'Tosca' opens Lyric Opera's 55th season
Lyric Opera of Chicago's 55th season is at hand, with Saturday's gala opening performance of "Tosca" set to bring up the curtain at the Civic Opera House's Ardis Krainik Theatre.
The season will include 77 performances of eight operas running through March 27, and it contains works both familiar and new to the Lyric's repertory.
"Tosca," Giacomo Puccini's drama of passion and political intrigue set in 19th-century Rome, is an ideal season-opener, with Deborah Voigt, one of the world's leading dramatic sopranos, in the title role, along with Lyric Opera favorite James Morris as the evil Baron Scarpia and acclaimed tenor Vladimir Galouzine as Tosca's tragic love interest, Cavaradossi.
"Tosca," which has an early 6 p.m. curtain time for Saturday's opening, will be given 12 performances, six this fall and six in January with a different leading cast.
This is just the start of a typically wide-ranging season that includes operas of several different periods and cultures.
"We go from Mozart to (Leos) Janacek, we've got a Verdi opera, we've got a Puccini, some French opera, along with 'The Merry Widow.' I think it's a nicely balanced season," said general director William Mason.
Voigt, the suburban native who last year added Isolde to a list of Lyric Opera credits that includes the Empress in "Die Frau ohne Schatten" (2007-08) and her title-role debut in "Salome" in the 2006-07 season, brings another of her famous interpretations with "Tosca."
The scenic production of "Tosca" was bought by the Lyric from London's Royal Opera, and it is designed by the legendary Franco Zeffirelli. The Lyric freshened and first mounted the Zeffirelli production five years ago. "It's a beautiful production, a nice traditional production, which is what you want for 'Tosca,'" Mason said.
Sir Andrew Davis, the Lyric's music director, is conducting both "Tosca" and Charles Gounod's "Faust," which opens Oct. 5, along with Hector Berlioz's "The Damnation of Faust" later in the season. Producing two operatic versions of the "deal with the devil" Faust legend in one season is unusual, to say the least. "The Damnation of Faust" was titled a "dramatic legend" by Berlioz and is staged infrequently. It is usually heard in the concert hall, not the opera house.
"We had originally planned 'Les Troyens' ("The Trojans") by Berlioz but decided it was just too ambitious at this time," Mason said. "But we still wanted to do a Berlioz piece, and 'Damnation' does work very effectively as a staged production."
Gounod's "Faust," of course, has been part of the Lyric's heritage, dating back to 1955 and most recently seen here in 2003-04. "Faust" will run Oct. 5 to Nov. 14, staring Piotr Beczala and Joseph Kaiser sharing the title role, Ann Maria Martinez as Marguerite and René Pape and Kyle Ketelsen splitting the role of Mephistopheles.
For designer George Souglides' new production of "The Damnation of Faust" (Feb. 24-March 17), the cast includes Paul Groves (Faust), Susan Graham (Marguerite) and John Relyea (Mephistopheles).
The remaining operas this season are a new production of Giuseppe Verdi's "Ernani" (Oct. 27-Nov. 23); Leos. Janacek's "Katya Kabanova" (Nov. 25-Dec. 12); a new production of Franz Lehár's "The Merry Widow" (Dec. 5-Jan. 16); Gaetano Donizetti's "The Elixir of Love" (Jan. 23-Feb. 22); and to close the season, Mozart's "The Marriage of Figaro" (Feb. 28-March 27).
Free 30-minute lectures to every performance (except Saturday's gala opening night) will be held in the Ardis Krainik Theatre an hour prior to curtain. A ticket for that date's opera performance must be shown for lecture admission. Call (312) 827-5912 for more information.
Debuting this season are two new dining facilities at the Civic Opera House. The Sarah and Peer Pedersen Room and Florian Opera Bistro will open for business beginning with the second "Tosca" performance on Wednesday, Sept. 30. Both new dining areas will be open on performance days only, exclusively to ticketholders for that date's performance. Diners can reach both restaurants through the main entrance of the opera house, 20 N. Wacker Drive.
"When Lyric was able to purchase 6,800 square feet of additional space a year ago from Tishman Speyer Properties, co-owner of the Civic Opera Building, we felt it was important to create new dining facilities for the enjoyment and comfort of our patrons now and in the future," Mason said. "Thanks to the generosity of two members of our board of directors, Peer Pedersen and Sonia Florian, we were able to move ahead with this exciting project and open both new restaurants at the start of Lyric's 55th season, and the 80th anniversary of the Civic Opera House."
• For reservations or additional information, call (312) 827-5700. Reservations can also be made at lyricopera.org by clicking on "login" and selecting "add restaurant reservation."