Lyric Opera of Chicago today announces the company’s 2025/26 Season, its first complete season under the leadership of new General Director, President & CEO John Mangum. A rich mix of traditional operas and other live performances anchored by the incomparable Lyric Opera Orchestra and Lyric Opera Chorus, the season includes two world premieres, two Lyric premieres, three new-to-Chicago productions, an expansion of the sold-out Movie Nights at Lyric series, a solo recital by one of opera’s most legendary stars, and performances by some of the biggest names in musical theater. Lyric also deepens its mission to be the cultural hub for live performance in Chicago by commissioning and producing the work of two iconic Chicago pioneers: alternative rocker Billy Corgan, who presents world-premiere concerts reimagining his era-defining album with The Smashing Pumpkins, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, for the operatic stage to celebrate its 30th anniversary; and Chicago Poet Laureate avery r. young, who writes and stars in the world-premiere musical work safronia.
"Next season is filled with a tremendous range of lavish and powerful opera productions that we are excited to share with our audiences," says John Mangum, General Director, President & CEO of Lyric Opera of Chicago. "I’m just as excited about a series of special performances and productions that open the aperture and expand the definition of opera and what an American opera company can be. The season clearly illustrates how this company continues to push the art form forward and create new work that can only happen in Chicago."
"I am also excited to continue the great partnership I share with Lyric’s Music Director Enrique Mazzola, and to have Lyric audiences experience his electrifying musical leadership," continues Mangum. "Next season, Enrique will conduct the work of five different composers, an eclectic and wide-ranging list that includes Cherubini, Mascagni, Leoncavallo, Orff, and Mozart. Outside of the opera house, Enrique continues to be a strong advocate for our art form throughout the city and a champion for our city in his travels around the world. He has truly earned his title of ‘Chicago’s maestro-around-town.’"
The company’s 71st anniversary season opens on Friday, October 10, 2025, with the Lyric Opening Concert & Gala. Continuing the event’s tradition ushering in the start of Chicago’s new cultural season, this special concert shines a spotlight on some of Broadway’s most beloved talents and showcases a different side of the Lyric Opera Orchestra's vast musical expertise. More information will be announced soon.
The opera season continues the next evening with the Lyric premiere of Cherubini’s tragedy of infidelity and vengeance, Medea, October 11–26, 2025. Conducted by Maestro Mazzola and presented in the Lyric coproduction directed by Sir David McVicar, Medea stars Chicago’s hometown diva Sondra Radvanovsky, for whom this production was created, in the title role. Performances also feature returning Lyric favorites Matthew Polenzani as Giasone, Zoie Reams as Neris, and rising star Elena Villalón in her Lyric debut as Glauce.
Following its sold-out, one-night-only premiere with Singin’ in the Rain earlier in the current season, the Movie Nights at Lyric series expands to include two performances of two beloved films, both steeped in the musical theater tradition, and each powered by the Lyric Opera Orchestra performing the score live on stage in harmony with the film shown on a huge screen above them. The first film is presented October 16 & 18, 2025, and the second film is presented on April 10 & 11, 2026; movie titles will be announced soon.
The season continues with a pair of Italian verismo one-act operas: Mascagni’s Cavalleria rusticana & Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci, on stage November 1–23, 2025. Known together as Cav/Pag, opera’s most thrilling double bill is conducted by Maestro Mazzola and presented in director Elijah Moshinsky’s Lyric production by revival director Peter McClintock. Cavalleria rusticana stars Yulia Matochkina as Santuzza and SeokJong Baek as Turiddu in their Lyric debuts alongside Lyric favorite Quinn Kelsey as Alfio. Kelsey also appears as Tonio in Pagliacci together with returning favorites Russell Thomas as Canio and Gabriella Reyes as Nedda.
November also brings Orff’s blazing cantata Carmina Burana to the stage, for three performances only, November 14–18, 2025. Conducted by Maestro Mazzola and with more than 225 artists on stage — the combined forces of the Lyric Opera Orchestra and Lyric Opera Chorus plus a large children’s chorus from Uniting Voices Chicago and soloists Jasmine Habersham, David Portillo, and Ian Rucker — Orff’s themes of the fickleness of fortune, the joys and sorrows of love, and the fleeting nature of existence are brought to vivid life.
A blockbuster month at Lyric continues with world-premiere performances celebrating the 30th anniversary of the decade-defining album by the legendary Chicago alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins: A Night of Mellon Collie and Infinite Sadness, for seven nights only, November 21–30, 2025. Iconic frontman Billy Corgan reimagines his magnum opus by marshaling all of Lyric’s technical and artistic forces — including the epic sound of the Lyric Opera Orchestra and Chorus and special guest artists — for an immersively original sonic and visual experience that blurs the boundaries of opera, rock, and performance art. Featuring newly commissioned arrangements and orchestrations by Corgan and James Lowe, who also conducts, as well as costumes from House of Gilles by Gilles and Chloé Mendel Corgan, these historic performances promise to further magnify the legend of the original album and expand the definition and intention of opera.
"It is thrilling to collaborate with Lyric head John Mangum, my musical partner James Lowe, and all of the artists at Lyric in reimagining this very special and historic album, and to discover how Lyric’s full operatic treatment is helping me experience my own compositions in powerful new ways," says Billy Corgan. "Opera and rock both tell stories of heightened emotions, and I am excited for both fans of my music and traditional opera fans to hear some truly inspired work; for the balance here is to honor both traditions in a magisterial way."
Tickets for A Night of Mellon Collie and Infinite Sadness go on sale to the general public on Friday, April 11 at 10:00 a.m. at lyricopera.org and are available to Lyric subscribers now, as part of a subscription package.
The winter brings a pair of operas that examine the romantic passions of women through startlingly different lenses. Salome, Richard Strauss’s explosive opera of obsession and depravity, returns to Lyric for the first time in nearly 20 years, January 25–February 14, 2026. Conductor Tomáš Netopil, the incoming Chief Conductor and Music Director of the Prague Symphony Orchestra, makes his Lyric debut leading a supersized Lyric Opera Orchestra through Strauss’s groundbreaking score. Sir David McVicar’s decadent and provocative production, revived by Julia Burbach, is set in 1940s fascist Italy and is presented in North America for the very first time. The demanding title role of Salome is sung by Elena Stikhina in her Lyric debut; returning stars Brandon Jovanovich and Tanja Ariane Baumgartner play her demented parents, Herod and Herodias; and Nicholas Brownlee makes his Lyric debut as the object of her deadly affection, Jochanaan.
In repertory with the dark and demanding Salome is Mozart’s lighthearted romantic comedy, Così fan tutte on stage February 1–15, 2026. Maestro Mazzola conducts Mozart’s sparkling score, and Michael Cavanagh’s new-to-Chicago production, set in a 1930s-era seaside country club, is revived by Roy Rallo. The opera — the second in Lyric’s exploration of the Mozart/Da Ponte trilogy of operas, following the current season’s The Marriage of Figaro — stars Jacquelyn Stucker as Fiordiligi, Cecilia Molinari as Dorabella, and Anthony León as Ferrando, all in their Lyric debuts, along with Ian Rucker as Guglielmo, Ana María Martínez as Despina, and Rod Gilfry as Don Alfonso.
International superstar Renée Fleming makes her much-anticipated return to the Lyric stage for one night only on Thursday, February 5, 2026, with a program based on her 2023 Grammy-winning album and performed with pianist Inon Barnatan. Voice of Nature: The Anthropocene, created in partnership with the National Geographic Society, which designed the recital’s captivating video elements, blends classic Romantic-era works and contemporary selections in a program that captures the evolution of the human experience in nature.
The unforgettable music of Puccini returns to Lyric when Madama Butterfly takes the stage, March 14–April 12, 2026. Conducted by Domingo Hindoyan and presented in a beautiful new-to-Chicago production from Lyric’s own Matthew Ozawa, this critically acclaimed presentation reckons with the opera’s outdated stereotypes and challenges audiences to reconsider their point of view while respecting the opera’s beloved scenic and musical traditions. Karah Son, one of the leading Butterflys of our time, makes her Lyric debut in the title role; the opera also stars Evan LeRoy Johnson as Pinkerton and Nozomi Kato as Suzuki, both in their Lyric debuts. Ozawa’s striking new vision for the opera’s traditional Japanese setting is executed by an all-female and all-Japanese design team, bringing new dimensions to the age-old story.
Paired with the classic Madama Butterfly is an acclaimed contemporary Spanish-language opera in its Lyric premiere: El último sueño de Frida y Diego (The Last Dream of Frida and Diego), by composer Gabriela Lena Frank and the librettist Nilo Cruz (librettist for Lyric’s world premiere Bel Canto in the 2015/16 Season), March 21–April 4, 2026. Conductor Roberto Kalb and director Lorena Maza, reprising their roles from the work’s 2022 world premiere and both in their Lyric debuts, lead this colorful, surrealist production in which Frida and Diego’s art comes to life on stage, powered by Frank’s lush, evocative music inspired by Mexican folk music traditions. Daniela Mack stars as Frida, and Alfredo Daza makes his Lyric debut as Diego. Ana María Martínez returns for a second appearance in the season as Catrina, and the rising star countertenor Key’mon W. Murrah makes his Lyric debut as Leonardo.
Lyric concludes its opera season with another world premiere: safronia, an Afro-surrealist opera featuring music and libretto by Chicago Poet Laureate avery r. young, for two performances only, April 17 & 18, 2026. safronia is young’s moving story of the Great Migration, told through the eyes of a family returning from the northern U.S. to their southern hometown to reckon with the ghosts of their past. First conceived following young's galvanizing appearance in Lyric’s Twilight: Gods in the 2020/21 Season, safronia marries folklore, poetry, and history with gospel, blues, funk, and soul. These vibrant, immersive, concert-style performances are directed by visionary storyteller Timothy Douglas in his Lyric debut.
"safronia is a deeply personal story to me — it is my story, but it is also our story, and I am honored to tell our story in our city’s great temple of culture," says young. "When words and music combine in opera, their powers take on even greater resonance and meaning. I can’t wait for Chicago to meet safronia and to come along on her operatic journey."
Continuing Year-Round Programs at Lyric
The excitement of its current 50th anniversary season will continue as The Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center, Lyric’s world-class artist-development program, marks another season of excellence in the 2025/26 Season. Members of the Ryan Opera Center Ensemble will appear in a variety of onstage roles, and several notable alumni of the program — including Matthew Polenzani, Quinn Kelsey, Lauren Decker, Ryan Capozzo, and Ian Rucker (who is finishing his tenure in the Ensemble this season) — will return to Lyric next season. The Ryan Opera Center Final Auditions, at which more than 20 finalists representing the world’s finest emerging artists audition for a spot in the Ryan Opera Center’s 2026/27 Ensemble, will be held Sunday, September 14, 2025. Rising Stars in Concert, the program’s annual showcase of its current Ensemble, will be held on Saturday, April 25, 2026.
Ryan Opera Center artists and members of the Lyric Opera Orchestra come together to signal a new cultural season is ahead with one of the city’s most anticipated free events: Sunday in the Park with Lyric, an annual concert conducted by Maestro Mazzola in the Pritzker Pavilion at Millennium Park, will be held Sunday, September 7, 2025.
Lyric Unlimited, the company’s Learning & Civic Engagement division, is dedicated to education and community initiatives that connect Lyric to the city of Chicago through collaborative programming. One of Lyric Unlimited’s most popular events for Chicago families — Explore Your Lyric, a day of fun and adventure for all ages at the Lyric Opera House — is set for Saturday, April 18, 2026.
Lyric Unlimited’s Opera in the Neighborhoods program also returns in the 2025/26 Season with both school and public performances of a powerful opera for young audiences. Katie: The Strongest of the Strong — An opera for all — composed by Faye Chiao with a libretto by Anton Dudley, is inspired by the true story of Katie Sandwina, a circus strongwoman in the early 1900s who helped lead the women’s suffrage movement. Opera in the Neighborhoods performances reach more than 5,000 students and their families each season through Lyric’s longstanding annual tours that include both school-based and public performances.
Lyric also plans an expansion of its existing program of Student Dress Rehearsals in the 2025/26 Season. In the current season, more than 2,000 Chicago students will attend dress rehearsals of operas, and current goals are to double student participation at dress rehearsals in the next season.
"All year long — whether on the stage with our world-class performances, backstage with our renowned artist-training programs and topflight design shops, or out in the community in classrooms, parks, and other spaces around the city — Lyric is the cultural hub for all of Chicago," says Mangum. "We look forward to continuing to bring Chicago audiences together to see and hear universal stories told through the singular power of live music and the human voice."
For more information on Lyric’s 2025/26 Season,
visit lyricopera.org/newseason
Lyric Opera of Chicago's 2025/26 Season Schedule
October 10, 2025: Lyric Opening Concert & Gala
October 11–26, 2025: Medea
October 16 & 18, 2025: Movie Nights at Lyric
November 1–23, 2025: Cavalleria rusticana & Pagliacci
November 14–18, 2025: Carmina Burana
November 21–30, 2025: A Night of Mellon Collie and Infinite Sadness
January 25–February 14, 2026: Salome
February 1–15, 2026: Così fan tutte
February 5, 2026: Renée Fleming in Recital — Voice of Nature: The Anthropocene
March 14–April 12, 2026: Madama Butterfly
March 21–April 4, 2026: El último sueño de Frida y Diego
April 10 & 11, 2026: Movie Nights at Lyric
April 17 & 18, 2026: safronia
Lyric Opera of Chicago acknowledges support from the Illinois Arts Council.
Lyric Opera of Chicago’s 2025/26 Season
Lyric Opening Concert & Gala
Friday, October 10, 2025 at 7:00 p.m.
Join us as our city ushers in the start of a new cultural season at Lyric Opera of Chicago. You’ll want to be part of this very special event where you’ll mingle with fellow arts lovers and be treated to an extraordinary performance by a to-be-revealed guest artist with the full forces of the Lyric Opera Orchestra. Save the date now and anticipate full details to come.
Gala Event
Enhance your experience by joining us for cocktails before the concert, then dine and dance the night away at our Lyric Opening Gala. You are the star as you walk the red carpet and enjoy premium seats to the most anticipated concert of the year.
Concert tickets start at $2,000. For more information about premium packages, please contact the Events Office at 312.827.5676 or gala@lyricopera.org.
Lyric Opening Gala is a project of the Women’s Board and is generously sponsored by Lisbeth Stiffel, Aon, Northern Trust, Karen Z. Gray-Krehbiel & John H. Krehbiel, Jr., ITW, and the Segal Family Foundation.
* * *
Medea
Cherubini
Lyric premiere and new coproduction
October 11, 14, 17, 20, 23m & 26m, 2025
Sung in Italian with projected English titles
Hell hath no fury like a sorceress scorned.
Euripides’s millennia-old tragedy of infidelity and revenge comes to life — and gruesome death — in this presentation of acclaimed director Sir David McVicar’s iconic, grand-scale production.
Featuring Lyric’s own Music Director Enrique Mazzola on the podium, this intense spectacle stars international powerhouse soprano Sondra Radvanovsky in one of the fiercest, most demanding roles ever written. She shares the stage with equally formidable tenor — and Lyric favorite — Matthew Polenzani.
Medea dials the drama up to 11, bringing new meaning to "blood and thunder" as it tantalizes hardcore opera lovers and leaves new audiences glued to the edge of their seats.
Medea: Sondra Radvanovsky
Giasone: Matthew Polenzani**
Glauce: Elena Villalón*
Neris: Zoie Reams
Creonte: Alfred Walker
Conductor: Enrique Mazzola
Director & Set Designer: Sir David McVicar
Costume Designer: Doey Lüthi*
Lighting Designer: Paule Constable
Projection Designer: S. Katy Tucker
Chorus Director: Michael Black
Movement Director: Jo Meredith*
* Lyric Opera of Chicago debut
** Ryan Opera Center alumnus
Lyric’s presentation of Cherubini’s Medea is generously made possible by Lisbeth Stiffel, Julie & Roger Baskes, and Marlys A. Beider.
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.
A coproduction of Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Metropolitan Opera, Greek National Opera, and Canadian Opera Company.
* * *
Movie Nights at Lyric
Classics you love on the silver screen, brought to life with the lush sound of the Lyric Opera Orchestra
Join Lyric for two delightful, family-friendly nights of superb live music and classic films. After our sold-out inaugural season, Movie Nights at Lyric return with two irresistible movies accompanied by the lush sound of the Lyric Opera Orchestra. It’s the perfect introduction to a live orchestra for fans of all ages.
October 16 & 18m, 2025
and
April 10 & 11m, 2026
* * *
Cavalleria rusticana &
Pagliacci
Mascagni & Leoncavallo
November 1, 4, 7, 9m, 12m, 15, 20m & 23m, 2025
Sung in Italian with projected English titles
Opera's most thrilling double bill returns after more than 15 years.
This duo of passionate one-act operas explores the depths of spurned lovers’ grief and the lengths they’ll go to in avenging betrayal. Deadly love triangles unfold against starkly contrasted backdrops of an idyllic Sicilian countryside and a chaotic urban center.
Music Director Enrique Mazzola leads a world-class cast that includes Lyric favorites Russell Thomas, Quinn Kelsey, and Gabriella Reyes in Elijah Moshinsky’s production.
With two shorter operas in a single performance, this is a perfect sampler for new operagoers. More seasoned audiences know it’s a delicious opportunity to revisit these tragic classics.
Cavalleria rusticana
Santuzza: Yulia Matochkina*
Turiddu: SeokJong Baek*
Alfio: Quinn Kelsey**
Mamma Lucia: Lauren Decker**
Pagliacci
Nedda: Gabriella Reyes
Canio: Russell Thomas
Tonio: Quinn Kelsey**
Silvio: Luke Sutliff*
Conductor: Enrique Mazzola
Original Director: Elijah Moshinsky
Revival Director: Peter McClintock
Set & Costume Designer: Michael Yeargan
Lighting Designer: Duane Schuler
Chorus Director: Michael Black
* Lyric Opera of Chicago debut
** Ryan Opera Center alumni
Lyric’s presentation of Mascagni’s Cavalleria rusticana and Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci are generously sponsored by Josef & Margot Lakonishok and Sonia Florian.
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.
* * *
Carmina Burana
Orff
Conductor Enrique Mazzola
Featuring the Lyric Opera of Chicago Orchestra & Chorus
November 14, 16m, and 18, 2025
Sung in the original languages with projected English titles
You’ve heard "O Fortuna" a thousand times — now experience the thrill of this complete work at Lyric.
For three performances only, Enrique Mazzola leads the celebrated Lyric Opera Orchestra and Chorus in Carmina Burana, the sweeping cantata based on 24 medieval poems. Lyric’s talented musicians bring this masterpiece to life in all its visceral dimensions, from sotto voce choral staccatos to bombastic crashes of brass.
As the music envelops you, contemplate the whims of fickle fortune — or simply enjoy an extended spooky season with its lush, melancholy, and oh-so-familiar strains.
Conductor: Enrique Mazzola
Chorus Director: Michael Black
Soloists:
Jasmine Habersham
David Portillo**
Ian Rucker**
** Ryan Opera Center alumni
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.
* * *
A Night of Mellon Collie and Infinite Sadness
Billy Corgan
World premiere
November 21, 22, 25, 26, 28, 29, 30, 2025, at 7:30 p.m.
Sung in English with projected English titles
An alt-rock masterpiece, reborn.
Billy Corgan achieved stratospheric fame as the founder, frontman, and creative force behind the legendary Smashing Pumpkins. A Grammy winner whose powerful songwriting, commanding vocals, and inventive melodies were the foundation for the massive, decade-defining double album Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, Corgan now teams up with Lyric Opera of Chicago, his hometown company, to celebrate the 30th anniversary of this groundbreaking album with his signature boundary-pushing, innovation, and imagination.
The result is A Night of Mellon Collie and Infinite Sadness, a new commission inspired by one of the greatest alternative albums of all time. You’ll hear Billy Corgan and special guest artists along with the epic sound of the Lyric Opera of Chicago Orchestra and Chorus in a completely new sonic and visual experience. Whether you love the Pumpkins and are excited to hear their music in a sumptuous new dimension, or you simply crave the opportunity to hear a new work inspired by the unexpected, this promises to be one of the can't-miss cultural collaborations of the season.
Composer: Billy Corgan*
Arrangements & Orchestrations: James Lowe and Billy Corgan
Conductor: James Lowe
Chorus Director: Michael Black
Costumes: House of Gilles by Gilles and Chloé Mendel Corgan*
* Lyric Opera of Chicago debut
* * *
Salome
Richard Strauss
New-to-Chicago production
January 25, 29, February 3, 6, 11m & 14, 2026
Sung in German with projected English titles
Every obsession has consequences. Sometimes they’re deadly.
Based on Oscar Wilde’s one-act play, Salome has been thrilling and fascinating audiences for more than a century. Lyric brings Sir David McVicar’s decadent production — which is set in 1940s fascist Italy and sheds a harsh light on the timeless greed and entitlement of the elite — to Chicago.
This gory thrill ride returns to Lyric for the first time in 20 years starring Elena Stikhina in the demanding title role of a teenage femme fatale whose infatuation has fatal implications, alongside Lyric favorites Brandon Jovanovich and Tanja Ariane Baumgartner.
Salome drips with decadence that matches Strauss’s lyrical score and German libretto. From the infamous "Dance of the Seven Veils" to Salome’s shocking last kiss, this production will leave you breathless.
Salome: Elena Stikhina*
Herod: Brandon Jovanovich
Jochanaan: Nicholas Brownlee*
Herodias: Tanja Ariane Baumgartner
Narraboth: Ryan Capozzo**
Page: Catherine Martin
Conductor: Tomáš Netopil*
Original Director: Sir David McVicar
Revival Director: Julia Burbach*
Designer: Es Devlin*
Original Lighting Designer: Wolfgang Göbbel
Video Designer: 59 Productions*
Original Choreographer: Andrew George
Revival Choreographer: Emily Piercy*
* Lyric Opera of Chicago debut
** Ryan Opera Center alumnus
Production by the Royal Ballet and Opera, first seen at the Royal Opera House, London on February 21, 2008.
* * *Così fan tutte
Mozart
New-to-Chicago production
February 1m, 4m, 7, 10, 13 & 15m, 2026
Sung in Italian with projected English titles
A rom-com battle of the sexes, just in time for Valentine’s Day.
Two officers, convinced all women are fickle in love, hatch a plan to switch places and woo each other’s fiancées in disguise — but the women know exactly what they’re up to from the start.
Hilarity and dazzling arias ensue in a 1930s-era seaside country club, where frothy costumes and splashy sets belie an undercurrent of distrust and deception on par with a binge-worthy reality show.
Conducted by Enrique Mazzola and featuring a fresh ensemble of star artists alongside Grammy honorees Ana María Martínez and Rod Gilfry, Così sets off vocal pyrotechnics that bubble and burst with athleticism.
Fiordiligi: Jacquelyn Stucker*
Dorabella: Cecilia Molinari*
Ferrando: Anthony León*
Guglielmo: Ian Rucker**
Despina: Ana María Martínez
Don Alfonso: Rod Gilfry
Conductor: Enrique Mazzola
Original Director: Michael Cavanagh*
Revival Director: Roy Rallo
Set Designer: Erhard Rom*
Costume Designer: Constance Hoffman
Lighting Designer: Jane Cox*
Chorus Director: Michael Black
* Lyric Opera of Chicago debut
** Ryan Opera Center alumnus
Lyric’s presentation of Mozart’s Così fan tutte is generously made possible by The Negaunee Foundation and Randy L. & Melvin R.* Berlin. *deceased
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.
A San Francisco Opera production. Scenery construction and painting by the San Francisco Opera Scene Shop. Costumes fabricated by the San Francisco Opera Costume Shop.
* * *
Renée Fleming in Recital
Voice of Nature: The Anthropocene
Lyric premiere
Thursday, February 5, 2026 at 7 p.m.
One of the world's great artists explores our connection to the natural world.
International superstar Renée Fleming makes her much-anticipated return to the Lyric Opera of Chicago stage with a program based on her 2023 Grammy-winning Best Classical Vocal Solo Album. Created in partnership with the National Geographic Society, Voice of Nature: The Anthropocene blends classic Romantic-era works and contemporary works in a program that captures the evolution of the human experience in nature.
With video curated by the National Geographic Society, Renée Fleming and pianist Inon Barnatan create an eclectic performance that allows audiences the opportunity for reflection on the beauty of our planet and to rekindle a love for the natural world through song.
* * *
Madama Butterfly
Puccini
New-to-Chicago production
March 14, 19, 22m, 25m, 28, 31, April 6, 9m & 12m, 2026
Sung in Italian with projected English titles
A timeless tragedy — in dazzling contemporary technicolor.
Meet Cio-Cio-San — known as Madama Butterfly — a faithful but doomed geisha in love with B.F. Pinkerton. Everyone but Butterfly knows the Navy lieutenant will break her heart and ruin her life.
Opera newcomers will be swept away by the familiar melodies, gorgeous costuming, and colorful sets — and seasoned opera fans will thrill at this beautiful, thoughtful production from Lyric’s own Matthew Ozawa that brings new dimension to an age-old story.
Conducted by Domingo Hindoyan and starring Karah Son, one of the leading interpreters of Butterfly in our time, Puccini’s soaring and often heartbreaking melodies unite with captivating stagecraft for a singular experience.
Cio-Cio-San: Karah Son*
Pinkerton: Evan LeRoy Johnson*
Suzuki: Nozomi Kato*
Sharpless: Zachary Nelson
Goro: Rodell Rosel**
Bonze: Jongwon Han*
Conductor: Domingo Hindoyan
Director: Matthew Ozawa
Set Designer: dots*
Costume Designer: Maiko Matsushima*
Lighting Designer: Yuki Nakase Link
Chorus Director: Michael Black
* Lyric Opera of Chicago debut
** Ryan Opera Center alumnus
Lyric’s presentation of Puccini’s Madama Butterfly is generously made possible by Lisbeth Stiffel, Invenergy, and Randy L. & Melvin R.* Berlin. *deceased
A coproduction of Cincinnati Opera, Detroit Opera, Utah Opera, and Pittsburgh Opera.
Scenery constructed by Cincinnati Opera.
Costumes constructed by Cincinnati Opera, Costume Works, Inc. and Utah Opera.
* * *
El último sueño de Frida y Diego
(The Last Dream of Frida and Diego)
Music by Gabriela Lena Frank
Libretto by Nilo Cruz
Lyric premiere
March 21, 24, 26, 29m, April 1m & 4m, 2026
Sung in Spanish with projected English titles
How would you spend a single day reunited with lost love?
On the Day of the Dead, Mexican artist Frida Kahlo crosses over from the underworld for 24 short hours with Diego Rivera, who remains in the living world, alone and grieving her loss.
El último sueño, which had its critically acclaimed world premiere in 2022, brings the legendary marriage — and revolutionary art — of Frida and Diego to the stage with vivid colors, surrealist touches, and lush, evocative music sung in Spanish and inspired by Mexican folk music traditions.
Director Lorena Maza and conductor Roberto Kalb invite audiences to join in the couple’s dreamlike journey through their memories of love, passion, and everything they created together.
Frida: Daniela Mack (3/21, 24, 26, 29, 4/4), Stephanie Sanchez (4/1)
Catrina: Ana María Martínez
Diego: Alfredo Daza*
Leonardo: Key’mon W. Murrah*
Conductor: Roberto Kalb*
Director: Lorena Maza*
Set Designer: Jorge Ballina*
Costume Designer: Eloise Kazan*
Lighting Designer: Victor Zapatero*
Chorus Director: Michael Black
Choreographer: August Tye
* Lyric Opera of Chicago debut
Lyric’s presentation of Gabriela Lena Frank and Nilo Cruz’s El último sueño de Frida y Diego is generously made possible by the Zell Family Foundation and the Pritzker Foundation.
A coproduction of San Diego Opera and San Francisco Opera. Scenery constructed at San Diego Opera Scenic Studio. Costumes constructed at San Diego Opera Costume Shop.
* * *
safronia
avery r. young
World premiere
April 17 & 18, 2026
Performed in English
Be the first to experience this remarkable work by one of Chicago’s most exciting voices.
For two performances only, Lyric presents a world premiere musical work from Chicago’s first-ever poet laureate, the celebrated interdisciplinary artist avery r. young. From the first note, safronia will draw you in with its compelling storytelling.
Triumph and tragedy converge in a personal yet universal story of the Great Migration. This Afro-surrealist tale is told through the eyes of the Booker family, who return from the northern U.S. to their Southern hometown after five years of banishment to bury their patriarch.
Conceived following young’s groundbreaking collaboration with Lyric around Twilight: Gods in 2021, safronia marries folklore, poetry, and history, with gospel, blues, funk, and soul. The result is an inspiring, immersive, and vibrant performance experience born from an authentic Chicago story.
Director: Timothy Douglas*
Additional casting and creative team to be announced
* Lyric Opera of Chicago debut
Lyric’s presentation of avery r. young’s safronia is generously made possible by the Pritzker Traubert Foundation.
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.