Lyric Opera 2025-2026 Issue 8 - Salome

Lyric Opera of Chicago | 22 Artist profiles JENNIFER HOLLOWAY SALOME Lyric debut The soprano began the 2025/26 Season performing Salome in concert with the WDR Symphony Orchestra in Cologne and Bucharest. She appears this season also as Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni at the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa, before taking on Elsa in a new production of Lohengrin at the Rome Opera. She makes her role debut as the title character in Barber’s Vanessa , in a debut with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. She will be heard at the Vienna State Opera as Kundry ( Parsifal ) and at the Hamburg State Opera as Chrysothemis ( Elektra ). In 2026, the Bayreuth Festival has engaged Holloway as Adriano in the first-ever production of Rienzi in the festival’s history. Other recent highlights include her role debut as Kundry at Oper Frankfurt; her house debut at Oper Zürich as Beethoven’s Leonore ( Fidelio ); Salome at the Vienna State Opera, the Berlin State Opera, and the Deutsche Oper Berlin; and Chrysothemis ( Elektra ), Elisabeth ( Tannhäuser ), Sieglinde ( Die Walküre ), Senta ( Der fliegende Holländer ), Leonore ( Fidelio ), and Ellen Orford ( Peter Grimes ) at the Hamburg State Opera. Further engagements included Senta at the Semperoper Dresden, Cassandre ( Les Troyens ) and Senta at the Bavarian State Opera, Sieglinde in concert with the Orchestre de Paris under Jaap van Zweden and at the Vienna Konzerthaus under Joana Mallwitz. BRANDON JOVANOVICH HEROD Previously at Lyric: 10 roles since 2009/10, most recently Gherman/ The Queen of Spades and Lieutenant B. F. Pinkerton/ Madama Butterfly (both 2019/20). The renowned tenor began this season in the title role of Parsifal in a new production at San Francisco Opera, and he will join Boston Lyric Opera for a new, staged version of Das Lied von der Erde . Last season, Jovanovich joined the Bayerische Staatsoper as Ulysses in Fauré’s Penelope , returned to the Metropolitan Opera as Captain Ahab in the company premiere of Jake Heggie’s Moby Dick , and joined Washington National Opera in a program of Wagner scenes. The season prior began with his return to Teatro alla Scala in the title role of Peter Grimes , followed by performances as Gherman in The Queen of Spades in a new production at the Bayerische Staatsoper. He also returned to Staatsoper Berlin as Dick Johnson in La fanciulla del West , and sang Siegmund in a concert performance of the first act of Die Walküre with Fort Worth Symphony conducted by Robert Spano. Other recent highlights include Sergei in Graham Vick’s production of Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk at the Met, a return to Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona as Luigi in Il Tabarro , a role and house debut as Laca in Jen ˚ufa with the Opera of Palau de les Arts in Valencia, and a return to the role of Florestan in Fidelio at the Wiener Staatsoper. NICHOLAS BROWNLEE JOCHANAAN Lyric debut The bass-baritone is the 2025 recipient of the Richard Tucker Award, First Prize winner of the Hans Gabor Belvedere Singing Competition, winner of the Zarzuela Prize at Operalia, and Grand Prize Winner of the Metropolitan Opera Eric and Dominique Laffont Competition. This season, Brownlee debuts with Orquesta Sinfónica de Minería as Jochanaan for a recording of Salome . He returns to Bayerische Staatsoper for a new production of Die Walküre (Wotan), Bayreuther Festspiele in Der fliegende Holländer (title role), Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía for Salome (Jochanaan), and to Oper Frankfurt in Peter Grimes (Captain Balstrode), Tosca (Scarpia), and Tristan und Isolde (Kurwenal). On the concert stage, he debuts with the Houston Symphony for Act II of Tristan und Isolde (Kurwenal and Melot), returns to the Los Angeles Philharmonic for Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis , and appears at the 2025 Richard Tucker event. Future seasons include debuts with Teatro Real, Teatro Colón, and Deutsche Oper Berlin, as well as returns to Gran Teatre del Liceu, Bayerische Staatsoper, Oper Frankfurt, Bayreuther Festspiele, and Opernhaus Zürich. TANJA ARIANE BAUMGARTNER HERODIAS Previously at Lyric: Fricka/ Die Walküre (2017/18) and Fricka/ Das Rheingold (2016/17). Baumgartner opened this season as Herodias in concert performances of Salome with the WDR Symphony Orchestra in Bucharest and Cologne. She appears at San Francisco Opera as Kundry in Parsifal under Eun Sun Kim and as Ortrud in a new production of Lohengrin (Johannes Erath/ Joana Mallwitz) at the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden. On the concert stage, she can be heard in Das Lied von der Erde under Zubin Mehta at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, in Mahler’s Symphony No. 3 at the Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe, and as Brangäne in concert performances of Tristan at Radio France under Jaap van Zweden. Highlights of recent seasons include Klytämnestra ( Elektra ) with the Salzburg Festival, Ortrud ( Lohengrin ), Fricka ( Der Ring des Nibelunge n), Brangäne ( Tristan und Isolde ), and the Amme ( Die Frau ohne Schatten ) at the Vienna State Opera; Mrs. Quickly ( Falstaff ), Countess Geschwitz ( Lulu ), Charlotte ( Die Soldaten ), and Mother ( Il prigioniero ) at the Salzburg Festival; Lisa ( The Passenger ) at the Bavarian State Opera; Brangäne and Leonore in the world premiere of Glanert’s Die Jüdin von Toledo at the Semperoper Dresden; Kundry ( Parsifal ) at the Grand Théâtre de Genève and at the Tokyo Spring Festival; Venus ( Tannhäuser ) in Hamburg in Tcherniakov’s new production and at Zurich Opera; and Brangäne ( Tristan und Isolde ) at the Deutsche Oper Berlin.