Lyric Opera 2025-2026 Issue 12 - Rising Stars

9 | Lyric Opera of Chicago SIHAO HU BARITONE Previously at Lyric: Prince Yamadori/ Madama Butterfly and Second Nazarene/ Salome (both 2025/26). The first-year Ryan Opera Center baritone from Shenzhen, China, studied at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music and the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama in Cardiff. Highlights of his operatic experience include creating the title role of Tang Xianzu for its world premiere in 2017 and reprising it at the Sydney Opera House, the Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, and the Janáˇcek Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Brno, Czech Republic. Other roles in his repertoire include Ping/ Turandot , Silvio/ Pagliacci , Barmann/ Falscher Verrat , Figaro/ Il barbiere di Siviglia , Chorèbe/ Les Troyens , Germont/ La traviata , the title role/ Don Giovanni , Guglielmo/ Così fan tutte , and Conte Almaviva/ Le nozze di Figaro . Formerly an artist at Theater Kiel in Germany, Hu participated in the 2024 Merola Opera Program in San Francisco. In 2019, he won the Chinese Golden Bell Award for Music, the only standing music-related comprehensive award in China. Sihao Hu is sponsored by Lead Sponsor Peter Scheuermann and cosponsors Drs.George Dunea and Sally Metzler- Dunea,Richard W.Shepro & Lindsay E.Roberts, and Ms.Gay K.Stanek . CHRISTOPHER HUMBERT, JR. BASS-BARITONE Previously at Lyric: Six roles since 2024/25, most recently Imperial Commissioner/ Madama Butterfly and Second Soldier/ Salome (both 2025/26). Last season at Lyric, the third-year Ryan Opera Center bass- baritone sang Ceprano/ Rigoletto , 2nd Prisoner/ Fidelio , and 3rd Policeman/ Blue . Other engagements this season include soloist in Haydn’s Creation with the Seattle Symphony, Messiah with Erie Philharmonic, and the Verdi Requiem with the Nashville Symphony. Humbert has performed widely throughout his home state of Ohio, including appearances with Opera Columbus, Mid-Ohio Opera, and Nightingale Opera Theatre. Other engagements include Boston Lyric Opera, Detroit Opera, Florida Grand Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, the Seagle Festival, Utah Festival Opera, and Annapolis Opera. Recipient of a 2025 Sullivan Foundation Award, Humbert was invited for the 2025 Young Singers Project at the Salzburg Festival and is a former participant in the artist development programs at Palm Beach Opera and Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. He is recipient of the 2025 Luminarts Cultural Foundation Men’s Voice Fellowship and a 2024 American Opera Society of Chicago Scholarship Award. Christopher Humbert, Jr. is sponsored by Lead Sponsor Patricia Frank and cosponsors Maria C.Green & Oswald G.Lewis,Mary Houston,in loving memory of James Houston, and the Bill & Orli Staley Foundation . CHI-YUAN LIN CONDUCTOR Previously at Lyric: Music staff for Madama Butterfly, Salome, and Cavalleria rusticana/ Pagliacci (all 2025/26); and Fidelio (2024/25). Born in Taoyuan, Taiwan, Lin is the second artist named to the Conductor position with the Ryan Opera Center. This season she returned for another season as Music Director and Conductor of the Avanti Orchestra in Washington, D.C. In the 2024/25 Season, she was engaged by Des Moines Metro Opera as associate conductor ( The Flying Dutchman ); she returns there in 2026. Previous engagements include the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Richmond Symphony Orchestra, Hartford Symphony Orchestra, São Paulo Symphony Orchestra, and Peabody Opera Theatre. Lin was invited to participate in the 2023/24 Taki Alsop Conducting Fellowship program, the 2023 Fiskars Summer Festival in Finland, the 2023 Taiwan National Symphony Orchestra Educational Program, and the 2021 Aspen Music Festival Conducting Fellowship program. She is currently pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in orchestral conducting at the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University. Lin was awarded the 2026-28 Taki Alsop Conducting Fellowship. Chi-Yuan Lin is sponsored by David Whitney & Juliana Chyu and Louise Yoder,in memory of Dorothy H.Whitney and Jack Whitney II . ALEXIS PEART MEZZO- SOPRANO Previously at Lyric: Second Frida Image/ El último sueño de Frida y Diego and Kate Pinkerton/ Madama Butterfly (both 2025/26). Peart is a first-year Ryan Opera Center mezzo-soprano from Titusville, New Jersey. A former Jane & Steven Akin Emerging Artist with Boston Lyric Opera, she appeared there as Arbate/ Mitridate , The Choreographer/ The Seasons , Mrs. Noah/ Noah’s Flood , Tisbe/ La Cenerentola , and Big Stone/ Eurydice . Other recent roles include Dorabella/ Così fan tutte , Jo/ Little Wome n, Ruggiero/ Alcina , Taller Daughter/ Proving Up , title role/ Giulio Cesare , Der Trommler/ Der Kaiser von Atlantis , and Ada Lovelace in the world premiere workshop of Ruehr’s The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage . The mezzo can be heard on Boston Modern Orchestra Project and Odyssey Opera’s Grammy-nominated recording of Anthony Davis’s X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X and on several art song releases by PARMA Recordings. An Encouragement Award winner in the 2023 Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition New England Region and recipient of second prize in the 2026 Musicians Club of Women Competition, Peart is a two-time alumna of the Wolf Trap Opera Studio and has worked with the Princeton Festival, Chautauqua Opera Company (Studio Artist), and Rochester Oratorio Society. Alexis Peart is sponsored by Lead Sponsor Blythe McGarvie and cosponsors Karen Petitte and the Thierer Family Foundation . EMILY RICHTER SOPRANO Previously at Lyric: First Handmaiden/ Medea (2025/26) and First Peasant Girl/ The Marriage of Figaro (2024/25). The second-year Ryan Opera Center soprano from Arlington, Virginia, was a national winner of the 2024 Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition. In the summer of 2025, she was in residence at the Aix-en-Provence Festival Académie. She recently completed two years as a Resident Artist with Pittsburgh Opera. Role highlights during her tenure include the title role/ Iphigénie en Tauride , Countess/ Le nozze di Figaro , Ma/ Proving Lin was invi ed to participate in the 2023/24 Taki Alsop Conducting