Lyric Opera 2026-27 season includes 7 operas, summer musical
Lyric Opera of Chicago’s coming 2026-27 season will include seven operas — “Don Giovanni,” “Omar,” “Don Pasquale,” “Hérodiade: An Opera in Concert,” “Ariadne auf Naxos,” “La traviata,” and “Susannah” — as well as the return of its popular summer musicals program with a production of “Guys and Dolls.”
The slate, announced at a traditional event at the Lyric Opera House on Thursday morning, was described by general director, president and CEO John Mangum as “a celebration of excellence, discovery and bold storytelling” that reflected a modest expansion in the total number of performances over what has been typical in the last two years. He also said the famed soprano Sondra Radvanovsky had been hired as Lyric’s artistic advisor for the next five seasons.
The Lyric season opens Oct. 10 with Mozart’s “Don Giovanni,” completing Lyric’s exploration of the Mozart/Da Ponte trilogy that began with “The Marriage of Figaro” and “Così fan tutte,” staged over the past two seasons. This will be one of five operas this season conducted by Enrique Mazzola, and will be directed by former Goodman Theatre artistic director Robert Falls. Christian Van Horn stars in the title role with Lawrence Brownlee as Don Ottavio and Mané Galoyan as Donna Anna.
Playing in fall repertory with “Don Giovanni,” beginning Oct. 23, will be Rhiannon Giddens and Michael Abels’ Pulitzer Prize-winning opera “Omar.”
Co-commissioned and first seen at the Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2022, the opera loosely follows the life of Omar ibn Said, and is based on his autobiography “A Muslim American Slave: The Life of Omar ibn Said,” written in 1831, mostly in Arabic. The music is eclectic and includes sounds associated with Islam as well as bluegrass, hymns and spirituals. Issachah Savage returns to Lyric in the title role of Omar alongside Kearstin Piper Brown as Julie, Zoie Reams as Fatima and Kyle Ketelsen as the two masters, Johnson and Owen. Kazem Abdullah conducts.
From Nov. 12-27, Lyric will stage Donizetti’s “Don Pasquale” for six performances. Mazzola conducts this production from the Glyndebourne Festival in Britain, directed by Mariame Clément, who will make her Lyric debut. Misha Kiria will play the title role, joined by Ying Fang as Norina, Alberto Robert as Ernesto and Ian Rucker as Dr. Malatesta.
Some special events conclude the Lyric fall, including “Wagner: Myth and Music,” a concert program conducted by Alexander Soddy, playing Nov. 20 and 22 and utilizing Lyric’s new concert shell. The Lyric Opera Orchestra will perform “Encanto in Concert Live to Film,” on Nov. 28-29 and, in another concert-movie hybrid, “Amadeus Live,” will be performed Jan. 15-16, 2027, replete with Lyric Opera Chorus.
Haydn’s oratorio “The Creation,” will be conducted by Mazzola on Jan. 22-23, 2027, with the Lyric Opera Orchestra and Chorus and three soloists: Erin Morley, David Portillo and Michael Sumuel.
The spring opera season kicks off with Jules Massenet’s rarely performed “Hérodiade: An Opera in Concert,” Feb. 23-28, 2027, replete with a newly commissioned video. Clémentine Margaine, Federica Lombardi, Igor Golovatenko, and Piero Pretti are the soloists.
In March, Richard Strauss’s “Ariadne auf Naxos” returns in director John Cox’s production for six performances, March 11-26, 2027. Leah Hawkins, Erin Morley, Samantha Hankey and Russell Thomas are set to perform, with conductor Oksana Lyniv making her Lyric debut.
Running in repertory from March 24 to April 25, 2027 (for a notable 11 performances) will be Verdi’s “La traviata.” Mazzola will conduct most performances of this revival of Arin Arbus’ production with singers to include Yaritza Véliz, Liparit Avetisyan and Amartuvshin Enkhbat.
April also brings Carlisle Floyd’s iconic American opera “Susannah” to the Lyric stage for the first time since 2002, for five performances April 11-23, 2027. Conducted by Daniela Candillari and directed by Patricia Racette this Appalachian fable will star Gabriella Reyes as Susannah.
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Lyric Opera of Chicago in a previous production of Verdi’s “La traviata.” (Andrew Cioffi)
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Lyric Opera of Chicago in a previous production of Verdi’s “La traviata.” (Andrew Cioffi)
The spring opera season concludes with “Sondra Radvanovsky and SeokJong Baek in Concert” on April 30 and May 2, 2027 — an evening of arias and duets by opera’s leading composers featuring the Lyric Opera Orchestra conducted by Riccardo Frizza.
The summer musical, Frank Loesser’s “Guys & Dolls,” is a revival of this past winter’s Shakespeare Theatre Company of Washington production directed by Lyric regular Francesca Zambello and choreographed by Joshua Bergasse (“Smash”). Shows with the full original orchestrations are slated for June 4-20; casting has yet to be announced, but it likely will feature some different performers from Washington.
“We’re showing what an opera company in the 21st century needs to do to appeal to the broadest popular audience,” Magnum said.
Indeed, Lyric has avoided the severe financial crisis that has beset its much larger peer, New York’s Metropolitan Opera, which has been forced to draw down its endowment to cover budget deficits.
“We’re enjoying the best financial position we’ve had in over a decade,” Magnum said in an interview about Lyric’s situation. “So now we can expand a little, and that’s a credit to the staff and the board, but also to everyone in Chicago who supports us and turns out for our shows. It should be a point of pride for the city that Chicago has such a strong opera company.”
Various other community events are also planned during the year.
For full details, visit LyricOpera.org.
Chris Jones is a Tribune critic
cjones5@chicagotribune.com