Lyric Opera 2025-2026 Issue 8 - Salome

23 | Lyric Opera of Chicago RYAN CAPOZZO NARRABOTH Previously at Lyric: Steuermann/ The Flying Dutchman (2023/24) and Remendado/ Carmen (2022/23). This season, the American tenor will make his debut at Seattle Opera singing Don José in Carmen and singing the Prince in Rusalka with Irish National Opera. Last season, he debuted the role of the Prince at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, made his Metropolitan Opera debut singing The Voice of a Young Man in Die Frau ohne Schatten , and sang Albert in The Makropulos Affair with Scottish Opera. For his European debut, he performed Don José in Carmen with the Schauspiel Zürich. In concert, while a member of Lyric’s Ryan Opera Center, he performed in Sunday in the Park with Lyric under the baton of Enrique Mazzola. He also sang Mozart’s Requiem with the SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Music and Rye Presbyterian Church, Handel’s Messiah under the direction of David J. Recca, and Vivaldi’s Magnificat with Stanwich Church and at the Rye Presbyterian Church. In the summer of 2024, Capozzo was a participant in both the Aix-en-Provence Académie and the Internationale Meistersinger Akademie in Germany. CATHERINE MARTIN PAGE Previously at Lyric: Four roles since 2016/17, most recently Waltraute/ Twilight: Gods (2020/21) and Eva Crowley/ An American Dream (2018/19). Last season the American mezzo-soprano returned to The Atlanta Opera to sing Juno in Semele . She joined the Sacramento Philharmonic & Opera as Santuzza in Cavalleria rusticana and Detroit Opera to sing the District Attorney in The Central Park Five . At Lyric she sang Waltraute/ Die Walküre (2017/18) and Hécube/ Les Troyens (2016/17). Recent highlights include her Atlanta Opera debut as Waltraute in Die Walküre ; a role debut as Fricka in Dayton Opera’s Das Rheingold ; Amneris in Aïda with Houston Grand Opera, Opera Carolina, Opera Colorado, and Opera Santa Barbara; Maddalena in Rigoletto with New Orleans Opera and Opera Santa Barbara; Herodias in Salome with Dayton Opera; Adalgisa in Norma with Florida Grand Opera; Santuzza in Cavalleria rustican a with Opera Colorado; Geneviève in Pelléas et Mélisande and Clarice in The Love for Three Oranges with Des Moines Metro Opera; Mistress Quickly in Falstaff and Eboli in Don Carlos for Maryland Lyric Opera; and Orfeo in Orfeo ed Eurydice with Kentucky Opera. BILLE BRULEY FIRST JEW Lyric debut This season, the tenor makes debuts with Lyric Opera of Kansas City in Of Mice and Men (Lennie), Opera Theatre of Saint Louis in A Streetcar Named Desire (Mitch), and Orquesta Sinfónica de Minería in Mexico City for a recording of Salome (First Jew). Future seasons include a debut with Houston Grand Opera. Last season Bruley made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera in a new production of Salome (First Jew) directed by Claus Guth and conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin. Additional engagements included a return to Utah Opera for Sweeney Todd (Beadle Bamford), and his Carnegie Hall debut in Messiah with Masterwork Chorus. Other recent highlights include a debut at San Francisco Opera for Mason Bates and Mark Campbell’s The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs (Steve Wozniak) and, on the concert stage, debuts with the Houston Symphony in Salome (First Jew) and Fort Wayne Philharmonic in Mozart’s Requiem . He made his role debut in Ariadne auf Naxos (Bacchus) at Arizona Opera and returns to Austin Opera for Sweeney Todd (Beadle) and The Santa Fe Opera for Der fliegende Holländer (Steuermann). TRAVON D.WALKER SECOND JEW Previously at Lyric: Four roles since 2024/25, most recently Parpignol/ La Bohème and Son/ Blue (both 2024/25). Last season, the third-year Ryan Opera Center tenor made company debuts with Opera Philadelphia in The Anonymous Lover and the North Carolina Symphony, followed by a return to Wolf Trap Opera as a Filene Artist ( Dialogues of the Carmelites and Carmen ). Walker received his master’s degree from Rice University, where he sang Sam Kaplan/ Street Scene . A native of Hinesville, Georgia, he completed his undergraduate studies at the Eastman School of Music. The tenor was invited to participate in Renée Fleming’s 2023 SongStudio and Joyce DiDonato’s 2024 Masterclass Series, both at Carnegie Hall, as well as the 2023 Britten Pears Young Artist Programme. Other engagements include the Sinfónica de Minería (Mexico City), Erie Philharmonic, and Houston Grand Opera. Walker received an Encouragement Award from the Kansas City District in the 2023 Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition, the 2024 Best Vocal Artist Award from the American Opera Society, and the 2024 Luminarts Cultural Foundation Men’s Voice Fellowship. Travon D. Walker is sponsored by an Anonymous Donor, Robert & Isabelle Bass Foundation, Inc., the Boykins, Ford, and Mages families, and Cynthia Vahlkamp & Robert Kenyon. DANIEL LUIS ESPINAL THIRD JEW Previously at Lyric: Three roles since 2024/25, most recently Beppe/ Cavalleria rusticana / Pagliacci (2025/26) and Don Curzio/ Le nozze di Figaro (2024/25). A second-year Ryan Opera Center member, the Cuban-Dominican tenor from Sarasota was a national winner of the 2024 Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition, received a 2025 Sara Tucker Study Grant, and was in residence at the 2025 Aix-en-Provence Festival Académie and Ravinia Festival’s Steans Institute. This season at Lyric Espinal will appear also in El último sueño de Frida y Diego ; he debuted with the company in 2024/25 as Jacquino/ Fidelio . This summer Espinal makes his debut with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis as Frederic/ The