Chicago: Where You Can See The Present – And Future – of Opera
Chicago Opera Theater “rides on a new wave, bringing a repertoire that ranges from grand spectacle to electric intimacy.” Now COT’s Vanguard Emerging Opera Composer Residency, which invites accomplished composers into the company for a two-year education in opera-specific skills, has been named the recipient of a $500,000 grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
October 17, 2019
Vanguard Emerging Opera Composer Stacy Garrop
Photo by Darrell Hoemann
CHICAGO, IL – October 16, 2019 – As Chicago magazine recently noted, Chicago Opera Theater “rides on a new wave, bringing a repertoire that ranges from grand spectacle to electric intimacy.” A key component of that innovation is COT’s Vanguard Initiative, an aptly named industry-leading commitment to developing opera as a living art form. The centerpiece of the initiative is the Vanguard Emerging Opera Composer Residency, which invites accomplished composers into the company for a two-year education in opera-specific skills and was today named the recipient of a $500,000 grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
“Composing an opera is among the most challenging of artistic undertakings,” said Lidiya Yankovskaya, COT Staley Music Director and the newly named Artistic Director of the Vanguard Initiative. “In addition to being masters of shaping sound, opera composers must be exceptionally skilled at writing for the voice and adept at dramatic timing and flow. They must also have a clear understanding of the enormous collaborative mechanism essential for work to reach the stage and, crucially, be able to navigate the business side of the industry.”
Despite the daunting breadth and depth of skills required, there is no traditional path for opera composers and no clear training ground. The Vanguard Emerging Opera Composer Residency aims to bridge the gap between general compositional skills taught in university music programs and the real-world observation and experience that help inform an operatic composer’s work. Launched in 2018, the program identifies skilled composers who have not yet had sufficient opportunities for writing opera and provides them with a stipend and a two-year comprehensive course of study.
In addition to a survey of the canonic repertoire and detailed study of voice types, the residency offers access to operatic productions and industry events, insider knowledge of administrative processes, and ample networking opportunities. After observing the scope of the interpretative process by attending creative team meetings and staging rehearsals, the Emerging Composers collaborate with COT Young Artists and an experienced librettist, dramaturg, and director to develop a new full-length opera. Composers also work closely with Vanguard Composer Mentor Jake Heggie, hailed by The Wall Street Journal as “arguably the world’s most popular 21st-century opera and art song composer."
Through the selection and recruitment of composers from underrepresented groups, COT hopes this robust training will empower more diverse composers and bring their voices into the field.
“In order to ensure a future for opera, we must promote stories told by a variety of individuals, who represent the many regions and cultures of the United States, and bring a breadth of musical backgrounds to our field,” said Yankovskaya. “Opera’s strength throughout the form’s history has been in its ability to unite the arts in an effort to tell powerful, moving stories. We can take ownership of ensuring the art form’s continued impact by nurturing a new generation of opera composers who represent all that our country has to offer.”
The first alumna of the program will be second-year composer Stacy Garrop, an accomplished instrumental composer already commissioned by Carnegie Hall, Kronos Quartet, St. Louis Symphony, Detroit Symphony, and Minnesota Orchestra. Though Garrop had also composed extensively for the voice, her lack of immersive experience in the operatic medium made her an ideal candidate for the Vanguard Residency.
“The Vanguard program is a godsend,” said Garrop. “Having two years to write my first opera, and get feedback on it throughout the entire process, has been extremely beneficial for my development. The wide range of activities COT designed for me opened my eyes to see opera from every angle. I can’t imagine entering this world without this kind of training.”
Garrop’s new chamber opera “The Transformation of Jane Doe,” with a libretto by Jerre Dye, will be performed in April at Northwestern University’s Ryan Opera Theater and will feature members of the COT Young Artist Program.
COT’s commitment to building diversity has also placed it at the forefront of the industry offstage. Music Director Lidiya Yankovskaya is the only woman to hold that title in a multimillion-dollar opera company in the United States, and when Ashley Magnus was promoted to General Director in January, COT became a company led by millennial women. The leadership team, supported by COT Board President Susan J. Irion, have brought indomitable energy and keen foresight to strategic planning, fundraising, and artistic programming.
“We are committed to doing our part to ensure the future of our art form,” said General Director Ashley Magnus. “My dream is for Chicago to be at the forefront of new opera – for people to realize that our city is just as rich with art and creativity as the coasts. We believe the Vanguard Initiative can help Chicago become a destination for a new Golden Age of opera in America.”
Chicago Magazine Proclaims: 'Lidiya Yankovskaya Takes Opera into The 21st Century'
“Naysayers accuse opera of resuscitating a permanent past. Here is where you can see the present.” Chicago Opera Theater’s Music Director is the classical highlight in Chicago Magazine’s Culture Issue.
September 17, 2019
““Opera experimentalism has flourished in the past decade among a gaggle of startup companies around the city. Yankovskaya is taking that energy and injecting it into a major company... Naysayers accuse opera of resuscitating a permanent past. Here is where you can see the present.””
Describing Lidiya Yankovskaya, Chicago Magazine notes, “The musical head of Chicago Opera Theater doesn’t look like most bigtime opera conductors.” The fall Culture Issue feature explores Yankovskaya’s notable position as the only female music-director of a multimillion-dollar opera company in the United States who “rides on a new wave, bringing a repertoire that ranges from grand spectacle to electric intimacy.”
Yankovskaya leads Chicago Opera Theatre’s fall double bill of Aleko, Sergei Rachmaninoff’s first opera, and Everest, by contemporary composer Joby Talbot.
COT Music Director Pens Series on Responsibilities of Artistic Leaders in the 21st Century
“Those who embark on this path can foster creativity and collaboration, open doors that may otherwise remain closed, increase the number of voices represented, and ultimately move classical music toward a more viable future.” Lidiya Yankovskaya has penned a wide-ranging series on the evolving responsibilities of musical leaders.
August 28, 2019
““As mobilizers and catalysts for change, conductors from diverse backgrounds—spanning cultural, ethnic, socioeconomic, and gender boundaries—can have an opportunity to make an impact on our field, even when initially halted by gate-keeping institutions. Those who embark on this path can foster creativity and collaboration, open doors that may otherwise remain closed, increase the number of voices represented, and ultimately move classical music toward a more viable future.””
Lidiya Yankovskaya, Music Director of Chicago Opera Theater, shared her thought leadership in an articulate four-part series for NewMusicBox. Speaking from her diverse experiences as a conductor, activist, and ensemble-leader, Yankovskaya covers everything from the roles of artists as activists, expanding the American canon, and working to create a plurality of voices in classical music.
Photo by Kathy Wittman
Chicago Opera Theater Joins Verismo Roster
Led by millennial women, Chicago Opera Theater is emerging from the recent leadership transition as a company laser-focused on living its values.
July 26, 2019
Chicago Opera Theater brings a demonstrated commitment to equity, a multi-pronged approach to nurturing new works and creators, and a boldly millennial voice to the industry. Verismo Communications is proud to be representing COT for a full season of Chicago premieres, including a double bill of Everest / Aleko, the world premiere of Dan Shore’s Freedom Ride, and Nathan Gunn’s role debut in David T. Little’s Soldier Songs.
Company Overview
Led by millennial women, Chicago Opera Theater is emerging from the recent leadership transition as a company laser-focused on living its values:
• expanding the tradition of opera as a living art form
• producing high-quality works that are new to Chicago audiences
• identifying top-tier casts and creative talent at the beginning of grand operatic careers
• leading the industry in Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility initiatives
Since its founding in 1973, COT has staged over 125 operas, including 66 Chicago premieres and 36 operas by American composers. COT is led by Stefan Edlis and Gael Neeson General Director Ashley Magnus and Orli and Bill Staley Music Director Lidiya Yankovskaya, who is the only woman to hold the title of music director at a multimillion-dollar opera company in the United States.
In addition to its mainstage season, COT is devoted to the development and production of new opera in the United States through its three-pronged Vanguard Initiative, launched in 2018. The Vanguard Initiative mentors emerging opera composers, invests time and talent in new opera at various stages of the creative process, and presents the Living Opera Series to showcase new and developing work.
Committed to leading the charge to increase representation onstage and behind the scenes. In the coming season, 47% of artists (singers/conductors/directors) are ALAANA; 20% of staff are people of color; 27% of staff identify as LGBTQIA; 37% of board members are female-identified.
Moby-Dick Is 'Masterfully Led' by Lidiya Yankovskaya
“Musical mastery that turns both this massed ensemble and superb orchestra, conducted by Lidiya Yankovskaya, into forces of nature in their own right.” The Chicago premiere of Heggie’s Moby-Dick is led by Music Director Lidiya Yankovskaya.
April 30, 2019
Photo by Michael Brosilow
Conductor Lidiya Yankovskaya has just led the Chicago premiere of Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer’s operatic adaptation of Melville’s epic novel Moby-Dick. The production, acknowledged by Chicago Reader as “a major undertaking for Chicago Opera Theater and one of its best ever,” has earned particular acclaim for Yankovskaya’s leadership in the pit.
Read reviews:
“But the ultimate star here was the production itself, a tour de force for Chicago Opera Theater with many moving parts. Conductor and COT music director Lidiya Yankovskaya brought forth brilliantly colored accompaniment from the orchestra, where the most exciting musical action takes place. The chorus, too, proved resplendent, onstage and off.”
Chicago Tribune
“…An ideal cast who can act their roles with impressive style, as well as sing them with authority and exemplary diction. Lidiya Yankovskaya, COT’s young and exceptionally talented music director, elicits all the feverish beauty of the score from her superb orchestra, and from the male chorus that is more than three dozen strong.”
WTTW News
“A defining success in the history of the company... Perhaps most memorable is a gentle, affecting meditation on the sea as night slowly changes to morning. This section and the rest of the score are handsomely realized by the Chicago Opera Theater’s pit orchestra, masterfully led by music director Lidiya Yankovskaya, who never allows the momentum to flag.”
Chicago Sun-Times
“A winning operatic experience with stimulating music and touching portrayals, all against the backdrop of an epic sea story. COT has assembled a large cast and a good-sized orchestra who all contribute to an astonishing night at the opera. Lidiya Yankovskaya, COT’s music director, got things off to a propitious start on opening night at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance on Thursday, with orchestral sound that began quietly, establishing a mood of eeriness and hinting at the adventure and danger to come. All night long the sound from the pit was glorious, from playful allurings to leviathanic threats.”
Hyde Park Herald
“A powerful experience, well worth chasing down. COT music director Lidiya Yankovskaya conducts a 60-piece orchestra. This co-production with four other opera companies is a major undertaking for COT and one of its best ever.”
Chicago Reader
“Highly recommended – it’s rare to hear a more hauntingly beautiful and stylistically varied score… Chicago Opera Theater’s Music Director Lidiya Yankovskaya masterfully conducted the 60-member orchestra through Heggie’s score.”
Around The Town Chicago
“The enthralling immediacy of story and song is musical mastery that turns both this massed ensemble and superb orchestra, conducted by Lidiya Yankovskaya, into forces of nature in their own right. COT’s labor of love abounds in thinking thrills, unforgettable stage tableaux, and monumental energy that always rises to Melville’s occasions.”
Stage and Cinema
“Lidiya Yankovskaya built on her strong debut last November leading Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta. She kept the momentum surging through the two long acts, balancing the principals, chorus and large orchestra with consummate skill and putting across all of the ingenuity, audacity and startling beauty of Heggie’s remarkable score.”
Chicago Classical Review
“Moby Dick was masterfully conducted by Lidiya Yankovskaya. Under her baton the 60 piece orchestra played beautifully with a sumptuous sound. The positive influence of Ms. Yankovskaya’s direction continues to impress in a business which is highly competitive for better orchestra players. The commitment to excellence from COT is to be commended.”
Buzz Center Stage
“Heggie opens the score with an almost quiet contemplation of the sea, which you too might admire even more when the orchestra under Conductor Lidiya Yankovskaya pours out turbulent storms. Every once in a while there is a fleeting phrase in the score with almost déjà vu familiarity of an aria Pavarotti might have sung, or even a show tune, but before this writer could register the when/where, it would be washed away by other musical currents rising in a new wave… It is the muscular male chorus – sometimes center stage and sometimes off stage—that perhaps most impresses. If the Soviet Army Chorus were unleashed to sing a wider range of melodies that weren’t all about military conquest and glory, one imagines they might sound just like this.”
Picture This Post
“Chicago Opera Theater music director Lidiya Yankovskaya led a first-class cast, a 60-piece orchestra, and an agile 38-member chorus in the service of this demanding opera. “Moby-Dick” doesn’t sound Italian at all, but it loves singers the way Verdi operas do, and Yankovskaya conveyed its Verdi-like sense of tension and forward motion, knowing where to dwell and reflect, how long to cower, when to pounce, how to switch gears and get on with it.”
Chicago on The Aisle
A 'Perfect Storm of Vocalism' by The 'Greatest Verdi Voices of Our Age'
“Lyric provided the finest, best matched group of lead singers that I can imagine singing today." Il trovatore at Lyric Opera of Chicago stars critically acclaimed mezzo Jamie Barton as Azucena and tenor Russell Thomas as Manrico.
November 22, 2018
Photo by Todd Rosenberg
““Jamie Barton as Azucena achieved the finest and most convincing blend of great Verdi singing and compelling acting. For once the final act was not an absurd anticlimax and the mezzo-soprano was riveting here – Barton’s high notes soared like a bel canto soprano and her growling chest voice had a disturbing, almost feral quality. She charted the imprisoned Azucena’s psychological disintegration with an almost clinical degree of vocal and dramatic acuity. All four principals were at their best in the final scene, delivering unbridled, truly great Verdi singing that defines opera at its most thrilling and visceral.””
Lyric Opera of Chicago is receiving critical acclaim for the stellar cast of Il trovatore, featuring mezzo Jamie Barton as Azucena and tenor Russell Thomas as her adopted son, Manrico. Conducted by Marco Armiliato, the production by Sir David McVicar plays through December 9 at the Civic Opera House; tickets can be purchased via the Lyric.
Read reviews:
Photo by Todd Rosenberg
“Barton brought both musical and dramatic depth to her reading of Azucena. Most striking here was Barton’s low register, a throaty, guttural timbre reflecting the darkness of her deeds. In Barton’s nuanced performance, Azucena emerged a cursed but somewhat sympathetic villain. This “Trovatore” hinged on Wilson’s and Barton’s imposing vocals, which will be remembered long after the rest is forgotten.”
–Chicago Tribune
“Pride of place must go to the sensational mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton in the role of Azucena. In her opening number "Stride la vampa," Barton was remarkable in how she captured her character's emotional volatility. From stridency, to trauma, to guilt, to fury, Barton's performance was a masterclass in affective singing-acting. You could have closed your eyes and known exactly what this character was going through.”
–Schmopera
Photo by Todd Rosenberg
“Barton delivers powerful, show-stopping singing as Azucena, capturing the variously crazed, forlorn facets of this conflicted character…”
–Chicago Sun-Times
“American mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton is a stunning Azucena. She has a coffee-rich darkness to her voice, and her storytelling ability is tremendous. Azucena in the wrong hands can appear to be a silly or demented old woman, but Barton imbues the character with ominous power.”
–Hyde Park Herald
“Jamie Barton is one of the world’s great mezzo-sopranos and her Azucena was masterful. Her powerful voice complemented perhaps the best dramatic skills among the principals. Her Azucena was less fanatical and more a woman who has been severely damaged... Her fiery showpiece “Stride la vampa” was one of the highlights of the matinee.“
–Opera Wire
Photo by Todd Rosenberg
“Barton is pitch perfect as the gypsy Azucena…providing inspiring vocal thrills throughout.”
–Chicago Now
“Barton’s performances as Azucena holds back nothing. The height of her voice is matched by the anguish on her face and in her body.“
–Around The Town Chicago
“Speaking of sublime, how can we start to describe the perfect storm of vocalism which was created by an ensemble of some of the greatest Verdi voices of our age? Every singer was ideally cast in these difficult roles. Azucena…is often played with hair-raising intensity, bordering on the grotesque. Jamie Barton was a more sympathetic character and sang the role more beautifully, not in small part due to the pathos inherent in her warm full mezzo soprano. Still chilling, yes, but believable.”
–Buzz Center Stage
“At the center of the Trovatore story is Azucena, sung here by Jamie Barton, an impressive 37-year-old with a voice of steadfast strength and only a few Azucenas under her belt, although there are doubtless many more in the offing. Azucena’s early scene at the gypsy camp is a tour de force; Manrico listens as she relives her horror at the crowd’s delight in her mother’s immolation, then dissolves into viscerally thrilling madness... There is realism in Barton’s insightful reading of this self-made human horror.”
–Chicago on the Aisle
“Lyric provided the finest, best matched group of lead singers that I can imagine singing today. Jamie Barton certainly laid claim to being the Azucena of her generation. The voice has bloomed and become more powerful, and last night she deployed a lower register that I hadn’t heard from her before. She sang and acted with beauty and skill, and the contrast between her lust for vengeance for her mother’s death and her maternal protectiveness toward Manrico has never been clearer. Her “Stride la vampa” in Act Two was a model of dramatic vocalism, yet she was able to sing softly and ravishingly in Act Four’s “Ai nostri monti” when the imprisoned Azucena longs for her previous life in the mountains. And her rendition of the opera’s final line “Sei vendicata, o Madre!” was chilling and raise goose bumps on this reviewer.”
–Parterre Box
Photo by Todd Rosenberg
“The fervency and emotional commitment of Thomas’s interpretation proved fiercely effective… The ardor he expressed for Leonora in “Ah si, ben mio, coll’essere” and the heat he generated in the vocally daunting “Di quella pira” underscored the stature of his work. Here was a tenor who didn’t so much act the role of the doomed lover Manrico as inhabit it.”
–Chicago Tribune
“Tenor Russell Thomas delivers an impassioned, technically secure turn in the title role of Manrico. He really comes on in the second half, especially in his Act 3 vow of devotion to Leonora, ‘Ah! si, ben mio.’” –Chicago Sun-Times
“Lyric gives us the powerhouse Russell Thomas… His soaring, full-throated tenor is outstanding…”
–Stage and Cinema
“Russel Thomas gets his well-deserved first starring role at the Lyric as Manrico, and his tenor is warm and sweet. During his battle cry to save Azucena, “Di quella pira,” his presiding emotion is love, and the one time we hear him performing as the titular troubadour, his voice is mysterious and alluring.”
–Around The Town Chicago
“The title role of Manrico (the troubadour) is in solid hands with American tenor Russell Thomas [who] has the bearing of both a lover and a fighter…”
–Hyde Park Herald
Photo by Todd Rosenberg
“Thomas delivered an incredible performance as Manrico, imbibing every tone with courage and heroism to instill a deep sense of empathy in audiences.”
–Loyola Phoenix
“Thomas was an imposing Manrico. He conveyed the depths of his emotions with a tender “Ah si! Ben mio” while his fiery “Di quella pira” was in stark contrast with determined intensity.”
–Opera Wire
“There’s no denying that Russell is a brilliant tenor with star power and a stage presence to match. Especially gripping was his Act III aria-cabaletta ‘Ah, si ben mio…di quella pira.’”
–Schmopera
“Speaking of sublime, how can we start to describe the perfect storm of vocalism which was created by an ensemble of some of the greatest Verdi voices of our age? Every singer was ideally cast in these difficult roles. Tenor Russell Thomas was well up to the daunting task of the Troubador, Manrico. His clarion tenor, so powerful at full voice, was tenderly sympathetic in the softer moments, when his color became more burnished. Manricos’ aria, “Ah, si, ben mio”, was lyrical, idiomatic and meltingly lovely.”
–Buzz Center Stage
“As star-crossed lovers, tenor Russell Thomas and soprano Tamara Wilson become sadder and wiser quickly, but not without singing gloriously about it. Thomas’ “Di quella pira” was the stratospheric show-stopper one always hopes for.”
–Chicago on the Aisle
Photo by Todd Rosenberg
“Lyric provided the finest, best matched group of lead singers that I can imagine singing today. Tenor Russell Thomas was a heroic Manrico, bringing stentorian power throughout. He had all the tools for a successful Manrico in his pocket, singing with a stunning intensity. He provided a stirring “Di quella pira”… a thrilling musical moment.”
–Parterre Box
“As Manrico, Russell Thomas clearly possesses the Verdian bona fides for this heroic protagonist. The tenor was able to sustain a strenuous vocal intensity to handle the demands of this voice-shredding role. “Di quella pira” was the rousing showstopper it was meant to be for once, Thomas singing every note and nailing the top C. Yet he also showed a graceful lyricism in “Ah, si, ben mio” and the duetted scenes with Leonora…”
–Chicago Classical Review
Lidiya Yankovskaya Leads 'A Flexible And Richly Idiomatic' Iolanta
“Yankovskaya’s supple command of musical shape and dramatic continuity was never in doubt.” Chicago Opera Theater Music Director Lidiya Yankovskaya leads the Chicago premiere of Tchaikovsky’s final opera.
November 18, 2018
Photo by Michael Brosilow
Russian-American conductor Lidiya Yankovskaya recently led the Chicago premiere of Iolanta, Tchaikovsky’s final opera, at Chicago Opera Theater.
Though Yankovskaya was appointed Music Director of COT in 2017, the 18/19 season opener marked her debut in the orchestra pit. Critics praised her leadership, citing it as a new beginning for Chicago Opera Theater.
Read reviews:
“Yankovskaya…led a flexible and richly idiomatic account of this score. She showed clear sympathy with her compatriot’s music—keeping the music flowing through the unbroken 90 minutes, balancing deftly to bring out Tchaikovsky’s woodwind accents, and building lyric climaxes to resplendent payoffs.”
–Chicago Classical Review
“All follow Maestra Yankovskaya with ease, and she brings the piece to full flower…For anyone who has had recent doubts about the vitality of opera, it’s a pure tonic.”
–Chicagoland Musical Theatre
“Maestra Yankovskaya’s debut in the pit was promising and gratifying. She brought out all the pathos and grandness in the lush score, without ever overpowering the singers, quite an accomplishment in an intimate theater with such an exposed orchestra pit.”
–Buzz Center Stage
“Conducted by Lidiya Yankovskaya in her company debut, [this is] a production that is as dazzling as it is emotionally and musically complex. Led by Yankovskaya, the orchestra’s music buoys each character’s journey.”
–Picture this Post
“Under the baton of Lidiya Yankovskaya, Tchaikovsky’s score became transcendent. With the thorough preparation of the score and empathy with the composer (both having Russian roots and then Western influences), she lovingly guided the singers and orchestra through every ebb and flow of the music, shifting from tenderness to passion, while keeping the pace of the opera moving ahead.”
–Opera Wire
“COT is going in the right direction. This show marks a new beginning for COT, especially with Lidiya Yankovskaya. The music-making was at such a high level, and the singing was so committed and engaged. I felt like I was hearing this opera for the first time – that this is fresh, this is new, and this is something I need to pay attention to.”
–Opera Box Score
“Lidiya Yankovskaya’s rapid rise among U.S.-based conductors of her generation seems to be driven as much by her exceptional talent as her eagerness to take on ambitious, out-of-the-way artistic projects. On Saturday, the 32-year-old Russian-American maestro made her official debut…conducting a fringe-repertory piece that’s close to her heart and place of origin: Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta. Yankovskaya’s supple command of musical shape and dramatic continuity was never in doubt. One can only hope COT’s new music director – a staunch champion of Russian opera in the 22 years since she arrived on these shores – will favor Chicago with more Russian rarities in the not-too-distant future.”
–Musical America
A Mighty Voice in Opera Champions The Need for More Diversity
“I believe the way you diversify an audience is by diversifying the stage. But if there are not people backstage that are thinking diversity, you don’t have it.” Tenor Russell Thomas talks to the Chicago Sun-Times ahead of his appearance in Il trovatore.
November 15, 2018
Photo by James Foster
Tenor Russell Thomas believes in the power of music. After all, music — specifically opera — changed the course of his life.
VerismoComm Welcomes Lidiya Yankovskaya to Roster
“One of the hottest young conductors forging a path in the world of opera today… Lidiya Yankovskaya is the future of opera.” As Music Director of Chicago Opera Theater, Lidiya is the only woman to hold that title in a multimillion-dollar opera company in the United States.
November 5, 2018
Verismo Communications is proud to welcome Russian-American conductor Lidiya Yankovskaya to the roster. As Music Director of Chicago Opera Theater, Yankovskaya is the only woman to hold that title in a multimillion-dollar opera company in the United States.
Under her leadership, COT has established the Vanguard Initiative, a three-pronged investment in new opera that includes a two-year residency for emerging opera composers. Committed to developing the next generation of artistic leaders, she also serves on the Advisory Board of Turn The Spotlight, a foundation dedicated to illuminating the path to a more equitable future in the arts.
Yankovskaya is Founder and Artistic Director of the Refugee Orchestra Project, which proclaims the cultural and societal relevance of refugees through music, and has brought that message to the United Nations and hundreds of thousands of listeners around the world.
In the 2018/19 season, Ms. Yankovskaya leads the Chicago premieres of Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta and Heggie’s Moby-Dick at COT, the world premiere of Kamala Sankaram’s Taking Up Serpents at Washington National Opera, and the world premiere of Ricky Ian Gordon’s Ellen West at Opera Saratoga. She conducts Grétry’s Belgian rarity Zémire et Azor at Carnegie Mellon University, workshops Justin Chen’s The Life and Death(s) of Alan Turing at COT and Paola Prestini’s Edward Tulane at Minnesota Opera, and makes her Mobile Symphony debut in Carmina Burana. She also debuts at Trinity Wall Street, leading the New York premiere of Laura Schwendinger’s Artemisia, and returns to New York’s National Sawdust to close her season with the Hildegard Competition Concert, which features the work of emerging female, trans, and nonbinary composers.
New Site Launched for American Tenor Russell Thomas
“A heroically shining tone of exceptional clarity and precision…” American tenor Russell Thomas will bring his signature elegance and intensity to the title characters in Verdi’s Otello, Donizetti’s Roberto Devereux, and Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito.
July 11, 2018
Verismo Communications announces the launch of a new website for American tenor Russell Thomas, who performs Verdi's iconic Otello with this Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl this month.
With a “heroically shining tone of exceptional clarity and precision” (Opera Magazine) and “gorgeously burnished power” (The New York Times), Thomas uses his signature elegance and intensity to create vivid character portrayals on the world’s most important stages.
The upcoming 2018/19 season features Mr. Thomas’s hotly anticipated stage debut as the title character in Otello, to be seen at the Canadian Opera Company after concert performances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. He sings Manrico in Il trovatore at the Bayerische Staatsoper and Lyric Opera of Chicago, makes his role debut as as the title character in Roberto Devereux at San Francisco Opera, and brings his celebrated Tito in La clemenza di Tito to Los Angeles Opera. On the concert stage, he joins the World Orchestra for Peace in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 at the BBC Proms, and performs Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra.
Amanda Majeski Returns to Lyric Opera of Chicago in Der Rosenkavalier
"Sheer perfection...She simply could not be better in this role." Amanda Majeski delivers her first U.S. performances as the Marschallin after rapturous reviews of her role debut in Frankfurt.
February 9, 2016
Photo by Cory Weaver
““In the key role of the Marschallin, Lyric is blessed with the presence of soprano Amanda Majeski. Her work here is sheer perfection. She has clearly mastered the character’s many moods, from her flirtatiousness with Octavian following their liebesnacht in her bedroom at the start of the first act to her gracious philosophical resignation in the trio of the last. Majeski has a voice of both warmth and power, enabling her to make herself heard over Strauss’s large orchestra while still floating ethereally over more intimate scenes. She simply could not be better in this role.” STAGE LEFT”
Amanda Majeski has returned to her home company, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, for her first U.S. performances as the Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier. Majeski debuted the Strauss role in Frankfurt in 2015 to rapturous reviews; now Chicago critics are praising her "seamless lyricism" (Chicago Sun-Times) and "golden sound" (Chicago Theatre Review), as well as her "creamy tone and ravishing pianissimos." (Chicago Tribune)
Der Rosenkavalier, conducted by Edward Gardner and also starring Sophie Koch, Alice Coote, and Matthew Rose, continues through March 13; tickets are available through the Lyric website.
Read reviews:
"As the Marschallin, Amanda Majeski revealed just the type of glowing soprano voice with which Strauss had a lifelong love affair; Majeski has an ample, pungent instrument with the ability to soar above the staff in long, arching lines and fine down to a thread of pianissimo with seeming effortlessness."
Opera News
"Soprano Amanda Majeski was an intriguing Marschallin, projecting gracious authority while struggling with the painful fact that her youth was forever past and gone. An Illinois native and alumna of Lyric’s Ryan Opera Center training program, she sang with a strong, bright, expressive tone. Her seamless lyricism in the opera’s introspective moments conveyed the Marschallin’s essential goodness of heart. In Act III, disgusted by the crude Baron, Majeski’s low vocal line brimmed with scorn."
Chicago Sun-Times
"The singer who would succeed at Strauss must possess the freedom of tone necessary to brave the rapidly-shifting musicality of his phrases and the buoyant athleticism of their leaps, while maintaining a narrow delineation of pitch. In the plum role of The Marschallin, Chicago-favorite Amanda Majeski makes short work of this challenge. In the Act I Monologue, “Da geht er hin,” the Illinois-born soprano threads her golden sound fearlessly, with a flawless vibrato like a flicker hovering over a carefully-controlled flame."
Chicago Theatre Review
"Majeski was exemplary, riding Strauss’s long lines with gleaming tone and confidence. She brought a dignified sadness to her long Act I soliloquy musing on her fading beauty with touching expression. The soprano was ideally poised and affecting vocally and dramatically in the final trio as she yields her young lover to a woman his own age."
Chicago Classical Review
"What redeems the production is the pathos of seeing performances fresh as dewdrops imprisoned in a dusty mausoleum. Amanda Majeski, who triumphed as the Countess Almaviva in Figaro earlier this season, sings with such tenderness as to render the German language beautiful."
Chicago Stage Standard
"Amanda Majeski regally embodies the Marschallin. Her tall, slender figure and fair skin are a natural fit for the role, but it is her exquisite tone and vocal technique that makes the performance so absolutely enchanting. When Koch and Majeski are joined onstage by Christina Landshamer’s Sophie for Der Rosenkavalier’s finale, the resulting trio is heavenly and sublime."
Stage and Cinema
"Majeski has a way of sliding languidly into notes, letting them come upon her in a way that projects immense self-assurance. Her creamy tone sits beautifully atop Edward Gardner’s direction of the orchestra."
BachTrack
"Strauss specified that his heroine, the Marschallin, be no older than 32. Matching her real-life age to that of the character, soprano Amanda Majeski (who's 31) sang beautifully as the Marschallin, aka the Princess von Werdenberg, wife of a field marshall in Imperial Vienna. The Illinois-born Majeski carried herself with great poise and grace as she lofted creamy tone and ravishing pianissimos into the stratosphere, and she was touching in her character's rueful monologue about the passage of time. She earned herself an extended ovation Monday."
Chicago Tribune