September 18, 2020
Lyric Family Favorites: September 25
First-year Ryan Opera Center pianist Chris Reynolds has already achieved great acclaim, with performances hailed by Opera News as “exquisite” and played with “jaw-dropping virtuosity.” Currently a doctoral fellow at The Juilliard School, he recently performed with LA Opera in a recital with tenor Andrew Owens, as well as in Ricky Ian Gordon’s new opera, Intimate Apparel, at Lincoln Center Theater. In a new video as part of the Ryan Opera Center From Home series, Reynolds performs a stunning interpretation of the infamous “Dance of the Seven Veils” from Strauss’s Salome. Watch — and prepare to be amazed.
Plus, meet Lyric’s Operations Finance Director Michael Schoenig, learn about a lost generation of Black conductors, and check out next week’s opera streaming opportunities.
Ryan Opera Center from Home: “Dance of the Seven Veils”
Backstage Life: Michael Schoenig
Lyric’s Operations Finance Director
Grand opera is probably the most complex art form in existence, with sets, costumes, orchestra, chorus, soloists, supernumeraries, stage management, and stage crew all converging in one big show. With all of these diverse elements comes an incredibly complex set of costs and schedules. Meet the man who handles the financial side of this big puzzle, Operations Finance Director Michael Schoenig.
America’s lost generation of Black conductors
What happened to these great artists?
The road to becoming a well-known conductor is incredibly steep and narrow, and for centuries, white males have had an unfair advantage in treading that path. The 1970s saw a number of outstanding Black conductors rise to prominent positions in operas and symphonies — learn more about this generation of musicians in a fascinating article from WQXR.
Week of September 28: Streaming opportunities
Watch from home
This week, watch the first virtual concert from Chicago organization Hearing in Color, Good, Necessary Trouble, plus a collaboration between Chicago Children's Theatre and Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Verdi’s La traviata from Opera Australia, and more!
Opera…seeks, more obviously than any other form, to break your heart.