Così fan tutte MOZART CosìMOZART Daniel - Cosi fan tutte Cover (new).indd 2 fan tutte1/16/2018 5:42:57 PM LYRIC OPERA OF CHICAGO Table of Contents ROBERT KUSEL IN THIS ISSUE Così fan tutte – pp. 20-35 6 From the General Director 20 Tonight’s Performance 38 Artistic Roster 8 From the Chairman 21 Synopsis 39 Lyric and Social Media 10 Board of Directors 23 Cast 40 Patron Salute 11 Women’s Board/Guild Board/Chapters’ 24 Artist Profiles 43 Aria Society Executive Board/Young Professionals/ 30 Opera Notes 52 Breaking New Ground Ryan Opera Center Board 34 Director's Note 53 Look to the Future 12 Administration/Administrative Staff/ Production and Technical Staff 35 After the Curtain Falls 54 Major Contributors – Special Events 36 and Project Support 14 Piano Run-Throughs at Lyric: Musical Staff/Orchestra/Chorus Nearly Ready for Prime Time 37 Backstage Life 55 Lyric Unlimited Contributors 56 Commemorative Gifts Piano 57 Ryan Opera Center CORY WEAVER CORY 58 Ryan Opera Center Alumni Run-Throughs Around the World at Lyric: 59 Ryan Opera Center Contributors Nearly Ready 60 Planned Giving: The Overture Society for Prime Time 62 Corporate Partnerships 63 Matching Gifts, Special Thanks and Acknowledgements pp. 14-18 64 Annual Individual and Foundation Support 71 Facilities and Services/Theater Staff On the cover: detail from “The Summer-Time French Riviera,” 1928 Southern Railway poster (F. Whatley, artist). McCorquodale & Co. Limited, London. 2 | February 17 - March 16, 2018 Since 1991 www.performancemedia.us | 847-770-4620 3453 Commercial Avenue, Northbrook, IL 60062 Gail McGrath Publisher & President Sheldon Levin Publisher & Director of Finance A. J. Levin Director of Operations Account Managers Rand Brichta - Arnie Hoffman Executive Editor Southeast Michael Hedge 847-770-4643 Southwest Betsy Gugick & Associates 972-387-1347 Lisa Middleton East Coast Manzo Media Group 610-527-7047 Marketing and Sales Consultant David L. Strouse, Ltd. 847-835-5197 Editor Terry Luc Graphic Designer Roger Pines Lory Richards Graphic Designer Associate Editor Joy Morawez - Josie Negron Accounting Magda Krance Willie Smith Supervisor Operations Earl Love Operations Administrative Offices: Wilfredo Silva Operations 20 North Wacker Drive Steve Dunn Web & Internet Development Suite 860 You can view this program on your mobile device at performancemedia.us. Chicago, Illinois 60606 For advertising information call 847-770-4620. To see our Terms and Conditions relating to advertising orders, visit our website at www.performancemedia.us. All contents copyrighted. All rights reserved. Nothing may be reproduced in any manner without written permission. © 2018 Performance Media & Gail McGrath & Associates, Inc. is a Woman Owned Business 4 | February 17 - March 16, 2018 LYRIC OPERA OF CHICAGO From the General Director Opera thrills us to our depths not simply through great music and great theater, but through the brilliance with which those elements reveal the truth of human emotion. The greatest opera composers aren’t simply peerless musicians – they’re also brilliant psychologists who bring us the hearts and souls of their characters with unique, astounding insight. In the entire history of opera, no composer merits this description more than Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, especially in his Così fan tutte. A great Così performance gives an audience satisfaction of a very rare kind, since LEONARD STEVE the challenges are so overwhelming. The piece requires, first of all, true singing actors – an ensemble of six star performers, all of them superbly accomplished musically and vocally. Mozart has given them many opportunities to make their presence felt in solo passages (for example, there’s nothing more moving in the Mozart operas than Ferrando’s love song in Act One or Fiordiligi’s private examination of her feelings in Act Two). Thanks to Mozart and his librettist, Lorenzo da Ponte, each of these six individuals onstage undertakes an emotional journey in the course of the opera, in which each of the five other characters plays a significant role. These are all intensely human figures, very specifically defined: dignified Fiordiligi and flighty Dorabella, lovestruck Ferrando and exuberant Guglielmo, earthy Despina and world-weary Don Alfonso. The miracle of the opera is the musically and dramatically enthralling interplay among them. The great question applied to any Così production is how the director chooses to treat the ending: will the young women return to their fiancés, or will they go off with their new partners? The answer to that question is something I always look forward to, and of course, I won’t reveal here the direction we’ll take for this finale at Lyric! The suspense will make that moment all the more rewarding for everyone in the audience. Fiordiligi in Così, one of Mozart’s most exacting soprano roles, has been closely associated with Lyric favorite Ana María Martínez throughout her career, and I’m thrilled that she can now bring this much-acclaimed portrayal to Lyric. I anticipate a captivating stage partnership between Ana María and Marianne Crebassa (Dorabella), who so delighted Lyric audiences in Romeo and Juliet two seasons ago. The same can be said of the dashing pair portraying their fiancés, Joshua Hopkins (Guglielmo) and Andrew Stenson (Ferrando), and of the opera’s two schemers: Elena Tsallagova (Despina) in her Lyric debut and Alessandro Corbelli (Don Alfonso), whose mastery of comic repertoire we’ve been privileged to witness frequently at Lyric over the past three decades. It’s always a joy for us to introduce an outstanding young American conductor to Lyric audiences. James Gaffigan, still less than a decade into his international career and already praised for his Mozart at Glyndebourne and the Vienna State Opera, is making an indelible impression with other major opera companies and orchestras worldwide. At Lyric he’s collaborating with the gifted Bruno Ravella, who is reviving John Cox's marvelous production. John’s extraordinarily perceptive response to both the humor and the sheer humanity of the Mozart/da Ponte operas has produced innumerable glorious performances of this repertoire at every leading house internationally, including our previous Così revival in 2006/07. Refresh your spirits and enrich your hearts with Così fan tutte, one of the true masterpieces of opera. Anthony Freud General Director, President & CEO The Women’s Board Endowed Chair 6 | February 17 - March 16, 2018 LYRIC OPERA OF CHICAGO From the Chairman On behalf of the Board of Directors, I’m delighted to welcome you to Lyric Opera of Chicago. This season has been a particularly varied and distinctive one. Prior to the captivating presentation of Mozart›s Così fan tutte that you’re enjoying tonight, our audiences thrilled to Gluck’s exquisite Orphée et Eurydice in John Neumeier’s historic new production; a powerfully dramatic revival of Verdi’s Rigoletto; the second installment of Lyric’s monumental new production of Wagner’s Ring cycle with Die Walküre; Bizet’s ravishing The Pearl Fishers; Puccini’s ROSENBERG TODD formidable Turandot; and Bellini’s glorious I puritani. I hope you’ll return for the final opera of the mainstage season, Gounod’s matchlessly romantic Faust. Speaking personally, one of the most rewarding aspects of Lyric – not only as chairman, but as a longtime subscriber and patron – is my joy in introducing family, friends, and business colleagues to the company and the art form. I hope you’ll consider doing the same! When I receive out-of-town visitors during the opera season, I always try to include an evening at Lyric. It’s inevitably a major highlight of their stay. A Lyric performance isn’t only an opportunity to dress up and go out with your significant other or with close friends for an elegant evening – it’s also an unforgettable and rewarding experience of timeless stories set to some of the world’s greatest music and performed by many of the top artists of our day. Lyric’s mainstage productions are, of course, the core of every season we present. I also encourage you to explore the unique activities of Lyric Unlimited, our initiative focused on community engagement and education. It is one of the ways that the company stays relevant as a cultural service provider to all of Chicago, whether with newly commissioned works, community-created performances or the special programs presented in dozens of public schools all over Chicago every year. The level of creativity at work in Lyric Unlimited presentations has been truly inspiring, and it has exposed the art form of opera to tens of thousands of students across Chicagoland. By presenting opera in new and non-traditional ways, Lyric Unlimited helps to grow and expand our audiences. I invite you to join me at one of the Lyric Unlimited performances of Fellow Travelers in March or Family Day at Lyric on April 7. At Lyric, we truly cherish our donors and patrons. We consider each one of you as members of the Lyric family. It can sometimes be trite to declare, “Every gift counts,” but at Lyric it’s true: you’re going above and beyond what you’re paying for the ticket price. You’re investing in Lyric, entrusting that we will turn your gift into great art. We take that responsibility very seriously and are constantly imagining new ways to enhance your personal experience at Lyric, build new audiences for opera, and do it all in the most cost-effective way we can. Many thanks to all of you who play a vital role in ensuring that our great art form and our great company continue to serve Chicago and the world of opera today and in the years to come. David T. Ormesher 8 | February 17 - March 16, 2018 LYRIC OPERA OF CHICAGO Board of Directors OFFICERS LIFE DIRECTORS Sonia Florian* Don M.