Lyric Opera 2024-2025 Issue 10 - Rising Stars in Concert

Lyric Opera of Chicago | 12 ENRIQUE MAZZOLA CONDUCTOR Lyric’s music director — only the third in the company’s history — is renowned as an expert interpreter and champion of bel canto opera and Verdi repertoire, and as a specialist in French repertoire. The Italian conductor made his Lyric debut with Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor in 2016/17. Mazzola is Principal Guest Conductor at the Deutsche Oper Berlin and, from 2022 to 2024, served as the first ever Conductor-in-Residence at the Bregenz Festival. He served as Artistic and Music Director of the Orchestre national d’Île de France from 2012 to 2019. Symphonic guest work has included the London Philharmonic, Philharmonia Orchestra, Vienna Symphony, Orchestre National de France, and Oslo Philharmonic. He has conducted at the Metropolitan Opera, La Scala, and the major houses of Florence, Berlin, Zurich, Moscow, and Tokyo, in addition to a historic Meyerbeer cycle for Deutsche Oper Berlin. Past major European festivals have included Glyndebourne (including DVD releases of Il barbiere di Siviglia , Poliuto , and Don Pasquale ), new productions in 2019 for Bregenz ( Rigoletto and Madama Butterfly ) and Salzburg ( Orphée aux Enfers ), Pesaro (Rossini Opera Festival), Venice, and Aix-en-Provence. Mazzola was born in Barcelona, Spain, into a musical family, and grew up in Milan, where he studied violin and piano, earning diplomas in composition and orchestral conducting at the Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi in Milan. Enrique Mazzola is supported by the John D.and Alexandra C.Nichols Endowed Chair. PAUL CURRAN DIRECTOR Previously at Lyric: Lulu (2008/09) and Die Frau ohne Schatten (2007/08). Recent engagements for the award-winning director include Tristan und Isolde (San Francisco Opera); La fanciulla del Wes t (Bologna); Il trovatore (Torino); Tosca and Otello (Canadian Opera Company); Carmen (Opera Philadelphia and Seattle); My Fair Lady (Teatro di San Carlo); Pagliacci (Royal Danish Opera); Der fliegende Holländer (Teatro Comunale di Firenze); Pique Dame (The Grange Festival); and The Bartered Bride (Garsington Opera). Other highlights include La donna del lago (DVD, Metropolitan Opera), The Tsar’s Bride (Royal Ballet and Opera), and Tannhäuser (Teatro alla Scala). Curran was Artistic Director of the Norwegian National Opera from 2007 to 2012. Other important projects include Pastorale (world premiere, Staatstheater Stuttgart); Becoming Santa Claus (world premiere, DVD, Dallas Opera); Ariadne auf Naxos (La Fenice); Der fliegende Holländer (Bologna, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino); Rusalka (New National Theatre Tokyo); La Cenerentola (Teatro Maestranza Seville); Tristan und Isolde (La Fenice); and Peter Grimes (Savonlinna Opera Festival). His production of Humperdinck’s Die Königskinder at Teatro San Carlo won the Italian Critics’ Prize, Premio Abbiati. LUCY BAKER MEZZO-SOPRANO Previously at Lyric: Second Peasant Girl/ The Marriage of Figaro (2024/25) and Karolka/ Jen ˚ufa (2023/24). A second-year mezzo-soprano with the Ryan Opera Center from Wilmington, North Carolina, Baker appeared in performances as Hansel/ Hansel and Gretel at the 2024 Aspen Music Festival. She is a recipient of the Opera Foundation Scholarship and will be joining the Deutsche Oper Berlin Stipendien for the 2025/26 Season. Baker has performed the title role/ Ariodante , Dorabella/ Così fan tutt e, and The Hostess/Blitzstein’s Triple-Sec with Curtis Opera Theatre. Previous roles include Cherubino/ Le nozze di Figaro and Hansel with DePaul Opera Theatre and Justice Ginsburg (cover) in Wang’s Scalia/Ginsburg with Chautauqua Opera Company. In concert, Baker has appeared with the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society and Chautauqua Symphony. She received the Edith Newfield Award from the Musicians Club of Women and first prize in her category from the Chicago Chapter of the NATS competition. A 2022 fellow at Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute, Baker holds a Bachelor of Music from DePaul University and a Master of Music from the Curtis Institute of Music. Lucy Baker is sponsored by Blythe McGarvie, Pamela Crutchfield, and Ms. Gay K. Stanek. MICHAEL BANWARTH PIANIST Previously at Lyric: Music staff for Blue (2024/25) and Champion (2023/24). The second-year Ryan Opera Center pianist recently completed a Master of Music in collaborative piano at the New England Conservatory of Music. A recipient of the Dean’s Scholarship and Gunther Schuller medal at NEC, Banwarth served as teaching assistant for the Song Lab program, performed frequently in the Liederabend and Sonata Night concert series, and prepared productions of The Turn of the Screw and L’enfant et les sortilèges . In summer 2022, he was invited to be a vocal piano fellow at Music Academy of the West. He has also held fellowships at the Bay View Music Festival and the Atlantic Music Festival, and served as assistant music director and harpsichordist for the Iowa State Opera Studio during his undergraduate studies. Michael Banwarth is sponsored by Nancy Dehmlow, Lori Julian for the Julian Family Foundation, Philip G. Lumpkin, and Richard O. Ryan. Artist profiles