Lyric Opera 2025-2026 Issue 9 - Così fan tutte

Lyric Opera of Chicago | 6 From the Chair and the General Director For this new-to-Chicago production of Mozart’s Così fan tutte , one of the greatest of all operas, we find our quartet of lovers enjoying the pleasures of a sun-drenched 1930s seaside resort. Our magnificent cast offers an exciting mix of long-awaited debuts and the returns of friends of long standing. As Fiordiligi, we welcome one of today’s most engaging singing actresses, Jacquelyn Stucker, to Lyric for the first time. This season, she sings Ginevra in new productions of Handel’s Ariodante at both the Paris Opéra and Covent Garden, and she debuts at the Metropolitan Opera as the Countess in The Marriage of Figaro . Her slightly less serious sister, Dorabella, is sung by Italian mezzo-soprano Cecilia Molinari, who comes to us fresh from a triumph as Rosina in Rossini’s The Barber of Seville at the Vienna State Opera. As Ferrando, one of the two suitors pursuing our heroines, American-born Cuban and Colombian tenor Anthony León makes his Lyric debut. This outstanding young singer was a winner at the 2023 Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition and first-prize winner at Operalia in 2022. Our Guglielmo is none other than Ian Rucker, recent alumnus of our Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center, whose career is really taking off. He wowed Lyric audiences with his virtuoso turn in Carmina Burana in the fall, and he follows his Guglielmos here with performances as the Count in The Marriage of Figaro at Scottish Opera. On the podium for this exploration of love, and all of its glories and challenges, is Music Director Enrique Mazzola, conducting the second work in our traversal of the three immortal Mozart-DaPonte operatic collaborations. Next season, we’re excited to share that Enrique will finish the trilogy as we return to Don Giovanni . We hope to see you then, and many times in between. Thank you so much for being with us, and, with your support of Lyric, helping to make all this sunshine possible. JOHN MANGUM General Director, President & CEO, The Women’s Board Endowed Chair SYLVIA NEIL Chair of the Board Welcome to Lyric Opera of Chicago! Kyle Flubacker Kyle Flubacker