Lyric Opera 2025-2026 Issue 1 - Medea

Lyric Opera of Chicago | 32 to 2013, and has worked in this capacity for such distinguished organizations as the Edinburgh International Festival and Opera Holland Park (London), and, in Australia, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, the Philharmonia Choir, Motet Choir, the Cantillation chamber choir, and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. In Chicago, Black became the first chorus director to work with the choruses of Lyric, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and the Grant Park Music Festival, where he served for six seasons, including preparation of The Damnation of Faust chorus and Haydn’s Creation . He has lectured or given masterclasses at the University of Chicago and Northwestern University, and in 2025 will work with the Young Artists at Opera Australia and the apprentice singers at the Santa Fe Opera. Black has served as chorus director for close to 140 different operas on four continents, and his work has been recorded and/ or aired on ABC, BBC, PBS, for many HD productions in movie theaters, and on television. Michael Black is supported by the Howard A.Stotler Chorus Director Endowed Chair. JO MEREDITH MOVEMENT DIRECTOR Lyric debut Highlights among Meredith’s numerous credits include: Medea (Canadian Opera Company, Greek National Opera, the Metropolitan Opera), Eugene Onegin (Opera Holland Park), Norma (Teatro Real), La Calisto (Teatro alla Scala), La Bohème (Copenhagen Opera Festival), I Masnadieri (Teatro alla Scala), Drot Og Marsk (Royal Danish Opera), Tosca (Icelandic Opera), Rigoletto (Savonlinna Opera), Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno (Alte Munze), The Picture of Dorian Gray (UK tour), three Jette Parker Young Artist Summer Performances (Royal Ballet & Opera), La Scala Di Seta and The Lighthouse (Royal Ballet & Opera Linbury Studio Theatre), Macbeth , A Fairy Queen , and Un Ballo in Maschera (Iford Arts), Siegfried and Götterdämmerung (Longborough Festival Opera), Don Giovanni and La Calisto (English Touring Opera). She re-staged Leah Hausman’s movement for David McVicar’s production of Rigoletto at Teatro Real and at the Royal Ballet & Opera. For Youth Music Theatre UK she directed and choreographed More in Common , and directed the Royal Opera House Thurrock Community Chorus in a work inspired by Windrush which was performed at Tilbury Docks. She is associate lecturer in choreography at London Studio Centre. JOHN METZNER WIG MASTER AND MAKEUP DESIGNER The versatile designer first joined the staff of Lyric for the 2022/23 Season. He has previously collaborated with Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Lookingglass Theatre, and Court Theatre. He served for nine years as Head of Wig and Makeup for Webster University’s Conservatory of Theatre Arts, and designed hair and makeup for more than 50 performances at The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis. Other regional credits include work at The Muny, Great River Shakespeare Festival, and Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, where he designed for The Pirates of Penzance , among many other productions. His advanced training includes wig styling at the Wig Room Training Academy and London School of Wig Making. John Metzner is supported by The Marlys A. Beider Wigmaster and Makeup Designer Endowed Chair. JONATHON LOY ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR Lyric debut Loy is the Director of Production and Co-Founder of Berkshire Opera Festival (BOF), which recently celebrated its 10th anniversary season. His new productions at BOF have included La Traviata, Faust, La Bohème, Don Giovanni, Don Pasquale, Rigoletto, Ariadne auf Naxos, and Madama Butterfly , among numerous others. BOF will feature a new production of Lucia di Lammermoor in 2026. This season marks Loy’s 16th as a Guest Stage Director at the Metropolitan Opera, where he has directed revivals of La Traviata, Tosca, Carmen, Le Nozze di Figaro, and Faust . He recently made his directing debuts at Canadian Opera Company and Greek National Opera. As a 2002 OPERA America Fellowship winner, he completed residencies at New York City Opera, Seattle Opera, Opera Memphis, and Cincinnati Opera. Loy is the former General Director of Center City Opera Theater in Philadelphia (2003-2007) where he was the first person to produce fully-staged opera in the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, Perelman Theater. A graduate of the University of Pittsburgh, during his time there he worked at Pittsburgh Opera for four years.