Mozart's DON GIOVANNI to Open Lyric Opera of Chicago's 2026/27 Season
Performances will run October 10 - November 1, 2026.
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Lyric Opera of Chicago opens its 72nd Season with one of opera's most enduring works: Mozart's Don Giovanni, October 10 - November 1, 2026. In the title role of this thrilling fable of deceit, desire, and spectacular damnation is bass-baritone Christian Van Horn, a distinguished alumnus of Lyric's renowned artist-training program, The Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center. Lyric Music Director Enrique Mazzola leads the Lyric Opera Orchestra in a production directed by Chicago theater legend Robert Falls. The October 18 matinee marks a historic milestone in opera accessibility, as Lyric becomes the first major American Opera Company to present live American Sign Language interpretation of a foreign-language opera.
The path to damnation never sounded so sweet. In Don Giovanni, widely regarded as one of the greatest operas ever composed, Mozart weaves the tale of the infamous lothario Don Juan into a comically light-hearted yet deadly serious musical masterpiece. With more than two thousand seductions behind him - a tally his long-suffering manservant Leporello recites with relish in the famous Catalogue Aria - the Don becomes increasingly reckless as he descends into excess and immorality. He murders the father of Donna Anna, one of his discarded conquests, eludes every trap set for him by her vengeful fiancé Don Ottavio, and seduces a bride, Zerlina, on her wedding day, to the fury of her jealous groom, Masetto. But when his antics turn fatal and unrepentant, the women he has wronged join forces to seek revenge, and the dead come calling. His eventual fate - dragged to hell by the marble statue of the man he murdered - is one of the most spine-tingling scenes in all of opera.
The score contains some of Mozart's most indelible music - the seductive duet "Là ci darem la mano," the hedonistic rush of the Champagne Aria, the eerie grandeur of the Commendatore's return from the dead, and Donna Elvira's scalding "Mi tradi quell'alma ingrata." The legendary opera has cast a spell over history's greatest minds - including Søren Kierkegaard, George Bernard Shaw, and E.T.A. Hoffmann - and it has also achieved a measure of pop-culture fame: even Hannibal Lecter was a fan. In the Academy Award-winning film Amadeus (coming to Lyric in January with live music by the Lyric Opera Orchestra and Chorus), the character of Mozart conducts the opera's devastating finale.
Don Giovanni holds a singular place in Lyric's history, as the very first opera the company ever presented in 1954. More than seven decades later, it opens a new chapter - the 2026/27 Season - with the same fearless artistic ambition that has defined Lyric since its founding.
Christian Van Horn
American bass-baritone Christian Van Horn stars in the title role. Van Horn has amassed more than 100 performances each at Lyric, the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, and the Bavarian State Opera. An alumnus of Lyric's Ryan Opera Center, he is the winner of the 2018 Richard Tucker Award. His self-titled debut solo album will be released later this season. He also hosts The CVH Podcast.
Kyle Ketelsen
Iowa-born bass-baritone Kyle Ketelsen assumes the title role for the final two performances, October 30 and November 1. He sang Masetto at Lyric in the 2004/05 Season and appeared as Leporello in this production's premiere in the 2014/15 Season. His most recent Lyric appearance was as Howard in the company premiere of Missy Mazzoli and Royce Vavrek's The Listeners in the 2024/25 Season. His 2025/26 Season included the title role in Don Giovanni at the Metropolitan Opera, Jochanaan in Richard Strauss's Salome at the Hamburg State Opera, and Orest in Elektra at San Francisco Opera. Later in the 2026/27 Season, he returns to Lyric in the dual roles of Johnson and Owen in the company premiere of Rhiannon Giddens and Michael Abels's Omar.
Mané Galoyan
Armenian soprano Mané Galoyan returns to Lyric as Donna Anna, following her Lyric debut in the 2024/25 Season as Gilda in Verdi's Rigoletto. She won the Second Prize, Zarzuela Prize, and Rolex Audience Prize at the 2021 Operalia competition. Her 2025/26 Season engagements included the Metropolitan Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, and Atlanta Opera. She will portray Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte at Santa Fe Opera in summer 2027.
Nina Solodovnikova
Russian soprano Nina Solodovnikova makes her Lyric and role debut as Donna Elvira. She is a member of the Deutsche Oper Berlin ensemble, where she has performed Mozart's Pamina, Verdi's Violetta and Gilda, and Bizet's Micaëla, among other roles. She is the winner of a Special Prize at the International Hans Gabor Belvedere Singing Competition.
Lawrence Brownlee
American tenor Lawrence Brownlee returns to Lyric as Don Ottavio. He made his Lyric debut in the 2015/16 Season as Don Ramiro in Rossini's La Cenerentola and has since appeared with the company in Rossini's Le Comte Ory and Donizetti's The Daughter of the Regiment. His 2023 Grammy-nominated recording Rising pairs poetry from the Harlem Renaissance with original music commissioned from Black composers. Brownlee and soprano Erin Morley recently released the duets album Golden Age on Pentatone.
Tommaso Barea
Italian bass-baritone Tommaso Barea makes his Lyric debut as Leporello, a role he recently performed at the Metropolitan Opera and Festival d'Aix-en-Provence. Barea has also performed at La Fenice, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Deutsche Oper Berlin, and the Opéra national de Paris.
Anna El-Khashem
Russian-Lebanese soprano Anna El-Khashem makes her Lyric debut as Zerlina. She was named Emerging Opera Singer of the Year by Opernwelt magazine in 2018 and won first prize at the Neue Stimmen competition in 2019. El-Khashem has sung Zerlina at the Opéra national de Paris, Verbier Festival, and Salzburg Festival and has also performed at the Zurich Opera House and Dutch National Opera.
Christopher Humbert, Jr.
American bass-baritone Christopher Humbert, Jr., a recent alumnus of Lyric's Ryan Opera Center, appears as Masetto. The Ohio native made his Lyric debut in the 2024/25 Season as Count Ceprano in Verdi's Rigoletto and also appeared that season in Beethoven's Fidelio and Jeanine Tesori and Tazewell Thompson's Blue. He is a recent recipient of the Shoshana Foundation's Richard F. Gold Career Grant.
David Leigh
American bass David Leigh makes his Lyric debut as the Commendatore. He has sung the role at the Canadian Opera Company, Festival d'Aix-en-Provence, and Detroit Opera. A graduate of the Metropolitan Opera's Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, his 2025/26 Season included debut engagements at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, Opéra de Lyon, and Hamburg State Opera. He also toured as the bass soloist in Verdi's Requiem to Paris, Munich, Hamburg, and Vienna.
Enrique Mazzola
Lyric Music Director Enrique Mazzola conducts Don Giovanni, concluding Lyric's multi-season exploration of the three operas Mozart composed with librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte. The cycle began with The Marriage of Figaro in the 2024/25 Season and continued with Così fan tutte in the 2025/26 Season. Mazzola has served as Lyric's Music Director since 2021.
During the summer, Mazzola led the Tokyo Philharmonic in the 100th-performance run of Puccini's Madama Butterfly at the New National Theatre. He made his Berlin State Opera debut conducting a new production of Verdi's Un ballo in maschera and his Palais Garnier debut with the Opéra national de Paris conducting Rossini's La Cenerentola.
Michael Black
The Lyric Opera Chorus is led by Chorus Director Michael Black.
Robert Falls
Tony Award winner Robert Falls made his operatic debut at Lyric in the 1993/94 Season with Carlisle Floyd's Susannah and returned to direct Menotti's The Consul in the 1996/97 Season. He directed this production of Don Giovanni at its premiere in the 2014/15 Season and its revival in the 2019/20 Season. Falls served as Artistic Director of Chicago's Goodman Theatre for more than 35 years and won the 1999 Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play for his Broadway revival of Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman. He recently directed Peter Shaffer's Amadeus at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company.
Creative Team
The creative team includes set designer Walt Spangler, Costume Designer Ana Kuzmanic, lighting designer Duane Schuler, and choreographer August Tye.
ASL Interpreters
At the Sunday, October 18 matinee of Don Giovanni, Lyric Opera of Chicago will present live American Sign Language interpretation of the foreign-language opera. ASL interpreters Crom Saunders, a Certified Deaf Interpreter, and Veramarie Baldoza will interpret the performance live.
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