Lyric Opera 2025-2026 Issue 9 - Madama Butterfly

Lyric Opera of Chicago | 26 MATTHEW OZAWA DIRECTOR Previously at Lyric: Six operas since 2015/16, most recently Fidelio (2024/25) and The Three Queens (2019/20). A multidisciplinary stage director, artistic director, and educator, Ozawa became Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Chief Artistic Officer, a new position, in 2022. He recently premiered a critically acclaimed production of Parsifal at San Francisco Opera, where he has also created new productions of Fidelio , Orfeo ed Euridice , and The Barber of Seville: Drive-In Opera . Ozawa’s Madama Butterfly premiered at Cincinnati Opera in 2023, and has since appeared at Detroit Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, and Utah Opera. His highly regarded production of Romeo and Juliet , originally commissioned by Minnesota Opera, has been seen at seven companies in the past decade. Committed to new and modern work, his recent production highlights include Ruo’s Angel Island (Brooklyn Academy of Music/Beth Morrison Projects) and Ruo/Hwang’s An American Soldier (Opera Theatre of Saint Louis). At Lyric, Ozawa has directed Fidelio , Nabucco , Don Quichotte , The Three Queens , An American Dream , and Second Nature . Ozawa’s productions have also been seen at Canadian Opera Company, Santa Fe Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Minnesota Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, Opera Colorado, and numerous others. DOTS SET DESIGN Lyric debut dots is an award-winning design collective based in New York City. Originally from Colombia, South Africa, and Japan, they are Santiago Orjuela- Laverde, Andrew Moerdyk, and Kimie Nishikawa. Recent highlights include the Broadway productions of Floyd Collins ; Romeo + Juliet ; Oh, Mary! ; An Enemy of the People (Tony Award Nomination for Best Scenic Design of a Play); Appropriate (Tony Award, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle Award nominations for Outstanding Scenic Design); and The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window . Recent awards include a 2025 United States Artists Set Design Fellowship, a 2024 Obie Award for Sustained Achievement in Design, and a 2023 Henry Hewes Design Award. MAIKO MATSUSHIMA COSTUME DESIGNER Lyric debut A visual and installation artist, and a scenic and costume designer for theatre, dance, opera and film, Matsushima is based in Philadelphia, where she often designs for the Wilma Theatre, Pig Iron, the Arden, Headlong, and BalletX. Matsushima spent a decade based in New York City, designing costumes for regional theaters and New York theaters, and associate designing Broadway productions such as Wicked , Pacific Overtures and Spring Awakening . Her work has been seen at Classic Stage Company, the Prototype Festival, La Jolla Playhouse, Children’s Theatre Company, and Soho Rep. She is a professor of design at Bryn Mawr College. Maiko Matsushima is supported by Ross° & Patricia D. Bender. YUKI NAKASE LINK LIGHTING DESIGNER Previously at Lyric: Lighting Designer/ Fidelio (2024/25). Based in New York City and the Baltimore area, Link started her career as a lighting designer for Nippon Television Network Corporation in Tokyo, working with them for eight years before she moved to the United States. She has previously designed with Matthew Ozawa for Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice at San Francisco Opera; Puccini’s Madama Butterfly , a co- production of Cincinnati Opera, Detroit Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, and Utah Opera; and Huang Ruo’s Angel Island at BAM Harvey/ Prototype Festival. Recent credits include Mozart’s Così fan tutte at Detroit Opera, John Cage’s Europeras: 3 & 4 at Detroit Opera, Aaron Zigman’s Émigré at New York Philharmonic, Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo at Santa Fe Opera, and Christopher Cerrone’s In a Grove at Pittsburgh Opera. Lighting designers are supported by the Mary-Louise and James S.Aagaard endowment in honor of Duane Schuler. MICHAEL BLACK CHORUS DIRECTOR The Australian chorus director joined Lyric full time in the 2012/13 Season, after having served as interim director the season before. He was named Head of Music at Lyric, a new position, in the 2023/24 Season. Black was Chorus Director at Opera Australia in Sydney from 2001 to 2013, and has worked in this capacity for such distinguished organizations as the Edinburgh International Festival and Opera Holland Park (London), and, in Australia, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, the Philharmonia Choir, Motet Choir, the Cantillation chamber choir, and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. In Chicago, Black became the first chorus director to work with the choruses of Lyric, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and the Grant Park Music Festival, where he served for six seasons, including preparation of The Damnation of Faust chorus and Haydn’s Creation . He has lectured or given masterclasses at the University of Chicago and Northwestern University, and in 2025 worked with singers at the Santa Fe Opera. Black has served as chorus director for close to 140 different operas on four continents, and his work has been recorded and/ or aired on ABC, BBC, PBS, for many HD productions in movie theaters, and on television. Michael Black is supported by the Howard A. Stotler Chorus Director Endowed Chair. °Deceased