyric Opera

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Ben Davis

Revival Director

British director Ben Davis is the revival director for Lyric Opera of Chicago's The Queen of Spades (2019|20) and Ariodante (2018|19)

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John Macfarlane

Designer

Scottish designer John Macfarlane 's Lyric credits include Tchaikovksy's The Queen of Spades (2019|20)

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Linda Dobell

Original Choreographer

The late Linda Dobell was the original choreographer of Lyric Opera's 2019|20 production of Tchaikovsky's The Queen of Spades

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Jennifer Tipton

Lighting Designer

American Lighting Designer Jennifer Tipton has worked with Lyric Opera since 1988.

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Chris Maravich

Revival Lighting Designer

Chris Maravich, Lighting Director, has been with Lyric Opera since 2014

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Michael Black

Chorus Master

Michael Black has served Lyric Opera of Chicago since the 2013/14 Season.

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