Lyric Opera 2025-2026 Issue 9 - Così fan tutte

Lyric Opera of Chicago | 24 ERHARD ROM SET AND PROJECTION DESIGNER Lyric debut Rom has designed settings for more than 250 productions across the globe. In both 2025 and in 2015 he was named as a finalist in the Designer of the Year category for the International Opera Awards in London. His design work has frequently been displayed in the Prague Quadrennial International Design Exhibition and at the National Opera Center in Manhattan. His numerous credits include San Francisco Opera, Royal Swedish Opera, LA Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Seattle Opera, Dallas Opera, Washington National Opera, Wexford Festival Opera, Glimmerglass Festival, Vancouver Opera, Minnesota Opera, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Wolf Trap Opera, and Atlanta Opera. In 2014 he designed the European premiere of Silent Night for the Wexford Festival. Rom is currently designing the fourth part of a new production of the Ring cycle for Atlanta Opera, along with a new production of Turandot . CONSTANCE HOFFMAN COSTUME DESIGNER Previously at Lyric: Bel Canto (2015/16) and Rigoletto (2017/18) The designer’s collaborations in opera include work with the Glyndebourne Festival, Paris Opera, Bregenzer Festspiele, Bayerische Staatsoper, and the Tokyo Opera Nomori, among others. She has designed costumes for San Francisco Opera, the Santa Fe Opera, Houston Grand Opera, LA Opera, Minnesota Opera, the Portland Opera, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, and the Lincoln Center Festival. In addition, she has had a long association with The Glimmerglass Festival, whose productions have traveled regularly to New York City Opera. There, Hoffman designed costumes for Paul Bunyan, Tosca , and Lizzie Borden , which were televised on the Live from Lincoln Center broadcasts. Her extensive theater work has been seen on many stages in New York City, including the Public Theatre, the New Victory Theatre, The Second Stage, Theatre for A New Audience, Madison Square Garden, Radio City Music Hall, and the Joyce. For her Broadway debut, Hoffman earned a Tony nomination and an Outer Critics Circle Award for her designs for The Green Bird , directed by Julie Taymor. Costume designers are supported by the Richard P. and Susan Kiphart Costume Designer endowment. Vienna Symphony, London Philharmonic, and Brussels Philharmonic. Mazzola was born in Barcelona, Spain, into a musical family, and grew up in Milan, where he studied violin and piano, earning diplomas in composition and orchestral conducting at the Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi of Milan. Enrique Mazzola is supported by the John D.and Alexandra C.Nichols Endowed Chair. MICHAEL CAVANAGH ORIGINAL DIRECTOR Lyric debut The late director's opera career spanned more than two decades, including more than 140 productions at companies throughout North America and Europe. This production of Così fan tutte was created for San Francisco Opera in 2021 as part of his trilogy of Mozart / Da Ponte operas there. In 2021, Cavanagh became the artistic director and head of opera at the Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm, where his notable successes included a new production of Aida and an esteemed production of Sweeney Todd . His seven productions at San Francisco Opera include Nixon in China , which he remounted in five cities including Dublin and Stockholm. In the United States, he also directed for the opera companies in Philadelphia, Boston, Honolulu, Austin, Kansas City, Minneapolis, and San Diego, among others. ROY RALLO REVIVAL DIRECTOR Previously at Lyric: Il Trovatore (2019) Rallo began his career with Southern California’s Long Beach Opera, where he directed original productions of Mozart’s Lucio Silla , Strauss’ Elektra , and Bartok’s Bluebeard's Castle . In Europe he has directed new productions of Don Pasquale and an original music theater piece, Methusalem Project , for the National Theater Weimar, Ariadne auf Naxos for Op é ra National de Bordeaux, Der Rosenkavalier for Den Jyske Opera in Aarhus Denmark, and co-directed Aida for the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Carmen for the Nationaltheater Mannheim, and Busoni’s Doktor Faustus for the Bavarian State Opera. In the U.S. he has revived productions for Portland Opera, Utah Opera, Opera Omaha, Pittsburgh Opera, Houston Grand Opera, and The Metropolitan Opera. At San Francisco Opera he has remounted revivals of The Barber of Seville, Pique Dame, Il Trovatore, Partenope , and his own staging of David Hockney’s design for Strauss’ Die Frau ohne Schatten as well as staging The Barber of Seville and Transformations for San Francisco Opera’s Merola Opera Program.