Lyric Opera 2025-2026 Issue 12 - Rising Stars

7 | Lyric Opera of Chicago ENRIQUE MAZZOLA CONDUCTOR Lyric’s Music Director — the third in the company’s history — is internationally renowned as an interpreter and champion of bel canto opera and as a specialist in French repertoire and the works of Verdi. Mazzola’s recently completed tenure as Principal Guest Conductor at Deutsche Oper Berlin included recordings of Dinorah and Hérodiade and performances of Le prophète, Il barbiere di Siviglia, Werther, Falstaff, Les vêpres siciliennes , and Les contes d’Hoffmann . He served as Conductor in Residence for the Bregenz Festival from 2021 to 2024, where he conducted a new production of Rigoletto and recorded DVDs of Rigoletto , Madama Butterfly, Die Freischütz, Ernani , and Mosè in Egitto . He served as Artistic and Music Director of the Orchestre National d’Île de France from 2012 to 2019, and in 2018 was named a Chevalier de l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres. Mazzola made his debut at Lyric with Lucia di Lammermoor in 2016/17, and conducted Bellini’s I puritani in 2017/18. During 2019/20, he led Verdi’s Luisa Miller to launch the company’s Early Verdi Series and, in his first performances as Music Director, opened Lyric’s 2021/22 Season with Sir David McVicar’s new production of Macbeth . An accomplished interpreter of contemporary music, Mazzola recently conducted Missy Mazzoli and Royce Vavrek’s The Listeners (2024/25) and Terence Blanchard’s Champion (2022/23) at Lyric. He has conducted at the Metropolitan Opera, La Scala, the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, and the major houses of Vienna, Berlin, Munich, Zurich, Moscow, and Tokyo, as well as a historic Meyerbeer cycle with Deutsche Oper Berlin. Past major European festivals have included Glyndebourne (including DVD releases of Don Pasquale, Il barbiere di Siviglia, and Poliuto ), Salzburg ( Orphée aux Enfers ), Pesaro (Rossini Opera Festival), Venice, and Aix-en-Provence. Enrique Mazzola is supported by the John D.and Alexandra C.Nichols Endowed Chair . KYLE LANG DIRECTOR Lyric debut Recent directing credits include Intelligence with Virginia Opera; La traviata with San Diego Opera; Carmen with Florentine Opera; Hansel and Gretel with Utah Opera; Carmen with Virginia Opera; Don Giovanni with San Diego Opera and Virginia Opera; Turandot with Teatro Petruzzelli di Bari; La Bohème with Hawaii Opera Theatre; The Pirates of Penzance with Charlottesville Opera and Central City Opera; The Puccini Duo , Carmen , and As One with San Diego Opera; Becoming Santa Claus with Chicago Opera Theater; Die Zauberflöte with The Dallas Opera; Le nozze di Figaro , The Pirates of Penzance and La Cenerentola with Virginia Opera; Die Fledermaus with Utah Opera; and The Bear with Wexford Festival Opera. Lang's recent choreographic credits include La traviata with San Diego Opera; Carmen with Virginia Opera; Turandot with Virginia Opera and Teatro Petruzzelli di Bari; Becoming Santa Claus with Chicago Opera Theater; Ariadne auf Naxos with Santa Fe Opera; and Vanessa with Wexford Festival Opera. Upcoming projects include Il barbiere di Siviglia with Charlottesville Opera, The Turn of the Screw with CMU Opera, Pagliacci with Virginia Opera, The Pirates of Penzance with Arizona Opera, and Turandot with Virginia Opera and Santa Fe Opera. MICHAEL BANWARTH PIANIST Previously at Lyric: Music staff for Cavalleria rusticana/Pagliacci (2025/26) and Blue (2024/25). The third-year pianist with the Ryan Opera Center from Dubuque, Iowa, served on Lyric’s music staff for Champion (2023/24). Banwarth 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, he was a 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 . Banwarth was a staff pianist for the 2025 Internationale Meistersinger Akademie in Neumarkt, Germany (returning in 2026), and was invited to be a 2022 vocal piano fellow at Music Academy of the West. He has also held fellowships at the Bay ViewMusic Festival and the Atlantic Music Festival, and served as assistant music director and harpsichordist for the Iowa State Opera Studio during his undergraduate studies. Chicago engagements include two recitals for the Dame Myra Hess series. Michael Banwarth is sponsored by Nancy Dehmlow,Lori Julian for the Julian Family Foundation,Philip G.Lumpkin, and Richard O.Ryan . GEMMA D e CETRA STAGE MANAGER Previously at Lyric: Madama Butterfly , Così fan tutte , and Cavalleria rusticana/Pagliacci (all 2025/26); and The Listeners, The Marriage of Figar o, and Fidelio (all 2024/25). A second-year Ryan Opera Center member and the second person to hold the Stage Manager position in the Ensemble, DeCetra spent the past summer on the stage management team for the Trentino Music Festival in Italy, following an engagement with Chicago Opera Theater for She Who Dared. An alumna of Northwestern University’s theater program, where she received a 2023 Prague Quadrennial Grant for costume construction, she was the stage manager for Jason and the Argonauts for Lyric Unlimited’s 2023 Opera in the Neighborhoods . Other recent projects include Salieri's Falstaff (Chicago Opera Theater, 2025), L’incoronazione di Poppea (Chicago College of Performing Arts Opera, 2024), The Nose (Chicago Opera Theater, Wardrobe, 2023), and Indecent (Wirtz Center, 2023). She was also on the production staff at the 2023 Grant Park Music Festival. DeCetra is originally fromMadison, Wisconsin, where she worked with students at Children’s Theater of Madison and Shorewood Drama. Gemma DeCetra is sponsored by Roberta L.Washlow & Robert J.Washlow . Artist profiles (all 20 5/26); and The Listeners, The M rriage of Figar o, and Fidelio (all 0 4/25).