Love, madness, and alt-rock: the sound of Lyric’s 2025/26 Season

From ancient myth to modern edge, from whispered heartbreak to full-throated passion, Lyric’s 2025/26 Season was a study of contrasts. As the curtain rose on Cherubini’s Medea, audiences knew they were in for a dramatic season. The high notes rang out and blood flowed as some of opera’s most iconic characters sought vengeance and love in equal measure in Cavalleria rusticana. Between the explosive jealousy of Pagliacci and the fevered decadence of Salome, Chicago experienced something entirely unexpected: the electrifying, alt-rock pulse of A Night of Mellon Collie and Infinite Sadness, headlined by Billy Corgan of The Smashing Pumpkins.

Spring came with laughter and love as Mozart’s madcap study of human nature, Così fan tutte returned to the stage. Rounding out the season was a pair of operas — a beloved classic and a modern masterpiece — that forced us to examine our notions of love and loss. Last, but certainly not least, Lyric proudly brought the soulful gospel-fueled force of safronia to the stage after five years in production.

"Numi, venite a me" from Cherubini’s Medea

Lyric’s long-awaited premiere of Cherubini’s Medea made for a splashy start to the 2025/26 Season thanks to its all-star cast led by Chicago natives Sondra Radvanovsky and Matthew Polenzani. In this clip, it’s easy to see why Chicago Tribune critic Chris Jones hailed Radvanovsky’s portrayal of the scorned sorceress as the "most magnificent performance of the year." Calling on the gods to aid in her vengeance, Medea's dramatic Act III scene shows the tormented sorceress as she decides her children's fate.

"Viva il vino spumeggiante" from Mascagni's Cavalleria rusticana

Mascagni's Cavalleria rusticana is often mentioned in the same breath as Pagliacci, but it stands on its own in terms of drama and musicality. In this carefree ode to sparkling wine, Turiddu invites the villagers for a drink at his mother's tavern. Soon, however, jealousy will bring a dramatic end to the party. Following this stunning house debut, tenor SeokJong Baek returns to Lyric in the 2026/27 Season for a concert of Italian operatic masterworks with Sondra Radvanovsky and the Lyric Opera Orchestra.

"Stridono Lassù" from Leoncavallo's Pagliacci

What is the line between love and lust, jealousy and betrayal, reality and theater? In Leoncavallo's Pagliacci, we watch a marriage fall apart as jealousy — both real and imagined — drives Canio to madness and murder before a live audience. At the heart of the drama is his wife and fellow actress, Nedda (sung here by soprano Gabriella Reyes) who dreams of spreading her wings and escaping like the birds flying overhead. Reyes returns to Lyric in the 2026/27 Season in another opera swirling with rumors and retribution — Floyd's Susannah — in which she will take on the title role.

"Thirty-Three" from A Night of Mellon Collie and Infinite Sadness

The atmosphere was electric as legendary alt-rock frontman Billy Corgan took the stage at Lyric for the first time. Paired with acclaimed operatic soloists, the Lyric Opera Orchestra and Chorus, and Maestro James Lowe, this orchestral and operatic interpretation of The Smashing Pumpkins' seminal 1995 album was a true love letter to the city of Chicago. In this clip, Corgan performs a new arrangement of his hit song, "Thirty-Three" with the Lyric Opera Orchestra during the first of seven sold-out performances of A Night of Mellon Collie and Infinite Sadness.

“Finale” from Strauss's Salome

After 20 years, Strauss’s gory thrill ride returned to Lyric with soprano Jennifer Holloway in the title role. There are few moments in opera as iconic or shocking as Salome’s hair-raising finale. Lasting for more than 15 minutes, it demands intense concentration, flawless technique, and a consummate actress. In life, John the Baptist refused Salome's advances, but as the opera comes to its dramatic end — with equal parts horror and fascination — she gets her kiss.

"Donne mie, la fate a tanti” from Mozart's Così fan tutte

Is young love fickle and fleeting or is human nature a bit more complex than many romantic stories would have us believe? In Mozart’s Così fan tutte, two couples find themselves in the middle of a prank gone very wrong. In this fiery Act II aria, Guglielmo (sung here by Ryan Opera Center alumnus Ian Rucker) lists the many fine merits of the fairer sex, but also his grievances with how he and his friend have been treated by their fiancées. The man doth protest too much, methinks. Rucker gets another chance to show off his comedic skills as Dr. Malatesta in Donizetti’s Don Pasquale in Lyric’s 2026/27 Season.

"Scuoti quella fronda di ciliegio" from Puccini's Madama Butterfly

Puccini went straight for the heart in Madama Butterfly. In this scene, we watch with equal parts hope and apprehension as Cio-Cio San (soprano Karah Son) and Suzuki (mezzo-soprano Nozomi Kato, both in their Lyric debuts) prepare for the return of Lt. Pinkerton following a three year absence. Spring has sprung, but reality soon comes crashing in.

"Mictlán, ten piedad" from Gabriela Lena Frank and Nilo Cruz’s El último sueño de Frida y Diego

Gabriela Lena Frank and Nilo Cruz’s acclaimed opera asks what you would do if you were given one more day with a lost love? On Día de Muertos, the goddess Catrina (soprano Ana María Martínez) asks Mictlán to have mercy on Diego Rivera, who is nearing the end of his life. With a bang of her staff, she awakens Frida Kahlo from the dead, allowing her to cross into the land of the living — reconnecting not only with her husband, Diego, but with her true love: art.

safronia sessions - “pilate [blood]”

During two sold-out performances, safronia turned the Lyric Opera House into a house of worship. Gospel, funk, soul, and blues came together to showcase American Classical Music and what opera can be. Long before avery r. young’s story of the Great Migration hit the stage, it was workshopped and recorded as a series of digital shorts. In this video, hear the original version of “pilate [blood]” that brings the opera to its dramatic conclusion as safronia finally faces off with the men she holds responsible for her family’s misfortune.

There was something for everyone to enjoy in Lyric’s 2025/26 Season, but the most obvious throughline is emotion — big, unapologetic, and impossible to ignore. Whether it’s the aching tenderness and explosive jealousy of Pagliacci or the luminous, fragile hope at the heart of Madama Butterfly, these works remind us why opera endures: it captures the extremes of human experience in a way nothing else can.