CHICAGO (AP) — The Lyric Opera of Chicago’s 2025-26 season will include five productions that first appeared elsewhere and one revival, all picked by the previous general director, Anthony Freud.
The current general director, John Mangum, arrived on Oct. 14 from the Houston Symphony after the retirement of Freud, who had led the Lyric for 13 years. Mangum plans on seven mainstage operas in 2026-27, including three of his choosing.
Freud left in place two titles for 2027-28, the final season he partially programmed. Mangum is planning a 2029-30 season marking the 75th anniversary of the company and the 100th anniversary of the opera house.
Following an opening gala on Oct. 10, next season’s staged works start the following night with the company premiere of Cherubini’s “Medea” in the Italian version, the company announced Tuesday. Sondra Radvanovsky sings the title role in David McVicar’s staging, repeating her performance that opened the Metropolitan Opera’s 2022-23 season.
“It’s expensive to originate a production on your own,” Mangum said. “The `Medea’ is a great example. That’s a co-production that we invested in from the beginning and was always intended to come here. That really I think is the new model. The idea that the house can just do a production on its own is economically not really feasible these days.”
The number of performances will increase to 59 in 2025-26 from 47 this season, down from a pre-pandemic high of 66 in 2017-18. Next season includes three concerts of Orff’s “Carmina Burana” and seven by alternative rocker Billy Corgan focusing on the 30th anniversary of his recording with The Smashing Pumpkins, “Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness.”
The Lyric has sold 72% of tickets this season prior to remaining productions of Puccini’s “La Bohème” and Missy Mazzoli’s “The Listeners” that open this month. The 2023-24 season ended at 75%, down from 76% in 2022-23.
Elijah Moshinsky’s 2002 Lyric Opera productions of Mascagni’s “Cavalleria Rusticana” and Leoncavallo’s “Pagliacci” open Nov. 1 and feature Yulia Matochkina and SeokJong Baek in their company debuts.
Elena Stikhina and Nicholas Brownlee make their company debuts on Jan. 25 in Strauss’ “Salome,” in a McVicar production first seen at London’s Royal Opera in 2008. Mozart’s “Così fan tutte” opens Feb. 1 in Michael Cavanagh’s 2021 staging from the San Francisco Opera that sets the action in a 1930s U.S. country club.
Matthew Ozawa directs Puccini’s “Madama Butterfly” starring Karah Son in her company debut on March 14, 2026, in a staging first seen at the Cincinnati Opera in 2023. Gabriela Lena Frank’s “El último sueño de Frida y Diego” opens March 21, 2026, in the Lorena Maza staging from the 2022 world premiere at the San Diego Opera.
