Lyric Opera 2025-2026 Issue 9 - Così fan tutte

Lyric Opera of Chicago | 22 JACQUELYN STUCKER FIORDILIGI Lyric debut This season the soprano appears as Ginevra in two new productions of Ariodante , at Opéra National de Paris under Raphaël Pichon and for the Royal Ballet and Opera under Stefano Montanari. She returns to the Metropolitan Opera as The Bride in the American premiere of Kaija Saariaho’s Innocence under Susanna Mälkki, and closes the season in Philip Venables’ We Are the Lucky Ones at Tiroler Festspiele Erl, reprising her starring role of Two. Other recent highlights include her debuts at the Metropolitan Opera as Contessa Almaviva led by Joana Mallwitz, at Opéra national de Paris as Lucia in Thomas Adès’ The Exterminating Angel , and at Santa Fe as the Governess in The Turn of the Screw . Earlier performances include Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus at Staatsoper Hamburg, Armida in Handel’s Rinaldo at Glyndebourne Festival and, at Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, both Dalila in Rameau’s Samson in a new conception by Claus Guth and Raphaël Pichon and the title role in Monteverdi’s L’Incoronazione di Poppea in the acclaimed staging by Ted Huffman. CECILIA MOLINARI DORABELLA Lyric debut Recent highlights for the Italian mezzo- soprano include Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia at Wiener Staatsoper, Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro at Semperoper Dresden, Sesto in Giulio Cesare at The National Opera and Ballet Amsterdam, Idamante in Idomeneo at Teatro Carlo Felice Genova, Béatrice in Béatrice et Bénédict at Opéra National de Lyon, Orfeo in Orfeo ed Euridice at Teatro la Fenice Venezia, Meg Page in Falstaff at the Salzburger Festspiele, Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia at Deutsche Oper Berlin, Isabella in L’italiana in Algeri at Teatro alla Scala, Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro at Teatro de la Maestranza Sevilla, and Ariodante at the Festival della Valle d’Itria. She sang Dorabella in Così fan tutte at Wiener Staatsoper, Abenamet in Zoraida di Granata at Donizetti Festival Bergamo, Idamante in Idomeneo at National Opera and Ballet Amsterdam, and Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia at the Glyndebourne Festival. Molinari has been praised for her performances on the concert stage as well with orchestras including the Orchestra Filarmonica del Teatro alla Scala di Milano, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Insula Orchestra, the Orchestra Sinfonica della RAI, the PKF - Prague Philarmonia, and the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra. Molinari was named a Best Soloist in the Premio Abbiati 2025. ANA MARÍA MARTÍNEZ DESPINA Previously at Lyric: 11 roles since 2008/09, most recently Florencia/ Florencia en el Amazonas (2021/22) and Cio-Cio-San/ Madama Butterfly (2019/20). Later this season, the Grammy Award winning soprano will return to Lyric as Catrina in Gabriela Lena Frank’s El último sueño de Frida y Diego , and sings a Beyond the Aria recital with pianist Craig Terry at the Harris Theatre. Last season, Martínez returned to LA Opera with appearances as Margarita Xirgu in Osvaldo Golijov’s Ainadamar , marking the company premier, and as Despina in Così fan tutte , conducted by James Conlon. She also made her house debut at Pittsburgh Opera as the title role in Tosca , premiered her recital program “Unveiling” at the Houston Hobby Center with Andy Einhorn, appeared in residency with the Aspen Music Festival where she reprised “Unveiling,” and gave a performance of Ravel’s Schéhérazade with conductor Fabien Gabel. She was the inaugural recipient of the Lynn Wyatt Great Artist Award from Houston Grand Opera, where she made role debuts as Carmen and Cio-Cio-San, in addition to performing the title role of Rusalka , Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia , Nedda in Pagliacci , Mimi in La Bohème , Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni , and Lucero in the world premiere of Daniel Catán’s Salsipuedes . Additional performances include Elisabetta in Don Carlo with Bayerische Staatsoper; Contessa in Le nozze di Figaro , the title role of Carmen , Cio-Cio San, and Mimi in La Bohème with LA Opera; and Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni and Cio-Cio San in Madama Butterfly with the Metropolitan Opera. She is a Professor of Voice at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University. ANTHONY LEÓN FERRANDO Lyric debut The American-born Cuban and Colombian tenor was named a 2023 Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition winner and received the First Prize and the Don Plácido Domingo Ferrer Zarzuela Prize at Operalia in 2022. He is a former member of the Domingo- Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program at LA Opera. Recent engagements include singing Nadir in Bizet’s Les pêcheurs de perles for his debut at the Berlin Staatsoper, Lysander in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, and Ferrando in Così fan tutte at LA Opera. Previously León appeared as Nadir at Cologne Opera, sang Telemaco in Il ritorno d’Ulisse at the Aix-en-Provence festival, and made debuts with the Chicago Symphony at the Ravinia Festival and the LA Philharmonic at the Artist profiles