LES TROYENS Premieres at Lyric on Sunday, November 13

In a new production, Lyric Opera of Chicago presents the much-anticipated Midwest premiere of Les Troyens by French Romantic composer Hector Berlioz (1803-1869). Les Troyens opens Sunday, November 13, with only five performances throughDecember 3 at Lyric's Civic Opera House, 20 N. Wacker Drive, Chicago. Tickets are available at lyricopera.org/Troyens or at 312-827-5600.

Christine Goerke returns to Lyric's stage as the Trojan princess and clairvoyant, Cassandra, who accurately predicts the fall of Troy and commits suicide after predicting that the Trojan hero, Aeneas (Brandon Jovanovich) will one day found a new Troy in Italy. Aeneas arrives in Carthage and falls in love with Queen Dido (Sophie Koch). They enjoy glorious days until the ghosts of Cassandra, Troy's King Priam (David Govertsen), the hero Hector (Bradley Smoak), and Cassandra's lover Coroebus (Lucas Meachem) appear, urging Aeneas to leave Carthage at once for Italy. Enraged, Dido kills herself, declaring "Rome! Rome eternal!"

Sir Andrew Davis conducts the new production directed by Tim Albery, with set and costume designs by Tobias Hoheisel, lighting designs by David Finn, and projection designs byIlluminos (Lyric debut). Michael Black is chorus master and Helen Pickett makes her Lyric debut as choreographer. Les Troyens will be performed in French with projectEd English translations.

Lyric's general director Anthony Freud notes, "This is a Lyric premiere that our audience has long awaited, because there's nothing else in the repertoire like Les Troyens. It is one of the greatest challenges an opera company can face, and we have the cast and creative forces to do it glorious justice."

"I'm a huge admirer of Berlioz's music, and ever since I began conducting opera more than 40 years ago, it's been a dream of mine to conduct Les Troyens," says Sir Andrew Davis, Lyric's music director. "This is truly one of the greatest works in the history of opera, with a beauty, grandeur, and dramatic power that put it in a category all its own. I'm thrilled to share it with Lyric audiences for the first time." Maestro Davis has had severAl Berlioz recordings released on Chandos Records, and is renowned for his expertise in this repertoire.

Please note the early performance times for The Trojans: Nov. 13 and 17 and Dec. 3 at1pm, Nov. 21 and 26 at 5:30pm. Performances will last approximately five hours, including two intermissions.

$15 pre-packed meals will be available for purchase before all performances, to be picked up during the first intermission. (These will include a choice of beef, turkey, or vegetable sandwich, chips, and bottled water.) Lyric's Pedersen Room Restaurant and Florian Opera Bistro will offer regular dining service.

The opening performance of Les Troyens will be recorded for delayed broadcast locally on98.7WFMT and globally on wfmt.com on Tuesday, November 15 beginning at 7:15pm.