Lyric Opera 2025-2026 Issue 10 - El último sueño de Frida y Diego

Lyric Opera of Chicago | 24 singing Ines in Francesca Zambello’s 90-minute adaptation of Il trovatore with Glimmerglass Festival, Third Spirit in The Magic Flut e at Ravinia, and Chief Officer’s Wife in The Knock with Cincinnati Opera. Sánchez also recently made returns to Opera Southwest for Zorro as Carlotta de Obragon and Arizona Opera as Dryade in Ariadne auf Naxos . She was the Audience Choice Award winner at the 2021 Jensen Foundation competition. ANA MARÍA MARTÍNEZ CATRINA Previously at Lyric: 12 roles since 2008/09, most recently Despina/ Così fan tutte (2025/26) and Florencia/ Florencia en el Amazonas (2021/22). Later this season, the Grammy Award-winning soprano will return to Lyric to sing a Beyond the Aria recital with pianist Craig Terry at the Harris Theatre. Last season, Martínez returned to LA Opera with appearances as Margarita Xirgu in Osvaldo Golijov’s Ainadamar , in the company's premiere, and as Despina in Così fan tutte , conducted by James Conlon. She also made her house debut at Pittsburgh Opera as the title role in Tosca , premiered her recital program “Unveiling” at the Houston Hobby Center with Andy Einhorn, appeared in residency with the Aspen Music Festival where she reprised “Unveiling,” and gave a performance of Ravel’s Schéhérazade with conductor Fabien Gabel. She was the inaugural recipient of the Lynn Wyatt Great Artist Award from Houston Grand Opera, where she made role debuts as Carmen and Cio-Cio-San, in addition to performing the title role of Rusalka , Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia , Nedda in Pagliacci , Mimì in La Bohème , Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni , and Lucero in the world premiere of Daniel Catán’s Salsipuedes . Additional performances include Elisabetta in Don Carlo with Bayerische Staatsoper; Contessa in Le nozze di Figaro , the title role of Carmen , Cio-Cio-San, and Mimi in La Bohème with LA Opera; and Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni and Cio-Cio-San in Madama Butterfly with the Metropolitan Opera. She is a Professor of Voice at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University. ALFREDO DAZA DIEGO Lyric debut This season the Mexican baritone sings Nabucco in Salerno, Rigoletto in Copenhagen, and Don Carlo in Berlin. In 2024/25 he returned to the Staatsoper unter den Linden to play Paolo Albiani in Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra , appeared in La traviata at the Dallas Opera and at Ópera nacional de Chile, in L’elisir d’amore in Salerno, and as Falstaff in Leipzig. Daza sang Diego Rivera in the world premiere of El último sueño de Frida y Diego at San Diego Opera, and reprised the role at San Francisco Opera. Recent highlights include Fedora at the Teatro Pérez Galdós in Las Palmas, a debut at the Liceu Theater in Barcelona as Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor , Ezio in Attila in Tenerife, Zurga in The Pearl Fishers in Dallas, and Joaquin in La del manojo de rosas in Oviedo. From 2003 to 2018, Daza was part of the ensemble at the Staatsoper unter den Linden, portraying roles such as Count Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro , Guglielmo in Così fan tutte , Belcore in L’elisir d’amore , and Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia . KEY’MON MURRAH LEONARDO Lyric debut This season, the countertenor sings the European premiere of Tyshawn Sorey’s Save the Boys at the Ruhrtriennale Festival and joins Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra for Handel’s Messiah under Nicholas McGegan. He tours Vivaldi’s Farnace in the role of Gilade with Ensemble I Gemelli, performing at Teatro Real, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, and Victoria Hall, Geneva. He sings Leshnoff’s The Sacrifice of Isaac with the Nashville Symphony Orchestra under Robert Spano, reprises the solo alto role in Jake Heggie’s Earth 2.0 with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, and at the Aspen and Bellingham Music Festivals, and performs in the world premiere of Angelica Negrón’s For everything you keep losing with the Dallas Symphony. He also tours the U.S. and France with Les Talens Lyriques and Christophe Rousset with a program entitled Handelian Heroes . Last season, Murrah debuted with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl in performances of Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms , led by Gustavo Dudamel. Other recent highlights include the world premiere of Earth 2.0 with the Fort Worth Symphony (and later performances with Grand Rapids Symphony) and a recital at the Kennedy Center as the 2024 recipient of the Marian Anderson Award. FINN SAGAL FIRST VILLAGER Previously at Lyric: A Policeman/ The Listeners (2024/25). The second-year Ryan Opera Center baritone from La Cañada Flintridge, California, has performed at Lincoln Center, 54 Below, and the Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas with such luminaries as Liza Minnelli, Michael Feinstein, and Kristin Chenoweth. Sagal made his company debut last spring in The Listener s. He received a 2025 Sara Tucker Study Grant, first place at the 2025 Saengerbund Awards, the 2025 Ginger and Jim Meyer Centennial Award from the American Opera Society, and third place in the 2024 Neue Stimmen competition. The baritone returned to the Aspen Opera Theater and VocalARTS program in 2025 as a Renée Fleming Artist, performing Guglielmo/ Così fan tutte , and participated in the 2023 Merola Opera Program. Sagal recently received a master’s degree at the Yale School of Music, where he performed the roles of Junius/ The Rape of Lucreti a, the Tutor/ Le Comte Ory , and Nick Shadow/ The Rake’s Progress . He holds an undergraduate degree in vocal performance from UCLA. Finn Sagal is sponsored by Lead Sponsor the Estate of Lois Siegel and cosponsors Patricia A. Kenney & Gregory J. O’Leary, Jennifer Malpass, and Julian Oettinger.