Lyric Opera 2025-2026 Issue 3 - Coco

11 | Lyric Opera of Chicago MICHAEL GIACCHINO Composer The composer’s credits include some of the most acclaimed film projects in recent history, including The Incredibles , War for the Planet of the Apes , Ratatouille, Star Trek, Jurassic World, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Spider- Man: Homecoming, and Coco , among numerous others. His 2009 score for the Pixar film Up earned him an Oscar, a Golden Globe, the BAFTA, the Broadcast Film Critics’ Choice Award, and two Grammy Awards. Jojo Rabbit , the critically acclaimed Fox Searchlight film, earned Giacchino a BAFTA nomination in 2019. His work with producer and director J.J. Abrams includes scores for the television series Alias and Lost , and the feature films Mission Impossible III, Star Trek, Super 8, and Star Trek Into Darkness . His music can be heard in concert halls internationally with all three Star Trek films, Ratatouille, Jurassic World, Up, and Coco being performed live-to-picture with a full orchestra. In June 2018, Giacchino premiered his first work for symphony orchestra, Voyage . Commissioned by the National Symphony Orchestra and the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, the piece celebrates the 60th anniversary of the founding of NASA. GERMAINE FRANCO Songwriter The celebrated Mexican-American composer, conductor, songwriter, music producer, and percussionist was the first Latina composer to win a GRAMMY Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media, for Disney’s Encanto , shared with Lin-Manuel Miranda. She was the first female composer to score a Disney animated feature. Franco scored the box office hits Encanto, Dora and the Lost City of Gold , and Tag among numerous others, and her work on Coco made her the first Latina to win an Annie Award for Outstanding Achievement for Music in an Animated Feature. Other recent highlights include the Netflix hit, The Mother , and scores for Margarita and Dope . Franco has performed as a percussionist with major international orchestras and artists, including the Belgian Radio Orchestra, the Spoleto Festival Orchestra, the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, the Hollywood Symphony, the World Orchestra, Hans Zimmer, John Powell, and Sergio Mendes. Her compositions have been performed by The National Symphony Orchestra, the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, the Chicago Philharmonic, and the Los Angeles Master Chorale. GONZALO FARIAS Conductor, Lyric Debut Currently Associate Conductor of the Houston Symphony, Farias has held conducting posts with the Kansas City Symphony, Jacksonville Symphony, Virginia Symphony Orchestra, and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. As Music Director of the Joliet Symphony Orchestra, he strengthened community connections through innovative programming, pre-concert lectures, and bilingual collaborations, including a narrated performance of Bizet’s Carmen . Recent and upcoming appearances include the Nashville Symphony, Buffalo Philharmonic, Tallahassee Symphony, and the Houston Symphony, where in 2024 he conducted the world premiere of Arturo Márquez’s Guitar Concerto with Pablo Sainz- Villegas. He was one of six conductors chosen for the prestigious Bruno Walter National Conductor Preview, presented by the League of American Orchestras, and was appointed by the National Endowment for the Arts as a grant review panelist. Born in Santiago de Chile, Farias earned his bachelor’s degree at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and continued his education at the New England Conservatory, studying under Wha-Kyung Byun and Russell Sherman. Further studies include conducting work with Donald Schleicher at the University of Illinois and with Marin Alsop at the Peabody Conservatory. He has won prizes at the Claudio Arrau International Piano Competition, Maria Canals, and Luis Sigall competitions. Artist profiles