Lyric Opera 2025-2026 Issue 7 - A Night of Mellon Collie and Infinite Sadness

Lyric Opera of Chicago | 8 his world premiere, an operatic reimagining of one of the great alternative rock albums, is unusual in many respects. How did the project come about? Billy Corgan has been coming to performances at Lyric for a long time, and he attended our Mozart Requiem during the 2023/24 season. He saw what that experience was like — the chorus and orchestra, and the four soloists, and Enrique Mazzola conducting on stage. Somehow that performance catalyzed an idea to turn Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness into something very similar. His management team approached us, just to explore what might be possible. I think our response was, Look, anything’s possible! Now just a little over a year later, we find ourselves with this spectacular project on our hands. It’s interesting that the Requiem would be the catalyst. There’s not a narrative, but the chorus and soloists play different roles. And there’s a trajectory. The idea of A Night of Mellon Collie and Infinite Sadness , to hear Billy tell it, is that it’s a 24-hour emotional journey for a particular individual. That’s very much reflected in what he has created; he has mapped this material onto the forces of the Lyric Opera Orchestra and Chorus, and the five soloists, including himself, who will be performing. What can you tell us about the process itself? We presented a few different possibilities to Billy, and he really clicked with Jim Lowe, the orchestrator and conductor, and they’ve been collaborating on realizing Billy’s vision. Billy is very much a composer himself. He thinks in terms of harmonies, in terms of textures, in terms of how you layer elements to create a sound world. The source album already had a broad scale. Exactly. Very orchestral. I think that what we’re ANight of MellonCollie and Infinite Sadness may seem an unlikely offering in an opera house. But JohnMangum , Lyric’s General Director, President and CEO, points out that such innovations are a particular strength here in Chicago — and they have been happening for quite a long time. What’s New? T Photo by Peter Smith Photo by Peter Smith