My Fair Lady

DARIO ACOSTA

Heading the Walküre cast are Eric Owens (Wotan) and Christine Goerke (Brünnhilde).

FAY FOX

Season of Discovery Costume sketches by Marie-Jeanne Lecca for Die Walküre : Hunding (left) and Brünnhilde (right).

MIKOLAJ MIKOLAJCZYK

stage Giuseppe Verdi’s Rigoletto, one of the greatest dramas in the Italian repertoire. For more than 150 years operagoers have been riveted by the barbed-tongued court jester Rigoletto and his desperate attempt to avenge his daughter Gilda, after she’s seduced and abandoned by the licentious Duke of Mantua. “Audiences invariably thrill to the music of Rigoletto ,” Freud declares, “with so many highlights, including the Duke’s exuberant ‘La donna è mobile,’ Gilda’s exquisite ‘Caro nome,’ and opera’s most famous quartet.” The dramatic power that a great Rigoletto communicates onstage can be truly hair-raising. Lyric has a remarkable artist to sing the role: “All of us in this company are immensely proud that Quinn Kelsey, a Ryan Opera Center alumnus and that rare singer, a true Verdi baritone, will be returning in his signature role. Rigoletto has been a triumph for him at major houses across Europe and

North America.” Matthew Polenzani, one of the foremost tenors of our time and also a Ryan Opera Center alumnus, will portray the Duke. These Lyric favorites will be joined by two debuting artists: Rosa Feola, the captivating young Italian soprano who will portray Gilda after her great success at the CSO last season as Nannetta in Falstaff ; and the charismatic Ukrainian bass Alexander Tsymbalyuk, who will sing Sparafucile. “I’m also delighted that Marco Armiliato, a master of his native Italian repertoire, will return to conduct,” says Freud, “and that E. Loren Meeker will direct San Francisco Opera’s very striking, new-to-Chicago production.” The new Ring cycle – a work described by Freud as “the most massive challenge that any opera company can undertake” – continues with the second opera in Wagner’s tetralogy, Die Walküre. The most passionate of the Ring operas, Walküre shows us an emotionally

The leading men of The Pearl Fishers are Mariusz Kwiecień (above, as Zurga) and Matthew Polenzani (as Nadir – he also sings the Duke of Mantua in Rigoletto ).

The Pearl Fishers, designed by Zandra Rhodes.

KEN HOWARD/SAN DIEGO OPERA

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