Share the beauty of music on #GivingTuesday

In showcasing opera’s relevance to everyday life and the artists who will drive its future, Lyric will host a workshop of The Factotum—a multi-genre retelling of The Barber of Seville set in a Black barbershop on Chicago’s south side—created by baritone Will Liverman, a Ryan Opera Center alumnus and rising opera star, and his co-creator K. Rico. Lyric plans to bring audiences along to experience the creation of this exciting piece in a way that will inspire more artists to create new music for the genre and draw new audiences to our beloved art form.

From their homes, Ensemble members captured themselves performing an array of thrilling arias and fun classics with personal recording devices while listening to accompaniment recorded at home by Ryan Opera Center Music Director Craig Terry and 2019/20 Ensemble pianist Madeline Slettedahl. The compiled videos were shared on social media and in emails to Lyric’s patrons, lifting spirits and reminding Lyric audiences that the music carries on in many forms. The series now continues as Ryan Opera Center at Work, with selections performed under strict health and safety protocols at the opera house for your enjoyment.

Lyric Unlimited is proud to be designated a Chicago Public School Tier 1 Remote Learning Partner! Lyric Teaching Artists will offer virtual residency programs in over 40 CPS classrooms this year. Elementary schools will engage in virtual classroom sessions focused on multi-disciplinary arts learning and storytelling through music; high school choir teachers and students will receive support and vocal instruction in virtual choir classrooms. In addition, Lyric is also launching virtual EmpowerYouth! and the return of the Youth Opera Council.

This spring, we’re reimagining the final installment of Wagner’s Ring cycle (in a compressed adaptation) into a parking garage. Yes, you read that correctly! A thrilling combination of live performances and installation settings puts audiences at the center of Twilight: Gods, an immersive, seventy-minute performance art experience inspired by Lyric’s canceled 2019/20 Götterdämmerung production. Spoiler alert: ticket holders will see and hear this opera and its cathartic immolation scene in an entirely new way. This immensely creative experience is the result of a partnership and co-creation between Lyric and Michigan Opera Theatre in Detroit, where it premiered last month to enthusiastic accolades.

When performances resume in autumn 2021, a new seating plan that provides important and much-needed updates to Lyric's theater accessibility will await you in the Ardis Krainik Theatre. Thanks to a generous gift from an Anonymous Donor in support of Lyric's Patron Accessibility Initiative, brand-new seats are set to be in place throughout the house, newly reconfigured for an improved patron experience.

Maestro Enrique Mazzola will conduct a new Sir David McVicar production of Verdi’s Macbeth to open his first season as our music director. We also welcome Barrie Kosky’s renowned silent-movie-inspired take on Mozart’s The Magic Flute, as well as two Lyric premieres: Daniel Catán’s Florencia en el Amazonas, a beautiful romantic work inspired by the magical realism of Gabriel García Márquez; and Terence Blanchard’s Fire Shut Up in My Bones, based on the profound memoir of New York Times journalist Charles M. Blow