Lyric Opera tickets now available
With summer at the midway point, Lyric Opera of Chicago is already moving toward the opening night of its 57th season on Oct. 1.
Individual tickets have just gone on sale for all eight operas, and season subscriptions are also still available.
This weekend offers a taste of what's to come, when the Lyric's Ryan Opera Center ensemble members perform as part of the Grant Park Music Festival at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance in Millennium Park. The performances are at 6:30 p.m. today and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 6, offering Act 2 of Gaetano Donizetti's “Don Pasquale” and Act 2 of Gioachino Rossini's “La Cenerentola,” along with Mozart's German one-act opera “The Impresario,” narrated by the Lyric's Jack Zimmerman in English.
Carlos Kalmar will conduct the musicians of the Grant Park Orchestra, many of whom are also members of the Lyric Opera Orchestra.
All of the Ryan Opera Center ensemble members will take part: sopranos Emily Birsan, Kiri Deonarine, Jennifer Jakob; mezzo-sopranos Emily Fons, Cecelia Hall; tenors René Barbera, Bernard Holcomb, James Kryshak; baritones Paul La Rosa, Joseph Lim, Paul Scholten; bass-baritone David Govertsen and bass Evan Boyer.
Admission is free on a first-come, first-seated basis, with the lobby opening an hour before the concerts and the theater opening 30 minutes before the scheduled concert time. Parking is available in the Millennium Park and Grant Park garages.
2011-12 single-ticket information: This season the Lyric is offering lower ticket prices on the main floor for selected dates with prices starting at $59. On selected dates, main-floor tickets will start at $59. Patrons are again given the opportunity to select their exact seats and performance dates online at lyricopera.org and print their own tickets at home. Personalized online packages of three, four, five or six operas can be put together with buyers getting a 10 percent discount, which is automatically applied at checkout.
The Lyric is offering 72 performances of eight productions this season, four more than in 2010-11. Prices start at $34 for the upper balcony and, as previously noted, $59 on the main floor.
This year's operas are “The Tales of Hoffmann” by Jacques Offenbach (Oct. 1-29); Gaetano Donizetti's “Lucia di Lammermoor” (Oct. 10-Nov. 5); Modest Mussorgsky's “Boris Godunov” (Nov. 7-29); Richard Strauss' comedy, “Ariadne auf Naxos” (Nov. 19-Dec. 11); Mozart's final opera, “The Magic Flute” (Dec. 6-10, Jan. 4-22); Giuseppe Verdi's “Aida” (Jan. 21-Feb. 8, Mar. 6-25); and Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein's groundbreaking American theater drama “Show Boat” in its Lyric Opera premiere for 13 performances Feb. 12 through March 17. The season's final production is George F. Handel's “Rinaldo” (Feb. 29-March 24).
Season brochures are available on request, and single tickets may be purchased by going to lyricopera.org or by calling (312) 332-2244, ext. 5600 (9 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday).
Lyric Opera presents Lang Lang: Tickets are now on sale for piano superstar Lang Lang's May 12 recital presented by Lyric Opera of Chicago at the Civic Opera House, his only Chicago-area concert in the 2011-12 fall-spring season.
The renowned Chinese pianist has chosen Bach's Partita No. 1 in B-flat Major, Schubert's Sonata in B-Flat Major and a selection of Chopin Etudes.
Tickets can be purchased at lyricopera.org or by calling Lyric's ticket office (312) 332-2244, ext. 5600. They will also be available at Lyric's box office at 20 N. Wacker Drive starting at noon Sept. 19.
Regular-priced tickets range from $25 to $125 with premium-priced tickets available for $500, which include a post-concert reception with Lang Lang. In addition to the regular theater seating, limited stage seating will be available for $95 and $125, for which reservations can be made by calling Lyric's ticket office.
A video camera will be positioned above the keyboard to enable concertgoers seated in the theater to view the pianist's hands on a large screen above the stage.
Lang Lang burst upon the worldwide scene with his 1999 debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at age 17, when he replaced an ailing colleague on short notice for Tchaikovsky's B Minor Concerto under conductor Christoph Eschenbach at the Ravinia Festival. Lang's most recent appearance at Ravinia took place July 7 when he joined Eschenbach and the CSO for music by Franz Liszt and Frederic Chopin.
“I am honored and thrilled to have an opportunity to perform at the Civic Opera House, the home of the legendary Lyric Opera of Chicago,” Lang said. “My longtime fascination with opera and its power to transform reality has, in a way, informed my own piano playing. I have been trying to channel the same degree of passion and intensity into my performances, and I see this recital as my tribute to this highly compelling genre. It is also a pleasure to play in front of a new audience and I hope that they will enjoy the experience.”