with a new season that promises thought-provoking drama, suspense, laughter, theater that will whisk you to faraway worlds, and the visceral passion of timeless music. This is Lyric—and the 2019/20 Season is one of our biggest ever. We promise that it will be a season to remember!
Lyric Opera of Chicago's 2019/20 Season
Gioachino Rossini
The Barber of Seville
The Barber of Seville
September 28 - October 27, 2019
Irrepressible Rosina refuses to marry her pompous old guardian. Meanwhile, a bold young count is eager to win Rosina for himself. And who’s going to make sure those two finish the opera united? The cleverest character in all of Seville: the barber Figaro, whose services are sought after by everyone for everything (the guy has a lot more talents than just cutting hair). Rossini’s music—the aural equivalent of champagne—is the last word in humor, inspiring smiles and laughter on every page of the score, which is what makes Barber the most popular of all operatic comedies.
Giuseppe Verdi
Luisa Miller
Luisa Miller
October 12 - 31, 2019
Verdi’s sumptuously beautiful romantic drama tells the story of sweet, vulnerable Luisa, who loves Rodolfo, the son of a ruthless, unethical nobleman whom Luisa’s own father loathes. The young couple’s relationship leads to catastrophe in a drama that breathes passion and excitement. Memorable arias (including “Quando le sere al placido,” one of the composer’s greatest tenor hits), breathtaking duets, and thrilling ensembles abound in this tale of star-crossed love and violent jealousy. Lyric’s first presentation of this electrifying work in more than three decades will be a feast for all devotees of Verdi and Italian opera.
Jake Heggie & Terrence McNally
Dead Man Walking
Dead Man Walking
November 2 - 22, 2019
A young couple is brutally killed, and the convicted murderer, Joseph De Rocher, sits on death row. Sister Helen Prejean agrees to be his spiritual adviser. As she meets his family, and the families of his victims, she begins questioning every attitude she has about how human beings treat each other. Based on real-life events, Jake Heggie’s music and Terrence McNally’s libretto explore the nature of friendship and forgiveness in the most profound ways. Hugely acclaimed in major houses internationally, Dead Man Walking is widely acknowledged as one of the most riveting operas of the 21st century. It simply demands to be seen.
Earth to Kenzie
Earth to Kenzie
November 9 & 10, 2019
Meet Kenzie, a fifth grader with homework, asthma and a big imagination. When she and her mother have to move into a family shelter, Kenzie finds refuge in the world of video games alongside her avatar, Edwin. Through their imaginary space adventures, Kenzie dares to go farther than ever before. Can she find the confidence to make friends and succeed in the classroom? And can she find her way home?
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni
November 14 - December 8, 2019
The seducer. The philanderer. The libertine who takes what he wants and lives only for his own pleasure. All three are Don Giovanni, antihero in Mozart’s drama of lust and revenge. He’s surrounded by memorable characters, including his frustrated servant Leporello and the three women he encounters: fiery Donna Elvira, tormented Donna Anna, and impressionable Zerlina. Filled with thrilling music and drama, including a finale so overpoweringly dramatic that it changed music forever, Don Giovanni is justly celebrated as the perfect opera.
Gaetano Donizetti
The Three Queens
The Three Queens
December 1 - 7, 2019
Lyric favorite Sondra Radvanovsky sings the finales of Anna Bolena, Maria Stuarda, and Roberto Devereux in semi-staged performances featuring the Lyric Opera Orchestra and Chorus and artists of The Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center Ensemble, this magnificent American diva will give Lyric audiences vocal fireworks to remember forever.
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
The Queen of Spades
The Queen of Spades
February 15 - March 1, 2020
Tchaikovsky’s broodingly romantic thriller is a tour de force for a great tenor. He plays the terrifyingly obsessed Gherman, an unhappy soldier desperate to know a secret hidden by a mysterious old countess—the mystery of winning at cards. The tension turns truly unnerving as Gherman’s obsession begins to overwhelm him. It leads to devastation both for him and for the countess’s granddaughter, Lisa, whom Gherman loves. Tchaikovsky’s music is the height of Russian romanticism in its melancholy soulfulness, its white-hot passion, and the sweeping grandeur of its orchestra—a masterpiece from the genius who gave the world Eugene Onegin and Swan Lake.
Giacomo Puccini
Madama Butterfly
Madama Butterfly
February 6 - March 8, 2020
An enchanting geisha, Cio-Cio-San, loses her heart to an American naval lieutenant and marries him. After he leaves Japan, she waits three long years for his return. We share her joy when he returns, and her utter despair when she realizes that he’s married an American woman and has come to take his young son—Cio-Cio-San’s child—back with him. Puccini lost his heart to his heroine, and so will you, in music of miraculous beauty and aching, deeply poignant dramatic truth.
Callas in Concert - The Hologram Tour
Callas in Concert - The Hologram Tour
September 7, 2019
Maria Callas left a lasting impact on the world of opera as the definition of the diva as artist. Audiences will once again experience the legendary force that is Callas in a first-of-its-kind tour that brings the fabled opera star back to the Lyric Opera of Chicago stage—64 years after her final appearance here and 42 years after her death. Experience the seamless melding of state-of-the-art 3D hologram technology, the greatest of Callas' digitally remastered recordings, and the live Lyric Opera Orchestra in a unique, one-night-only concert experience. Experience the artistry and the intense emotional force of the great soprano's iconic greatest hits from Bellini, Bizet, Verdi, Puccini, and more as she inhabits roles with passionate heat, heartrending vulnerability, and fierce confidence. Don't miss this celebration of the artist who was known to the world as La Divina on stage at Lyric.
Photo: Todd Rosenberg