Lyric Launches Season with STARS OF LYRIC OPERA AT MILLENNIUM PARK

Lyric Opera of Chicago launches its 65th season with the 19th annual Stars of Lyric Opera at Millennium Park concert at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion on Friday, September 6, at 7pm. The free outdoor performance, presented in cooperation with The City of Chicago and Millennium Park, annually attracts capacity crowds to the pavilion, great lawn, and surrounding areas of the park.

Lyric's renowned music director, Sir Andrew Davis, will conduct the Lyric Opera Orchestra and Chorus along with an array of outstanding international opera artists, including the stars of Lyric's season-opening production of Rossini's The Barber of Seville: Marianne Crebassa, Lawrence Brownlee, Adam Plachetka, and Krzysztof Bączyk (making his Lyric Opera debut). Current Ryan Opera Center Ensemble members Mathilda Edge, Kayleigh Decker, Eric Ferring, and Christopher Kenney will also perform.

The starry evening features excerpts from Lyric's upcoming season, including highlights from The Barber of Seville, as well as selections by Verdi, Puccini, Mozart, and Tchaikovsky. The concert will also include music from Verdi's Falstaff, Donizetti'sLa favorite, Bizet's Carmen, and Rachmaninoff's Aleko.

The Lyric Opera Chorus will be prepared by chorus master Michael Black.

Lyric will post live updates via social media throughout the evening. Join the conversation by tagging your posts with #LyricStars on Facebook at facebook.com/lyricopera and on Twitter and Instagram at @LyricOpera. There will be chances to win tickets to the 2019/20 Season during the evening, and the first 5,000 guests to arrive will receive a free Lyric giveaway item.

Invite your friends to this free concert and let others know you are attending with theStars of Lyric Opera at Millennium Park Facebook event here.

Lyric Opera of Chicago opens its 65th season on Saturday, September 28. The season will include eight operas: Rossini's The Barber of Seville (Sept. 28 - Oct. 27), Verdi's Luisa Miller (Oct. 12 - 31), Heggie and McNally's Dead Man Walking (Nov. 2 - 22), Mozart's Don Giovanni (Nov. 14 - Dec. 8), Puccini's Madama Butterfly (Feb. 6 - Mar. 8), Tchaikovsky's The Queen of Spades (Feb. 15 - Mar. 1), Wagner's Gӧtterd?"mmerung (Apr. 4 & 11), and the Midwest premiere of Tesori and Thompson'sBlue (performed at The Yard at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, June 19 - 28).

The climax of the season will be Lyric's new production of Wagner's Ring cycle, attracting audiences from around the world to experience the four operas over the course of a single week: Das Rheingold, Die Walküre, Siegfried, and Götterdämmerung(Cycle 1: Apr. 13 - 18, Cycle 2: Apr. 20 - 25, Cycle 3: Apr. 27 - May 3).

Lyric's 2019/20 Season also includes the company premiere of Harry Warren and Al Dubin's Tony-winning song-and-dance spectacular 42nd Street (May 29 - June 21), and two special events: Lyric favorite Sondra Radvanovsky singing the finales of Donizetti's three "Tudor Queen" operas in The Three Queens with members of the Lyric Opera Orchestra and Chorus (Dec. 1 - 7) and the long-awaited Chicago return ofSir Bryn Terfel in Recital (Feb. 2).

All of Lyric's regular-season performances take place at the Lyric Opera House, 20 N. Wacker Drive in Chicago, with projected English texts for every opera. Subscriptions are still available, as are single tickets for individual performances. Discounts are available for groups of 10 or more.

For information on specific performance dates and ticket availability, please call (312) 827-5600 or visit lyricopera.org.

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