Lyric Opera 2025-2026 Issue 4 - Cavalleria

23 | Lyric Opera of Chicago performances with Palm Beach Opera ( Roméo et Juliette ), Teatro Nacional de São Carlos (Mahler’s Symphony No. 8), and Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra (Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9). She also performed with Camerata Chicago, singing Messiah and Mozart’s Requiem . Other notable credits include roles at Toledo Opera, Madison Opera, Palm Beach Opera, Dayton Opera, Opera Philadelphia, and the Aspen Music Festival, where she was a Renée Fleming Artist. In concert, Decker has appeared with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Grant Park Music Festival, Banatul State Philharmonic, and many others in works by Mahler, Beethoven, Verdi, Brahms, and Holst. An alumna of the Ryan Opera Center, she made her Lyric debut in Die Zauberflöte in the 2016/17 Season. CAMILLE ROBLES LOLA Previously at Lyric: Second Handmaiden/ Medea (2025/26). 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 in Medea 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. GABRIELLA REYES NEDDA Previously at Lyric: Musetta/ La Bohème (2024/25) and Rosalba/ Florencia en el Amazonas (2021/22). The Nicaraguan-American soprano returns to the Metropolitan Opera this season to make a role debut as Catrina in a new production of El último sueño de Frida y Diego with Yannick Nézet- Séguin on the podium. She will also make house and role debuts at the Los Angeles Opera as Maria in West Side Story and at Opera North as Contessa in a new production of Le nozze di Figaro . Last season, Reyes returned to the Met to perform the roles of Margarita Xirgu in a new production of Osvaldo Golijov’s Ainadamar , and both Mimì and Musetta in Franco Zeffirelli’s classic La Bohème . She also made her role debut as Violetta in La traviata with Palm Beach Opera. Other recent highlights include her recital debut at Carnegie Hall with pianist Andrés Sarre for the series “Nuestros sonidos: Celebrating Latin Culture in the US,” before appearing in concert with the Festival Orchestra of Lincoln Center for Golijov’s Three Songs for Soprano and Orchestra and Britten’s Les Illuminations with Karen Kamensek. Also at the Metropolitan Opera, she sang the roles of Rosalba in a new production of Florencia en el Amazonas , as well as Liù in Turandot . She also made her role debut as Nedda in Pagliacci with the Lyric Opera of Kansas City and revisited the role of Mimì in La Bohème with the Atlanta Opera. RUSSELL THOMAS CANIO Previously at Lyric: Seven roles since 2016/17, most recently Florestan/ Fidelio (2024/25) and Radamès/ Aida (2023/24). This season the tenor returns to the Opéra National de Paris as Don José in Carmen and to the Canadian Opera Company for a role debut as Massenet’s Werther . In concert he will appear in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Milwaukee Symphony and in Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde with the Baltimore Symphony. Future engagements include returns to the Metropolitan Opera, the Royal Ballet & Opera, and the Washington National Opera, as well as to the Philadelphia Orchestra and the London Symphony Orchestra. Last season, Thomas returned to the Metropolitan Opera for his first Kaiser in Die Frau ohne Schatten and to the Houston Grand Opera for his first Tannhäuser . In concert he sang his first Enée in Les Troyens à Carthage at the Seattle Opera, and appeared as Don José in Carmen for the Detroit Symphony and as Turiddu in Cavalleria rusticana for the Canadian Opera Company. Further concert and recital appearances included Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the San Francisco Opera, Mahler’s Das klagende Lied with the BBC Proms and a solo recital at La Sierra University. In Lyric’s 2022/23 Season, he sang the title role in Ernani . LUKE SUTLIFF SILVIO Lyric debut The American baritone, a top prize winner of the Metropolitan Opera’s 2025 Laffont Competition and Second Prize winner of the 2023 Operalia Competion, is an alumnus of the Houston Grand Opera Studio. This season, he debuts at the Teatro Municipal in Santiago de Chile as Albert in Werther and at the Canadian Opera Company in his signature role of Figaro in Il Barbiere di Siviglia . He will return to the Atlanta Opera in a role debut as the Count in Le Nozze di Figaro . In concert, he will debut with the Dallas Symphony as the baritone soloist in Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 with Fabio Luisi and in a New Year’s Eve concert of Opera Pops in Toronto. He will also be heard in a joint recital with soprano Caitlin Aloia in their hometown of Houston. Future engagements include debuts with the Metropolitan Opera, the Glyndebourne Festival, and the Opéra de Lausanne, and returns to the Atlanta Opera and Seattle Opera. Last season Sutliff returned to the Atlanta Opera for two role debuts, Marcello in La Bohème and Papageno in Die Zauberflöte , and to the Houston Grand Opera for his first Wolfram in Tannhäuser . He also appeared as Marcello in La Bohème with Opera Maine. In the summer of 2024 he returned to Santa Fe Opera to perform Belcore in L’elisir d’amore.