The British are singing! The British are singing!

The Lyric Opera of Chicago Tuesday announced its 2010-11 season, which features four new productions and two new-to-Chicago productions. But the Lyric might as well have trumpeted the news to the tune of "Rule Britannia" because of the high number of works in English (three out of eight) among other strong British cultural connections.

Lyric opens its 56th season on Friday, Oct. 1, with Verdi's Italian operatic take on Shakespeare's "Macbeth." Chicago Shakespeare Theater founder and artistic director Barbara Gaines makes her Lyric directing debut with the new production, which stars American baritone Thomas Hampson in the title role and German soprano Nadja Michael (Lyric debut) as his scheming Scottish spouse.

Two British works making their Lyric debuts are Handel's rarely performed 1744 "Hercules" (an opera that was originally performed as an English oratorio) in a new staging by American director Peter Sellars ("Doctor Atomic"), plus Benjamin Britten's 1960 operatic adaptation of Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" in a coproduction with Houston Grand Opera and Canadian Opera Company by Australian director Neil Armfield.

Local director Gary Griffin follows his Lyric operetta debut this season ("The Merry Widow") with a new production of Gilbert and Sullivan's "The Mikado."

American mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe makes her Lyric debut not only as Katisha in "The Mikado," but also as the fortuneteller Ulrica in a new-to-Chicago production of Verdi's "Un ballo in maschera" ("A Masked Ball"). Legendary Italian soprano Renata Scotto directs this work.

Wagner's "Lohengrin" returns with South African tenor Johan Botha on the bill to play the title role. This new-to-Chicago production by Elijah Moshinsky comes from the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London.

The remaining productions are both revivals: Director John Copley's celebrated 1999 staging of Bizet's "Carmen" and Tony Award-winning director Harold Prince's production of Puccini's "La fanciulla del West" ("The Girl of the Golden West"), which stars Wheeling native Deborah Voigt in the title role.

Superstar American soprano Renee Fleming also stars in a one-night-only Subscriber Appreciation Concert on Sunday, Dec. 12.

For more information on casting and subscriptions (which become available Wednesday, Feb. 3), visit LyricOpera.org or call (312) 332-2244, ext. 5600.