Fortune’s wheel turned at Lyric Opera of Chicago on Friday, November 14, as Carl Orff’s choral masterpiece Carmina Burana thundered into its 2025/26 Season run. In the first of three performances, Music Director Enrique Mazzola marshaled the monumental forces of more than 225 artists — the Lyric Opera Orchestra; the Lyric Opera Chorus led by Chorus Director Michael Black; soloists Jasmine Habersham, David Portillo, and Ian Rucker; and the Uniting Voices Chicago children’s choir under the direction of Josephine Lee.
Enrique Mazzola and the Lyric Opera Orchestra and Chorus. Photo by Kyle Flubacker
Program highlights
Running just over an hour without intermission, Carmina Burana unites more than 225 artists in a sweeping exploration of fate, fortune, and the fleeting nature of joy and desire. The production features lighting design by Sarah Riffle and projections by Adam Larsen.
Still time to experience it live
Final performance:
• Tuesday, November 18 at 7:00 p.m.
Read the digital program book of Carmina Burana or visit lyricopera.org/carmina for more information.
Lyric’s 2025/26 Season is presented by the Robert and Penelope Steiner Family Foundation.
Lyric’s presentation of Orff’s Carmina Burana is generously made possible by Irene D. Pritzker in honor of Michael Black.
Maestro Enrique Mazzola is generously sponsored by Alice & John Butler, H. Gael Neeson, Sylvia Neil & Daniel Fischel, the Robert and Penelope Steiner Family Foundation, Mary Stowell, and the Zell Family Foundation as members of the Enrique Circle.
Lyric Opera of Chicago thanks its Official Airline, United Airlines, and acknowledges support from the Illinois Arts Council.
About Lyric
Lyric Opera of Chicago is committed to redefining what it means to experience great opera. The company is driven to deliver consistently excellent artistry through innovative, relevant, celebratory programming that engages and energizes new and traditional audiences.
Under the leadership of General Director, President & CEO John Mangum and Music Director Enrique Mazzola, Lyric is dedicated to reflecting, and drawing strength from, the diversity of Chicago. Lyric offers, through innovation, collaboration, and evolving learning opportunities, ever-more exciting, accessible, and thought-provoking audience and community experiences. We also stand committed to training the artists of the future, through The Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center; and to becoming increasingly diverse across our audiences, staff, programming, and artists — magnifying the welcoming pull of our art form, our company, and our city.
Through the timeless power of voice, the splendor of a great orchestra and chorus, theater, dance, design, and truly magnificent stagecraft, Lyric is devoted to immersing audiences in worlds both familiar and unexpected, creating shared experiences that resonate long after the curtain comes down.
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For more information, visit lyricopera.org.