Lyric Opera 2025-2026 Issue 8 - Salome

25 | Lyric Opera of Chicago at the Met. The season included also his role and house debut as Ramfis in Aida with Arizona Opera. In concert, he sang Mozart’s Requiem with the Jacksonville Symphony, and joined the Defiant Requiem Foundation for Verdi’s Requiem , performed in partnership with the Dallas Symphony. Recent engagements include returns to Santa Fe Opera as Pistola in Falstaff and the Police Commissioner in Der Rosenkavalier , the Voice of Neptune in Idomeneo and the role of the Police Commissioner in Robert Carsen’s production of Der Rosenkavalier at the Met, as well as Ashby in La fanciulla del West with The Cleveland Orchestra, the King of Clubs in The Love for Three Oranges at Des Moines Metro Opera, and his Canadian Opera Company debut as the Second Soldier in Salome . CHRISTOPHER HUMBERT, JR. SECOND SOLDIER Previously at Lyric: Four roles since 2024/25, most recently Captain of the Guard/ Medea (2025/26) and 3rd Policeman/ Blue (2024/25). Originally from Akron, Ohio, the third-year Ryan Opera Center bass- baritone will also appear at Lyric this season in Madama Butterfly . In 2024/25, he sang Ceprano/ Rigoletto and 2nd Prisoner/ Fidelio . Other engagements this season include soloist in Haydn’s Creation with the Seattle Symphony and in the Verdi Requiem with the Nashville Symphony. He has performed widely throughout his home state, including appearances with Opera Columbus, Mid-Ohio Opera, and Nightingale Opera Theatre. Other engagements include Boston Lyric Opera, Detroit Opera, Florida Grand Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, the Seagle Festival, Utah Festival Opera, and Annapolis Opera. Humbert was invited for the 2025 Young Singers Project at the Salzburg Festival and is a former participant in the artist- development programs at Palm Beach Opera and Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. Humbert is recipient of a 2025 Luminarts Cultural Foundation Men’s Voice Fellowship and a 2024 American Opera Society of Chicago Scholarship Award. Christopher Humbert, Jr. is sponsored by Lead Sponsor Patricia Frank and cosponsors Maria C. Green & Oswald G.Lewis,Mary Houston,in loving memory of James Houston, and the Bill & Orli Staley Foundation. SANKARA HAROUNA A CAPPADOCIAN Previously at Lyric: Marullo/ Rigoletto (2024/25) and Benny Paret and Benny Jr./ Champion (2023/24). A Chicago native, the second-year Ryan Opera Center baritone will appear later this season in Madama Butterfly . The summer of 2025 featured Harouna’s debut with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis in the world premiere of Ricky Ian Gordon’s This House as well as with the Grant Park Music Festival. He joined Portland Opera as a Resident Artist in the 2023/24 Season, where he was seen in Le nozze di Figaro and The Snowy Day . A former apprentice artist at Des Moines Metro Opera, he performed there as Moralès/ Carmen and Homecoming Soldier/Redler’s The Falling and the Rising . Other previous engagements include Greensboro Opera, Atlanta Opera, Dayton Opera, Kentucky Opera, and Cincinnati Opera. In concert, Harouna performed Mozart’s Missa Brevis with the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra. The baritone has participated in the artist-development programs of Atlanta Opera, Kentucky Opera, and Dayton Opera. He received his Bachelor of Arts in Music in Vocal Performance at Kentucky State University. Sankara Harouna is sponsored by Lead Sponsors Michael Steinberg and Salme Harju Steinberg and cosponsors Mary Ellen Hennessy and Virginia Tobiason. TOMÁŠ NETOPIL CONDUCTOR Lyric debut Netopil is currently in his first season as Chief Conductor of the FOK-Prague Symphony Orchestra. From 2018 to 2024, he was Principal Guest Conductor of the Czech Philharmonic, and from 2013 to 2023 served as General Music Director of Aalto Musiktheater and Philharmonie Essen. He was Music Director at the Prague National Theatre from 2008 to 2012. Recent highlights include productions at Geneva Opera ( La Clemenza di Tito ), Berliner Staatsoper ( Madama Butterfly ), National Theatre Tokyo ( Die Zauberflöte ), Prague National Theatre ( Rusalka ), and Oper Köln ( Don Giovanni ). Symphonic engagements include Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Tonkünstler Orchestra Vienna, Oslo Philharmonic, Antwerp Symphony, Hong Kong Sinfonietta, and Sydney Symphony, and he continues regular relationships with Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo and Orchestre National des Pays de Loire. He opened the 2025/26 Season with Orchestre symphonique de Montréal and works with orchestras such as Fort Worth Symphony and Naples Philharmonic. Netopil is a frequent collaborator with Concentus Musicus Wien and Collegium 1704, and has numerous upcoming performances and recording projects with the new ensemble Silentium. Netopil’s most recent recordings are with the Czech Philharmonic and include Richard Blackford’s Cello Concerto with soloist Alisa Weilerstein, and Dvorˇák’s Legends and Rhapsodies , both with the label Pentatone. SIR DAVID M c VICAR ORIGINAL DIRECTOR Previously at Lyric: 13 productions since 2001, most recently Medea (2025/26) and Don Carlos (2022/23). Recent highlights for the renowned Scottish director include a new Ring cycle at La Scala; Medea , Adriana Lecouvreur, and Roberto Devereux at the Metropolitan Opera; Médée at Paris Opera and Geneva’s Grand Théâtre; Macbeth at Canadian Opera; and Maria Stuarda in Madrid. Among other highlights at Lyric, he has previously directed Macbeth (2021-22), Il trovatore (2018/19, 2014/15, 2006/07), Wozzeck (2015/16), and La clemenza di Tito (2013/14). Other productions include, for La Scala, Les Troyens , La Calisto , and I masnadieri ; for Opera Australia, Don Giovanni and The Marriage of Figaro ; for the Vienna Staatsoper, Tristan und Isolde and Falstaff ; and many more for the English National Opera, Glyndebourne, Scottish Opera, Opera North, Paris’s Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, the Salzburg Festival, the Mariinsky Theatre, and many other major companies. In 2012 he received a knighthood for his services to opera, and was made a Chevalier de l’ordre des arts et des lettres.