The Lyric Opera's adventurous 2026/27 season will feature seven operas and some nontraditional operatic fare. The season opener will be Mozart's Don Giovanni, which promises to be spectacular with Christian Van Horn in the title role. Omar by composers Rhiannon Giddens of Silkroad Ensemble and Michael Abels will premiere in October. The story follows the journey of a man captured in Africa and enslaved in America. It will expand on the boundaries of traditional classical music with infusions of bluegrass and spirituals.
Donizetti's comedy Don Pasquale returns for the first time since 1972. Massenet's Hérodiade will be performed as an opera in concert, another take on the story of Salome. The season closer brings Carlisle Ford's Americana-infused Susannah to the stage. This story of religious fervor features the Lyric debut of Ryan Speedo Green, a mainstay at the Met.
The 2026/27 season of the Lyric Opera of Chicago was announced last week at a press conference in the grand lobby of the Civic Opera building. When I interviewed Maestro Enrique Mazzola last year, he said that he envisioned the Lyric Opera as the "people's opera" with an expanded musical scope. Maestro Mazzola and John Mangum, the Lyric's general director, president, and CEO, make good on that vision. They announced the addition of Sondra Radvanovsky as the Lyric Opera's artistic adviser. Radvanovsky is a world-renowned soprano and one of only two to take on the title role in Medea. Maria Callas was the other one.
Radvanovsky is Chicago's own diva (actually from Berwyn, but we will let that slide) and is looking forward to working with the cohorts at the Patrick G. and Shirley Ryan Opera Center. She is eager to pass on her knowledge and skills to the next generation of opera stars. The Ryan Center has already produced a bevy of talent that has appeared in several productions.
The season will feature concerts and a return of the Broadway musical! The last one I saw was a spectacular Jesus Christ Superstar in 2018. June 2027 will bring Frank Loesser's Guys and Dolls, based on Damon Runyon's picaresque tale. CEO Mangum was pleased to announce the gift of a new bandshell for the Lyric stage to provide the best possible acoustical environment for concerts. Maestro Mazzola described the difference in sound between the orchestra from the pit and the orchestra on stage with the chorus. The new shell will enhance the concerts of Wagner: Myth and Music and Haydn: The Creation. The new artistic adviser, Sondra Radvanovsky, and celebrated tenor SeokJong Baek will present a concert featuring works by great composers such as Puccini and Verdi.
There will also be the return of movies at the Lyric, including Amadeus Live and Disney's Encanto in Concert Live to Film. It's a chance to see epic, colorful movies on a big screen, with the magnificent Lyric Opera Orchestra playing the soundtracks live. It is an experience that I highly recommend. The music pulls the audience deeper into the action as if they were there in Emperor Joseph's chamber in Amadeus.
I have seen a lot of younger people at the Lyric and definitely a more diverse crowd with operas such as Terence Blanchard's Fire Shut Up in My Bones, Champion, and a spectacular El último sueño de Frida y Diego by Gabriela Lena Frank and Nilo Cruz. The lineup for the 2026/27 season is exciting and should bring new opera lovers and music enthusiasts through the doors. The Lyric is one of the top opera companies in the world and it's right here on our Third Coast. Visit www.lyricopera.org for more news and performance times.
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