Lyric Opera 2025-2026 Issue 4 - Cavalleria

Lyric Opera of Chicago | 8 She Lives for Art In March, through her family’s foundation, Penelope Steiner gave Lyric Opera of Chicago an unrestricted gift of $25 million — the largest such single donation in the company’s history. It represents a bold coda to a long record of philanthropy — and it’s also a kind of love story. By David Zivan Jaclyn Simpson Penelope Steiner on stage in front of the Robert and Penelope Steiner Parquet.