Porgy and Bess

P R O F I L E S | L Y R I C O P E R A O F C H I C A G O

DENNI SAYERS ( Choreographer, Associate Director ) Previously at Lyric: Five productions since 2000-01, most recently Porgy and Bess (2008-09); The Pirates of Penzance (2003-04); Sweeney Todd (2002-03).

Houston Grand Opera, Washington National Opera, The Dallas Opera, Glimmerglass, Canadian Opera Company, New York City Opera, Seattle Opera and San Francisco Opera including the full Ring cycle directed by Francesca Zambello. Among McCullough’s successes in theater have been the Broadway productions of Outside Mullingar , Jesus Christ Superstar (revival), After Ms. Julie , and The American Plan. McCullough’s work has also been seen Off-Broadway and in American regional theater companies, including the Shakespeare Theatre Company (Washington, D.C.), Mark Taper Forum, Long Wharf, The Old Globe, Oregon Shakespeare, Guthrie Theater, and Steppenwolf. International theatre credits include Whistle Down the Wind (Aldwych Theatre, London); Der Besuch der alten Dame ( Ronacher Theatre, Vienna), Artus (St. Gallen, Switzerland), and Rebecca (St. Gallen, also Stuttgart’s Palladium Theatre), and the U. K. tour of Jesus Christ Superstar. MICHAEL BLACK ( Chorus Master ) Australia in Sydney, Black prepared the OA chorus for more than 90 operas and many concert works. He returned there earlier this year for musical preparation of Otello . At OA he progressed from rehearsal pianist to assistant chorus master and children’s chorus master, before his appointment as chorus master. He has served in that capacity for such distinguished organizations as the Edinburgh Festival, Holland Park Opera (London), and, in Australia, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra (including Rachmaninoff’s The Bells , led by Vladimir Ashkenazy), and Philharmonia Choir, Motet Choir, and Cantillation chamber choir. One of Australia’s most prominent vocal accompanists, Black regularly performed for recitals, broadcasts, and recordings (he was heard numerous times in Australian Broadcast Corporation programs). He has been a lecturer at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, of which he is an alumnus. Black also holds a master’s degree in musicology from the University of New South Wales. Previously at Lyric Opera: Chorus master since 2011- 12; interim chorus master, 2009-10. Chorus master from 2001 to 2013 at Opera

a past recipient of Regional Dance America’s Best Young Choreographer Award and the Monticello Choreographer’s Award; the latter garnered her invitations to choreograph throughout America. In addition to Lyric Opera, she has performed in Chicago with Joel Hall Dancers, Salt Creek Ballet, and Second City Ballet. Tye is artistic director and principal ballet instructor at the Hyde Park School of Dance, which she founded in 1993. Four years later she founded Tyego Dance Project, which has performed at Steppenwolf, the Athenaeum, and throughout America in a revival of Spike Jones’s Nutcracker. SARAH HATTTEN ( Wigmaster and Makeup Designer ) Previously at Lyric Opera: in a wide repertoire at Des Moines Metro Opera and Michigan Opera Theatre (both since 2006), as well as Columbus Opera, Toledo Opera, the Cabrillo Music Festival, and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. She has also worked at Glimmerglass Opera and the major opera companies of Los Angeles, Omaha, Cleveland, Sarasota, and Central City, as well as Wisconsin’s American Players Theatre and, in Los Angeles, the Pantages Theatre and the Geffen Playhouse. Hatten earned a B. A. in music at Simpson College. CHUCK COYL ( Fight Director ) Previously at Lyric Opera: La damnation de Faust (2009-10); Porgy and Bess (2008-09); Roméo et Juliette (2006-07). A professional fight director for more than 30 years, Coyl is president of the Society of American Fight Directors. Recent credits include the Broadway production and national tour of August Osage County, The Crucible and Superior Donuts at Steppenwolf Theatre Company , Magnolia at the Goodman Theatre, and Private Lives at Chicago Shakespeare Theatre. Other notable productions in Chicago include the world premieres of Killer Joe (Next Lab Theatre), Bug ( Red Orchid Theatre), and The Point of Honor (Single Action Theatre Company). Coyl is a founding member of the Single Action Theatre Company, and is on the faculty of the Actor’s Gymnasium and Roosevelt University in Chicago. Wigmaster and makeup designer since 2011-12. Lyric’s wigmaster and makeup designer has worked

The British choreographer’s collaborations with Porgy and Bess director Francesca Zambello have included Paul Bunya n and The Bartered Bride at the Royal Opera at Covent Garden, Boris Godunov at English National Opera, Arshak 11 in San Francisco, Peter Grimes in Amsterdam, War and Peace at the Opéra National de Paris, and Of Mice and Men at the Bregenz Festival. Sayers has worked in many international theaters in an immensely varied operatic repertoire, ranging from Wagner ( Der fliegende Holländer , San Francisco Opera) to Rachel Portman ( The Little Prince (world premiere, Houston Grand Opera). Among her directing credits are Canadian Opera Company’s Boris Godunov and Tosca , Covent Garden’s Carmen at the Jerusalem Festival, West Side Story for Israel’s renowned Habima Theater; Virtual Reality at the London International Opera Festival; and Takeaway with Cambridge Theatre Company. She recently choreographed Henze’s Boulevard Solitude in Genoa and Turandot at Netherlands Opera. The latter was directed by Nikolaus Lehnhoff, with whom Sayers has collaborated at Lyric, Baden-Baden ( Eugene Onegin ), Glyndebourne Festival Opera ( The Bartered Bride ), and Covent Garden. The core of Sayers’s work remains operatic choreography, including Boulevard Solitude (Covent Garden), Tosca (Canadian Opera Company), and productions for Opera North, Scottish Opera, and New Israeli Opera.

AUGUST TYE ( Ballet Mistress )

Previously at Lyric Opera: 30 productions since 1993- 94 as dancer, choreographer, or ballet mistress, most recently Don Giovanni, Capriccio (both 2014-15); Die Fledermaus (2013-14).

The American dancer-choreographer’s operatic credits include remounting the choreography of Lyric’s Iphigénie en Tauride at San FranciscoOpera and Covent Garden. She has presented a 20-year retrospective of her work at Chicago’s Vittum Theater and Ruth Page Dance Center, as well as in her hometown, Kalamazoo, Michigan. Tye is

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