What you need to know about Beethoven’s Fidelio

What you need to know about Beethoven’s Fidelio

An enduring symbol of hope for generations, Fidelio returns to the Lyric stage for the first time in 20 years with all of its potency intact. Lyric powerhouses Enrique Mazzola and Matthew Ozawa join forces for the first time on this timeless and urgently relevant story of love, courage, and freedom.

 CHICAGO (9/13/24) — A resonant and evocative tale of freedom’s hard-won triumph over oppression, Beethoven’s only opera Fidelio is on stage at Lyric Opera of Chicago from September 26 to October 10, 2024. Lyric’s Chief Artistic Administration Officer Matthew Ozawa directs this revolutionary classic with a strikingly modern perspective, while Music Director Enrique Mazzola makes his first journey through Beethoven’s powerful score.

Against all odds. Freedom-fighter Florestan is unjustly imprisoned by his enemy and left to die a slow death. Leonore, Florestan’s wife, never gives up hope that her husband is still alive and disguises herself as a male prison guard — taking the name Fidelio — and infiltrates the prison to rescue him. As Leonore goes deeper undercover, she finds herself fighting not only for the freedom of her husband but for all people imprisoned by a corrupt system of justice. Fidelio is renowned for maintaining a relentless timeliness by inspiring hope in the hearts of those who are suffering political oppression.

Another “first” for the maestro. Lyric Music Director Enrique Mazzola conducts Beethoven’s masterful opera for the first time with this production. Mazzola had a hugely successful 2023/24 “Season of Firsts” with his first Wagner opera at Lyric, The Flying Dutchman; his first contemporary opera at Lyric, Terence Blanchard and Michael Cristofer’s Champion; his first Mozart work at Lyric, the Requiem; and his first production of Verdi’s Aida, which marked the 100th opera of his conducting career. Mazzola was also nominated for Conductor of the Year in the 2024 International Opera Awards. Under Mazzola’s steady guidance, the Lyric Opera Orchestra is sure to bring out all the poignance and majesty of Beethoven’s score.

The 72 members of the Lyric Opera Chorus, led by Chorus Director Michael Black, will deliver Beethoven’s haunting vocal melodies; one highlight of the opera is the “Prisoners’ Chorus,” a memorable expression of yearning for the sunlight of freedom.

A classic tale told through a modern lens. Fidelio is directed by Matthew Ozawa, who is no stranger to Lyric. He directed acclaimed Lyric productions of Massenet’s Don Quichotte in the 2016/17 Season and Verdi’s Nabucco in the 2015/16 Season, and he joined Lyric’s administration as Chief Artistic Administration Officer in 2022. This production’s 2021 premiere at San Francisco Opera earned rave reviews; Ozawa updates the opera’s setting to a contemporary prison system — to chilling dramatic effect.

A powerful duo anchors the opera. Luminous soprano Elza van den Heever stars as the heroine and freedom fighter Leonore alongside tenor Russell Thomas as her husband, the political prisoner Florestan. Van den Heever has made stellar appearances at Lyric as Chrysothemis in Strauss’s Elektra in the 2018/19 Season and Armida in Handel’s Rinaldo in the 2011/12 Season. Later this season she will make her debut at Milan’s famed La Scala as Sieglinde in Wagner’s Die Walküre. Thomas returns to Lyric following his compelling performance as Radamès in Aida in the 2023/24 Season and recent triumphs in the title role in Verdi’s Ernani in the 2022/23 Season and Cavaradossi in Puccini’s Tosca in the 2021/22 Season. Van den Heever and Thomas earned great acclaim for their performances in Ozawa’s production at its premiere in San Francisco; the pair is sure to deliver breathtaking vocals and undeniable chemistry as the time-tested lovers and revolutionaries. Following their performances in Fidelio, they will appear together as another married couple — the Empress and the Emperor — in Strauss’s Die Frau ohne Schatten at the Metropolitan Opera.

A star-studded cast. While Leonore’s fight for Florestan’s freedom takes the spotlight, other compelling characters each have an important role in Fidelio’s story. Bass Dimitry Ivashchenko, who was Pogner in Lyric’s production of Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg in the 2012/13 Season, is the jailer Rocco, a role he also performed in this production’s run at Canadian Opera Company in the 2023/24 Season. Baritone Brian Mulligan, last seen at Lyric as Father in Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel in the 2012/13 Season, sings the role of Pizarro, the authoritative governor of the prison. Bass-baritone Alfred Walker, who sang the role of Father in Hansel and Gretel in the 2022/23 Season, is the principled minister of state Don Fernando. Soprano Sydney Mancasola, whose important recent house debuts include Adina in Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore at Opéra National de Paris, makes her Lyric debut as Marzelline, the daughter of Rocco who falls in love with Fidelio.

Fidelio also features several members of Lyric’s renowned artist-development program, The Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center: first-year tenor Daniel Espinal is Jaquino in his Lyric debut, second-year tenor Travon D. Walker is 1st Prisoner, and second-year bass-baritone Christopher Humbert Jr. is 2nd Prisoner.

Break the chains. Fidelio’s innovative visuals are anchored by a massive, rotating two-level set that provides a glimpse into a contemporary prison complex while amplifying the claustrophobia of confinement. Fidelio showcases the stylings of set and projection designer Alexander V. Nichols, renowned for his work in dance, theater, and opera at the international level, including for the Joffrey Ballet and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, in his Lyric debut; lighting designer Yuki Nakase Link, who has collaborated with Ozawa on his productions of Huang Ruo’s Angel Island, Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, and Gluck’s Orpheus and Eurydice, in her Lyric debut; and costume designer Jessica Jahn, whose immersive work has been seen at Lyric in four productions since the 2014/15 Season and will also be seen later this season in Jeanine Tesori and Tazewell Thompson’s Blue.

Love conquers all. Fidelio is a timely political drama that follows a woman’s unyielding quest for freedom — for her husband and for society. Directed by Matthew Ozawa and conducted by Enrique Mazzola, Beethoven’s only opera will be a riveting, enlightening, and empowering experience for Chicago audiences.

Join us for these exciting free events that provide further context for audiences to discover Fidelio.

• Fidelio Opera Insights
  Explore Fidelio through the lenses of justice, revolution, and liberation. Moderated by Lyric Unlimited Scholar-in-Residence Dr. Antonio C. Cuyler, the panel will feature Fidelio cast members and representatives from the Illinois Prison Project as they discuss the opera’s contemporary relevance.

  Tuesday, September 17 at 6:30 p.m. in the Performance Penthouse at the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts, University of Chicago, 915 E. 60th Street. Free and open to the public with RSVP.

  Wednesday, October 2 at 4:30 p.m. in the Ardis Krainik Theatre at Lyric Opera of Chicago. Free and open to attendees of the October 2 performance; ticket holders for other Fidelio performances may RSVP for entry.

 

• Revolution, Love, Freedom: Explore the sacrifice of love and defiance of tyranny in Fidelio and Leonora
  Co-presented by Lyric Opera of Chicago and Chicago Opera Theater
  Saturday, September 21 at 1:00 p.m., First United Methodist Church at the Chicago Temple, 77 W. Washington Street. Tickets are free.

  Join Fidelio director Matthew Ozawa, Lyric Music Director Enrique Mazzola, and artists from Chicago Opera Theater for a panel moderated by WFMT’s LaRob K. Rafael.

 

• Heart Work: The Works of Renaldo Hudson
  September 25 – October 10 at Lyric Opera House

  As Lyric presents Fidelio this fall, operagoers can view Heart Work: The Works of Renaldo Hudson, an exhibit of the educator, minister, and community organizer’s experiences, vision, and work during his incarceration, on view in the Grand Foyer and Mezzanine of the Lyric Opera House.

Important to know…

• Five chances to see Fidelio: September 26; matinees on September 29 and October 2; October 5, and October 10.

• Performed in German, with easy-to-follow English translations projected above the stage.

• A total running time of 2 hours and 35 minutes, including one intermission.

• Ticketholders are invited to a free pre-opera talk by WFMT Music Director Oliver Camacho on Fidelio’s composition history and social context; the talk begins one hour before each performance on the main floor of the theater.

• Audio description, a guided touch tour of the set, and SoundShirts are available at the Sunday, September 29 matinee performance. Braille and large-print programs, high-powered opera glasses, assistive listening devices, and booster seats are available from the main floor coat check at all performances. For more information on these and other accessibility assets, visit lyricopera.org/accessibility.

• For more information and tickets, visit lyricopera.org/fidelio or call 312.827.5600.

 

About Lyric

Lyric Opera of Chicago is committed to redefining what it means to experience great opera. The company is driven to deliver consistently excellent artistry through innovative, relevant, celebratory programming that engages and energizes new and traditional audiences.

Under the leadership of Lyric’s Interim General Director Elizabeth Hurley, Lyric’s Executive Leadership Team, and Music Director Enrique Mazzola, Lyric is dedicated to reflecting, and drawing strength from, the diversity of Chicago. Lyric offers, through innovation, collaboration, and evolving learning opportunities, ever-more exciting, accessible, and thought-provoking audience and community experiences. We also stand committed to training the artists of the future, through The Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center; and to becoming increasingly diverse across our audiences, staff, programming, and artists — magnifying the welcoming pull of our art form, our company, and our city.

Through the timeless power of voice, the splendor of a great orchestra and chorus, theater, dance, design, and truly magnificent stagecraft, Lyric is devoted to immersing audiences in worlds both familiar and unexpected, creating shared experiences that resonate long after the curtain comes down.

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For more information on Lyric’s 2024/25 Season, visit lyricopera.org/newseason.