Lyric Opera 2024-2025 Issue 8 - The Listeners

31 | Lyric Opera of Chicago CORRINE WALLACE-CRANE HORTENSE Previously at Lyric: Chorus member since 2010. A Lyric Opera Chorus member since the 2010/11 Season, Wallace-Crane has taken the roles of Shaindel/ Fiddler on the Roof and GPS/ Proximity (both 2022/23), 3rd Knaben/ The Magic Flute (2021/22), Sister Lillianne/ Dead Man Walking (2019/20), Sprite/ Cendrillon (2018/19), and Night Maid/ My Fair Lady (2016/17). She was alto soloist for Thamos, King of Egypt last season at Lyric. She was featured with the Grant Park Music Festival as the alto soloist in Vivaldi’s Gloria in 2021 and Rachmaninoff’s Vespers in 2017, and last summer returned to the festival in Mendelssohn’s The First Walpurgis Night . Wallace- Crane trained as a young artist at the Natchez Opera Festival, Central City Opera, and Sarasota Opera. JARED V. ESGUERRA VINCE Previously at Lyric: Chorus member since 2012. Last season, the Filipino-American tenor returned to the Madison Symphony Orchestra as the tenor soloist in Beethoven’s 9th Symphony. He recently made his Cincinnati Opera debut singing the role of Yakuside in Matthew Ozawa’s new production of Madama Butterfly . Recent company debuts include appearances at Chicago Opera Theater, Chautauqua Opera, and the Madison Symphony Orchestra. He sang Remendado/ Carmen and Chino/ West Side Story as a resident artist at Opera San José, and went on to Opera Theatre of Saint Louis as Frank/ Awakenings (world premiere) and in the ensemble for Harvey Milk , in a world premiere of the new performing edition. Other recent highlights include A-Rab in West Side Story at the Edinburgh International Festival, Fenton in Falstaff at the Crested Butte Music Festival, and Miles in The Turn of the Screw with Chicago Fringe Opera. On the concert stage, Esguerra recently appeared as the tenor soloist with the Chautauqua Symphony in their Opera Pops concert, with Chicago Symphony Orchestra in Now Let’s Sing , and with Chicago Sinfonietta in its MLK Tribute concert series. CHRISTOPHER FILIPOWICZ BRAM Previously at Lyric: Chorus member since 2021. This spring, the bass will take the role of King Rene in Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta with the Tahoe Symphony. He was most recently heard as the Innkeeper in Opera Festival of Chicago’s production of Manon Lescaut . Last season at Lyric he was the offstage voice in Jen ˚ufa and was previously seen at Lyric as the servant in Verdi’s Macbeth in 2021/22 and as the Speaking Priest in the 2016/17 production of Die Zauberflöte . In 2023, Filipowicz debuted with the chorus of the Metropolitan Opera for its performances of Verdi’s Requiem . As a former member of the Regular Chorus of San Francisco Opera, he made his mainstage debut as Une Voix in Massenet’s Manon during the 2017/18 Season. He was also seen as Ed in Jake Heggie’s It’s a Wonderful Life with San Francisco Opera as well as with the San Francisco Choral Society in performances of Mozart’s Great Mass in C minor and Amy Beach’s Canticle of the Sun . STEPHANIE SANCHEZ MRS. MORENO Previously at Lyric: Passenger #3/ Proximity (2022/23). The mezzo-soprano recently appeared with Opera Omaha as the titular Frida Kahlo in Gabriela Lena Frank’s El último sueño de Frida y Diego . Last summer, she joined the Newport Music Festival in the title role of Carmen and returned to West Edge Opera as Flosshilde/Fricka/Erda in Der Ring in einem Abend . This season, Sanchez returned to the Phoenix Symphony for Handel’s Messiah, and reprises the role of Carlotta de Obragon in Zorro with Arizona Opera, in addition to debuts with Seattle Opera as Yesi in the workshop of Stomping Grounds, and Des Moines Metro Opera as Mary in Der fliegende Holländer and Owl in The Cunning Little Vixen . Sanchez opened last season with a Kentucky Opera debut, performing the role of the Witch in Hänsel und Gretel. She also made debuts with the Phoenix Symphony, where she sang the alto solos in Mesías [Spanish Messiah ], Nettie Fowler in Carousel with Intermountain Opera Bozeman, and returned to Arizona Opera to reprise the role of Carlotta de Obragón in abbreviated performances of Hector Armienta’s Zorro for the company’s New Works Festival. ADIA EVANS THERESA ALVAREZ Previously at Lyric: Girlfriend 2/ Blue and Countess Ceprano/ Rigoletto (both 2024/25). Last season, the soprano, a member of the Ryan Opera Center Ensemble, debuted at The Cliburn in Recital with Jake Heggie, the Dayton Philharmonic (Handel’s Messiah ), and Annapolis Opera (First Lady/ The Magic Flute ). Other recent highlights include Mimì/ La Bohème with the Borderland Arts Foundation and Beethoven’s 9th with the National Orchestral Institute and Marin Alsop. Evans has performed with Santa Fe Opera, Merola Opera Program, Fort Worth Opera, Dallas Opera Guild, Opera Columbus, Tulsa Opera, and Knoxville Opera, among others. Her numerous honors include an Encouragement Award from the 2024 London Foundation Competition, third place in the 2023 and 2024 Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition, Midwest Region, second place and the soprano prize in the 2023 George Shirley Vocal Competition, and first place in the 2023 Dallas Opera Guild Lonestar Vocal Competition. Evans is also a recipient of a 2024 Richard F. Gold Career Grant. Adia Evans is sponsored by Lead Sponsor the H. Earl and Miriam U. Hoover Foundation and cosponsors Ron & Peggy Beata, Margo & Michael Oberman & Family, and Sheila & David Ormesher.