Guys & Dolls, Susannah, More in Lyric Opera of Chicago's 2025-26 Season

Lyric Opera of Chicago has announced its 2026-2027 season, which will feature seven mainstage productions, as well as an array of concerts and special events. The company has also announced that soprano Sondra Radvanovsky will be joining as artistic advisor for the next five seasons, during which time she will make a mainstage appearance each season.

The season will open October 10 with Mozart's Don Giovanni, starring bass-baritone Christian Van Horn as the infamous Lothario. Sopranos Mané Galoyan, Nina Solodovnikova, and Anna El-Khashem play, respectively, Donna Anna, Donna Elvira, and Zerlina, who team up in pursuit of vengeance on the Don. Barea Tommaso Barea makes his company debut as Don Giovanni's long-suffering servant Leporello, with bass-baritone Christopher Humbert, Jr. as Masetto, bass David Leigh as the Commendatore, and tenor Lawrence Brownlee as Don Ottavio. Lyric Music Director Enrique Mazzola will conduct the production by Robert Falls.

Rhiannon Giddens and Michael Abels' Pulitzer Prize-winning Omar will come to the Lyric for just three performances October 23-28, in Kaneza Schaal's premiere production. The work, inspired by the memoir of 19th-century Islamic scholar Omar ibn Said, will star tenor Issachah Savage as Omar, soprano Kearstin Piper Brown as Julie, mezzo-soprano Zoie Reams as Fatima, and bass-baritone Kyle Ketelsen as Johnson/Owen. Kazem Abdullah will conduct.

Mariame Clément's production of Donizetti's Don Pasquale, originally directed for Glyndebourne in 2011, will come to Chicago November 12-17, with baritone Misha Kiria making his Lyric debut as the titular Don Pasquale, who decides to get married in order to deprive his nephew Ernesto of his inheritence. Tenor Alberto Robert plays Ernesto, with baritone Ian Rucker as Dr. Malatesta. Soprano Ying Fang plays Norina, Ernesto's beloved, who poses as Malatesta's sister and Pasquale's bride in an elaborate scheme to turn the tables on the meddling uncle.

In the winter, the mainstage productions will give way to a series of concerts, beginning November 20 and 22 with Wagner: Myth & Music, featuring selections from the operas of Richard Wagner, with conductor Alexander Soddy making his company debut leading the Lyric Opera Orchestra and Chorus. November 28 and 29, the orchestra will perform the score of Disney's Encanto live to a screening of the film, to be followed January 15 and 16, 2027, by two live-to-film performances of Peter Shaffer's Amadeus.

Enrique Mazzola will conduct two performances of Haydn's The Creation January 22 and 23. Derived from the Book of Genesis, Psalms, and Milton's Paradise Lost, the oratorio tells of the creation of the world as according to Christian tradition. The piece will be performed in English, with soprano Erin Morley, tenor David Portillo, and bass-baritone Michael Sumuel as the soloists.

Massenet's rarely-heard opera Hérodiade will be given three in-concert performances February 23-28, 2027. A telling of the biblical story of Salome, Massenet's opera centers the perspective of Salome's mother, the Queen Herodias. Mezzo-soprano Clémentine Margaine will star as Hérodiade, with soprano Federica Lombardi as Salomé, and baritone Igor Golovatenko as Hérode.

Mainstage operas will return March 11, 2027 with Richard Strauss' Ariadne auf Naxos, in a revival of John Cox's production. The meta-theatrical comedy stars soprano Leah Hawkins as the Prima Donna, who plays Ariadne in the opera-within-the-opera, and soprano Erin Morley as Zerbinetta, the leading lady of a commedia dell'arte troupe that interferes with the proceedings of the tragic opera. Mezzo-soprano Samantha Hankey plays the Composer, with tenor Russell Thomas as the Tenor, and Zachary Nelson as the Music Master. Finn Sagal, Zhengyi Bai, and Travon D. Walker play the trio of commedia clowns Harlekin, Brighella, and Scaramuccio. Oksana Lyniv will conduct.

Arin Arbus' production of Verdi's La Traviata will be revived March 24 - April 25, 2027, starring soprano Yaritza Véliz as Violetta Valery. Tenor Liparit Avetisyan will play Alfredo, with baritone Amartuvshin Enkhbat as Giorgio Germont.

Carlisle Floyd's iconic American opera Susannah will return to the Lyric for the first time since 2002. Running April 11-23, 2027, the retelling of the biblical story of Susannah and the Elders, set in mid-century Appalachia, will star soprano Gabriella Reyes as Susannah with bass-baritone Ryan Speedo Green as the Reverend Olin Blitch. Tenors Matthew Cairns and Frederick Ballentine will play Sam and Little Bat respectively. The production by Patricia Racette has proven popular, with San Diego Opera and Houston Grand Opera also including it in their 2026-27 seasons.

The season will conclude June 4-20, 2027 with Frank Loesser and Abe Burrows' classic musical comedy Guys & Dolls. The production by Francesca Zambello comes to Chicago following its premiere at Washington D.C.'s Shakespeare Theater Company earlier this season. James Lowe will conduct, with casting and further details to be announced.

For more information, visit LyricOpera.org.