Lyric Opera 2025-2026 Issue 1 - Medea

29 | Lyric Opera of Chicago ZOIE REAMS NERIS Previously at Lyric: Five roles since 2018/19, most recently The Mother/ Blue and Maddalena/ Rigoletto (both 2024/25). This season’s engagements for the American mezzo-soprano include Maddalena/ Rigoletto at the Canadian Opera Company, Siegrune/ Die Walküre Act III with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with the Boston Symphony. Other recent engagements include Neris/ Medea at Canadian Opera Company, Solange Knowles’s El Dorado Ballroom with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Erika/ Vanessa at Spoleto Festival USA, Dinah/ Trouble in Tahiti and Autumn/ Service Provider at Minnesota Opera, and her debut at the Salzburg Festival as Doubtful Old Lady/Sergei Prokofiev’s The Gambler . Other recent highlights include Mandane/ Idaspe at Quantum Theatre, Beggar Woman/ Sweeney Todd at Austin Opera, Lily in the Metropolitan Opera’s Porgy and Bess , Jane in Cincinnati Opera’s Castor and Patience , the title role/ Carmen (Opéra Louisiane, Minnesota Opera), Margret/ Wozzeck (Des Moines Metro Opera), Bruckner’s Te Deum (Houston Symphony Orchestra) and Bernstein’s Symphony No. 1: Jeremiah (Staatstheater Cottbus Philharmonic Orchestra). She has also been heard as Maddalena/ Rigoletto (Wolf Trap Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Theater Basel), in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 (National Symphony Orchestra), and in Handel’s Messiah (Las Vegas Philharmonic, Washington National Cathedral). An alumna of the Houston Grand Opera Studio, Reams appeared in HGO productions of La traviata, Elektra, West Side Story, Nixon in Chin a, and in world premieres of Jake Heggie’s It’s a Wonderful Life and Laura Kaminsky’s Some Light Emerge s. ALFRED WALKER CREONTE Previously at Lyric: Don Fernando/ Fidelio (2024/25), Father/ Hansel and Gretel (2022/23). This season, the bass-baritone returns to the Metropolitan Opera as Porgy in Porgy and Bess . He also sings Scarpia in Tosca with both Glyndebourne Opera and Florentine Opera, and sings Jochanaan in Salome with Cincinnati Opera. Last season he joined the Met for further performances of Enobarbus in Adams’s Antony and Cleopatra , New Orleans Opera for the High Priest of Dagon in Samson et Dalila , joined Bard Summerscape for the King in Smetena’s Dalibor and the Man in a Helmet in Julietta . He joined the Philadelphia Orchestra for Verdi’s Requiem , and sang Porgy in the suite from Porgy and Bess with the Cologne Philharmonie. He recently sang Enobarbus in the European premiere of John Adams’ Antony and Cleopatra with Gran Teatre del Liceu and Orest in Elektra with Dallas Opera, and returned to the Metropolitan Opera for Frere Laurant in Roméo et Juiliette and Rambaldo in La rondine . Other recent highlights include San Francisco Opera as Enobarbus in the world premiere of John Adams’ Antony and Cleopatra , the Metropolitan Opera as Masetto in Don Giovanni , Detroit Opera for Amonasro in Aida , and a return to Bard Summerscape for the title role in Saint-Saëns’ Henry VIII . He also sang Rachmaninoff’s The Bells with the LA Philharmonic under Gustavo Dudamel, and joined the Boston Philharmonic for Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9. EMILY RICHTER FIRST HANDMAIDEN Previously at Lyric: 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 Up , and Ginevra/ Ariodante . In the 2023/24 Season, she made her Messiah debut with the Seattle Symphony and her Verdi Requiem debut with the Westmoreland Symphony. Richter has spent her summers as an apprentice artist at Santa Fe Opera, Central City Opera, and the Seagle Festival. She holds a Master’s Degree from McGill’s Schulich School of Music and a Bachelor’s of Music in Vocal Performance from Lawrence University. Future engagements include her debut with Opéra National de Paris. Emily Richter is sponsored by Lead Sponsor The C.G.Pinnell Family and cosponsors Amy & Paul Carbone and Susan M.Miller. CAMILLE ROBLES SECOND HANDMAIDEN Lyric debut A first-year Ryan Opera Center member, the mezzo-soprano from San Juan, Puerto Rico, was a Jan Miller Studio Artist at Pensacola Opera for the 2024/25 Season. While there, she covered the role of Cherubino/ Le nozze di Figaro and performed the Dolphin in the world premiere of Mato and the Bear Who Couldn’t Fish . This season at Lyric, she will appear also in Cavalleria Rusticana/Pagliacci and El último sueño de Frida y Diego . Previously, she was invited to the Aspen Music Festival as a Fellowship Artist for two summers and appeared as the Sandman/ Hansel and Gretel and in scenes from Carmen , Werther , La Favorita , and Die Walküre . Robles recently received a Gulf Coast Region Encouragement Award in the Metropolitan Opera’s Laffont Competition. Following undergraduate studies at the Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music, she earned her Master of Music degree from the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University, where she appeared as Olga/ Eugene Onegin . Camille Robles is sponsored by Heidi Heutel Bohn. CHRISTOPHER HUMBERT, JR. CAPTAIN OF THE GUARD Previously at Lyric: Three roles since 2024 most recently 2nd Prisoner/ Fidelio and Ceprano/ Rigoletto (both 2024/25). Originally from Akron, Ohio, the third-year Ryan Opera Center bass- baritone will appear at Lyric also this season in Salome and Madama Butterfly . In 2024/25 he also sang 3rd Policeman/ Blue . Humbert has performed widely throughout his home state, including appearances with Opera Columbus, Mid-Ohio Opera, and Nightingale Opera Theatre. Other engagements include Boston Lyric Opera, Detroit