Lyric Opera 2025-2026 Issue 1 - Medea

Lyric Opera of Chicago | 28 Artist profiles SONDRA RADVANOVSKY MEDEA Previously at Lyric: Nine roles since 2002/03, most recently Lady Macbeth/ Macbeth (2021/22) and Lisa/ The Queen of Spades (2019/20). Highlights this season for the renowned soprano include the title role in Tosca at Teatro di San Carlo, the Opéra National de Paris, and Slovenia’s Ljubljana Festival, and Turandot at the Bayerische Staatsoper. In concert, she joins the American Symphony Orchestra for a Christmas Night Opera Gala at Carnegie Hall, and appears alongside tenor Freddie De Tommaso at the Teatro di San Carlo for a program of works by Verdi, Puccini, and Mascagni. She will also perform songs and arias in recital at the Palau de la Música in Barcelona, accompanied by pianist Vincenzo Scalera. Highlights from last season include Tosca at Deutsche Oper Berlin and the Metropolitan Opera, Odabella in Attila in concert at the Teatro Real, Maddalena di Coigny in Andrea Chenier at Deutsche Oper Berlin, and the title role in Turandot at London’s Royal Ballet and Opera. She also embarked on a ten-city European concert tour with tenor Piotr Beczała, singing arias and duets from various operas. Last season at Lyric, she sang The Puccini Heroines , a program slated for release next year on Pentatone Records, which also recorded her 2019/20 program at Lyric featuring Donizetti’s “Three Queens:” Anna Bolena, Maria Stuarda , and Elisabetta in Roberto Devereu x. Radvanovsky’s debut album Verdi Arias was released in 2010 on the Delos label, followed in 2011 by a CD of Verdi opera scenes with her frequent artistic partner, the late Dmitri Hvorostovsky. Recent highlights of her discography include the release of Warner Classics’s new recording of Turandot , accompanied by the Orchestra and Chorus of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia under the baton of Antonio Pappano. MATTHEW POLENZANI GIASONE Previously at Lyric: 15 roles since 1995/96, most recently the title role/ Idomeneo (2018/19) and Nadir/ The Pearl Fishers (2017/18). This season, the distinguished American tenor and Ryan Opera Center alumnus returns to the Metropolitan Opera for two productions, in the role of Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly and as Don José in Carmen , a role he reprises later this season at Teatro alla Scala. Among other highlights at Lyric, he sang Duke/ Rigoletto (2017/18) and Tamino/ The Magic Flute (2016/17). Polenzani begins the new year in Budapest, with performances of Verdi’s Requiem at MUPA, followed by his role debut as Riccardo in Un ballo in maschera at the Opéra Bastille. He will appear in Werther at Barcelona’s Gran Teatro del Liceu, before appearing as Florestan in Fidelio at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich. Highlights of last season include a series of favored title roles: Werther at the Wiener Staatsoper, and Mozart’s Idomeneo in a new San Francisco Opera production directed by Lindy Hume. He sang Maurizio in Adriana Lecouvreur at Teatro Real de Madrid and Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly at Gran Teatro del Liceu. He returned to the Met as Rodolfo in La Bohème , and he joined Gianandrea Noseda and the National Symphony Orchestra as Anatol in Barber’s Vanessa . His season also included recital appearances with pianist Julius Drake at the Hungarian State Opera and Oper Frankfurt, as well as a concert debut of Schubert’s Schwanengesang with the Chamber Music Society. Polenzani was the recipient of the 2004 Richard Tucker Award, the Metropolitan Opera’s 2008 Beverly Sills Artist Award, and a 2017 Opera News Award, among numerous other accolades. ELENA VILLALÓN GLAUCE Lyric debut This season, the Cuban American soprano makes a series of company debuts including Dalinda in Ariodante at the Royal Opera House, Pamina in Die Zauberflöte at Opéra de Bordeaux, and Fiorilla in Il turco in Italia at the Glyndebourne Festival. On the concert platform, she joins the Los Angeles Philharmonic for concerts of Beethoven’s Egmont arias under the baton of Gustavo Dudamel and Mozart Requiem at the Hollywood Bowl lead by James Gaffigan. Other concert highlights include Haydn’s Paukenmesse at the Wiener Konzerthaus. Recent highlights include a solo recital debut at Carnegie Hall with pianist Craig Terry, returns to the Metropolitan Opera as Nuria in the premiere of Osvaldo Golijov’s Ainadamar and to Santa Fe Opera as Gilda in Rigoletto , a role debut as Almirena/ Rinaldo at Detroit Opera, and title role in Rodelinda , Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro , and Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier , all at Oper Frankfurt. Winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and several prizes at the Hans Gabor Belvedere Competition, Villalón’s other recent engagements include house and role debuts at The Dallas Opera as Tina/ Flight and Gretel/ Hansel und Gretel , at Austin Opera as Susanna/ Le nozze di Figaro , and Nannetta/ Falstaff with the Santa Fe Opera, as well as continued collaborations with Houston Grand Opera, where she performed Susanna, created the role of Amy in the world premiere of The Snowy Da y, and debuted the role of Juliette/ Roméo et Juliette .