18 / 24
16
Angeles, Detroit), and Calbo/
Maometto II
(Toronto). Her other Met roles have included Suzuki/
Madama Butterfly
,
Hermia/
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
and
The Enchanted Island
, and three roles in a new production of
Lulu
. DeShong
has also earned much acclaim at Covent Garden, Washington National Opera, Munich’s Bavarian State Opera,
and the Aix-en-Provence Festival. Her wide-ranging concert repertoire has been heard with the major orchestras of
Chicago, Dallas, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Washington, Cincinnati, and Toronto, among many others.
MICHAEL FABIANO
, who makes his eagerly awaited Lyric debut opening the season as Rodolfo/
La
bohème
, is a winner of both the Richard Tucker Award and the Beverly Sills Artist Award. This season at
the Met he reprises his Rodolfo (previously a triumph at Covent Garden), while also making role debuts
as Faust/
Mefistofele
(Met) and Carlo/
Giovanna d’Arco
(Madrid). Highlights in recent seasons have been
Fabiano’s first Don José/
Carmen
(Aix-en-Provence), the title role/
Faust
(Houston), the Duke/
Rigoletto
(London, Paris, Los Angeles), Lensky/
Eugene Onegin
(London), Des Grieux/
Manon
(San Francisco,
Bilbao), and Edgardo/
Lucia di Lammermoor
(Met, Sydney). Fabiano triumphed in two rarities – Verdi’s
Il corsaro
and Massenet’s
Hérodiade
– at Washington Concert Opera. Other major venues include the
leading companies of Milan, Madrid, Amsterdam, Dresden, and Berlin, as well as the major orchestras of Cleveland, San
Francisco, Philadelphia, and Vienna. Recent recital activities include a seven-city American tour and a London recital debut
at Wigmore Hall. On DVD, Fabiano can be seen in the title role/Donizetti’s
Poliuto
and Alfredo/
La traviata
(both from
Glyndebourne), Cassio/
Otello
(Met), and Gennaro/
Lucrezia Borgia
(San Francisco).
The distinguished American bass-baritone
JAKE GARDNER
, who returns to Lyric this season
as Benoit and Alcindoro/
La bohème
, previously appeared with the company in Kurt Weill’s
Street Scene
and William Bolcom’s
A Wedding
(world premiere). His career has encompassed
productions at the Vienna Volksoper, Dresden’s Semperoper, Glyndebourne, Dutch National
Opera, the Edinburgh Festival, and the major houses of San Francisco, Los Angeles, Houston,
Washington, and Miami. Recently he sang his first Prince Gremin/
Eugene Onegin
at Eugene
Opera and portrayed Ashby/
La fanciulla del West
(Virginia Opera); Harold Ryan/Richard Auldon
Clark’s and Kurt Vonnegut’s
Happy Birthday Wanda June
(Indianapolis Opera, world premiere);
the Hermit/
Der Freischütz
, his 100th role (Virginia Opera); Sulpice/
La fille du régimen
t (Honolulu); Bartolo/
The Barber
of Seville
(Eugene, San Antonio); and Scarpia/
Tosca
(Piedmont Opera, Opera Coeur d’Alene). Gardner has sung a
wide variety of musical theater, including recent portrayals of Judge Turpin/
Sweeney Todd
(Houston) and Buffalo Bill/
Annie Get Your Gun
and Mayor Shinn/
The Music Man
(both at Glimmerglass Festival). This season’s highlights include
Gardner’s first Bailiff/
Werthe
r (Florida Grand Opera) and
The Ring Cycle in One Night
(Binghamton Philharmonic).
Soprano
WHITNEY MORRISON
, a Chicago native and a second-year Ryan Opera Center
member, has appeared at Lyric as Countess Ceprano/
Rigoletto
(debut) and Gerhilde/
Die Walküre
.
She returns to the company’s mainstage this season in
Idomeneo
and
Elektra
. Morrison is an alumna
of Alabama’s Oakwood University (Miss Pinkerton/
The Old Maid and the Thief
, soloist with the
university’s Aeolians ensemble) and the Eastman School of Music. Other performance credits
include the Rochester Institute of Technology’s celebration of Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy, “MLK
Expressions”; her debut at Rochester’s Kodak Hall singing Gershwin’s “My Man’s Gone Now” with the
Eastman Wind Ensemble; and Donna Anna/
Don Giovanni
with Chicago’s Floating Opera Company.
Among Morrison’s awards in competitions are top prizes in the National Classical Singer University Competition, the R.
Nathaniel Dett Club NANM Scholarship Competition, and the Musicians Club of Women Competition. The soprano
is a two-time recipient of the UNCF John Lennon Endowed Scholarship and a former finalist in the Luminarts Classical
Music Competition.
Whitney Morrison is sponsored by
J. Thomas Hurvis.
American baritone
ZACHARY NELSON
, who returns to Lyric this season as Marcello/
La
bohème
, has appeared with the company as Donner/
Das Rheingold
and Ping/
Turandot
. Last
season he reprised his portrayal of the title role/
The Marriage of Figaro
at Dresden’s Semperoper
and Belcore/
L’elisir d’amore
at Pittsburgh Opera. Other recent successes include Enrico/
Lucia di
Lammermoor
(Santa Fe) and Escamillo/
Carmen
(Dresden, Oslo, San Francisco, Palm Beach). He
has portrayed both Escamillo/
Carmen
and Masetto/
Don Giovanni
(company debut) at Toronto’s
Canadian Opera Company. In 2013/14 Nelson joined the Semperoper’s permanent ensemble, and
has appeared with the company as Paolo/
Simon Boccanegra
, Guglielmo/
Così fan tutte
, Belcore,
Marcello, and the Figaros of Rossini and Mozart. His portrayal of Mozart’s Figaro has been heard with the Aix-en-
Provence Festival; on tour in Bahrain; and in Santa Fe, where he has also sung Malatesta/
Don Pasquale
. Successes in
other roles include appearances with Japan’s Seiji Ozawa Music Academy Opera Project in Japan (
Die Fledermaus
)
and Washington Concert Opera (Strauss’s
Guntram
). The Maryland native is former first-place winner of the Licia
Albanese, George London, Liederkranz, and Opera Index vocal competitions.