FIRE SHUT UP IN MY BONES Comes to Lyric Opera Beginning This Week

Lyric Opera of Chicago will present the company premiere of Terence Blanchard and Kasi Lemmons's new opera Fire Shut Up in My Bones, the latest in Lyric's continuing long-term focus on developing and presenting new work on its mainstage.

Fire Shut Up in My Bones brings together an extraordinary collection of talent, including the composer Terence Blanchard, one of the most influential figures in American jazz, whose score is a fusion of opera, jazz, gospel, and other musical traditions, and Kasi Lemmons, a celebrated screenwriter and film director, whose bracing and poetic libretto skillfully adapts The New York Times columnist Charles M. Blow's memoir for the stage. The production is conducted by Daniela Candillari and co-directed by James Robinson and Camille A. Brown, with Brown also providing the opera's electrifying choreography.

The topflight cast includes many of America's most brilliant singing actors, including Will Liverman, an alumnus of Lyric's Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center, in the central role of Charles; Latonia Moore in her Lyric debut as Charles's mother, Billie; Brittany Renee in her Lyric debut in the roles of Destiny, Loneliness, and Charles's girlfriend Greta; Chauncey Packer as Spinner, Billie's womanizing husband, in his Lyric debut; and Chris Kenney, also an alumnus of Lyric's Ryan Opera Center, who returns as Chester, Charles's abusive cousin.

When Fire Shut Up in My Bones had its New York premiere at the Metropolitan Opera last year, it earned thunderous acclaim for its creative team and cast and instantly became the must-have ticket for the fall. Chicago audiences will soon discover why.