“Next season is filled with a tremendous range of lavish and powerful opera productions that we are excited to share with our audiences,” said Mangum. “I’m just as excited about a series of special performances and productions that open the aperture and expand the definition of opera and what an American opera company can be. I am also excited to continue the great partnership I share with Lyric’s Music Director Enrique Mazzola, and to have Lyric audiences experience his electrifying musical leadership,” Mangum added. “Next season, Enrique will conduct the work of five different composers, an eclectic and wide-ranging list that includes Cherubini, Mascagni, Leoncavallo, Orff and Mozart.”
Orff’s cantata Carmina Burana conducted by Maestro Mazzola, is scheduled for Nov. 14–18, 2025. Orff’s themes of the fickleness of fortune, the joys and sorrows of love and the fleeting nature of existence are brought to life by more than 225 artists from the Lyric Opera Orchestra, Lyric Opera Chorus and a children’s chorus from Uniting Voices Chicago plus soloists Jasmine Habersham, David Portillo, and Ian Rucker.
January and February bring Richard Strauss’ “Salome” for the first time in nearly 20 years, January 25–February 14, 2026. Conductor Tomáš Netopil, the incoming Chief Conductor and Music Director of the Prague Symphony Orchestra, makes his Lyric debut. Sir David McVicar’s provocative production revived by Julia Burbach, is set in 1940s fascist Italy. Salome is sung by Elena Stikhina in her Lyric debut with returning stars Brandon Jovanovich and Tanja Ariane Baumgartner as her demented parents, Herod and Herodias. Bass-baritone Nicholas Brownlee debuts at the Lyric debut as Jochanaan, the object of her deadly affection.
Mozart’s Così fan tutte, conducted by Maestro Mazzola interjects winter with its lighthearted romantic comedy, Feb. 1–15, 2026. Michael Cavanagh’s new-to-Chicago production, set in a 1930s-era seaside country club, is revived by Roy Rallo. with Ian Rucker as Guglielmo, Ana María Martínez as Despina, and Rod Gilfry as Don Alfonso. Debuting at Lyric will be Jacquelyn Stucker as Fiordiligi, Cecilia Molinari as Dorabella, and Anthony León as Ferrando.
Also brightening February is superstar Renée Fleming for one night only, Thursday, Feb. 5. with “Voice of Nature,” a program based on her 2023 Grammy-winning album and performed with pianist Inon Barnatan.
Puccini’s Madama Butterfly comes March 14–April 12, conducted by Domingo Hindoyan. Presented in a new-to-Chicago production from Lyric’s Matthew Ozawa, this presentation deals with the opera’s outdated stereotypes. It challenges audiences to a different view but respects the opera’s scenic and musical traditions. Karah Son, a leading Butterflys, makes her Lyric debut in the title role. Also starring are Evan LeRoy Johnson as Pinkerton and Nozomi Kato as Suzuki, both in their Lyric debuts.
Ozawa’s new vision for the opera’s traditional Japanese setting is executed by an all-female and all-Japanese design team, bringing new dimensions to the age-old story.
Paired with Madama Butterfly is El último sueño de Frida y Diego (The Last Dream of Frida and Diego), a contemporary Spanish-language opera by composer Gabriela Lena Frank and the librettist Nilo Cruz, March 21–April 4.
Conductor Roberto Kalb and director Lorena Maza, reprising their roles from the work’s 2022 world premiere and both in their Lyric debuts, lead this surrealist production, inspired by Mexican folk music traditions. Daniela Mack stars as Frida, and Alfredo Daza makes his Lyric debut as Diego. Ana María Martínez returns for a second appearance in the season as Catrina,. Rising star countertenor Key’mon W. Murrah makes his Lyric debut as Leonardo.
Lyric concludes its opera season with the world premiere of “safronia,”
an Afro-surrealist opera featuring music and libretto by Chicago Poet Laureate avery r. young, April 17 and 18. “safronia” is young’s moving story of the Great Migration told through the eyes of a family returning from the northern U.S. to their southern hometown. Conceived after young’s appearance in Lyric’s Twilight: Gods during the 2020/21 Season, safronia marries folklore, poetry, and history with gospel, blues, funk, and soul. These vibrant, immersive, concert-style performances are directed by storyteller Timothy Douglas in his Lyric debut.
“safronia is a deeply personal story to me — it is my story, but it is also our story, and I am honored to tell our story in our city’s great temple of culture,” said young. “When words and music combine in opera, their powers take on even greater resonance and meaning. I can’t wait for Chicago to meet safronia and to come along on her operatic journey.”
With Spring featuring St. Patrick’s Day/Week and April’s headlines for Passover, Easter and Earth Day, it’s arguably hard to get out the calendar and pencil in coming fall and winter go to events. But you may want to get out the calendar or type in some of the Lyric Opera of Chicago’s 2025-26 season dates because there are some that will sell out quickly.
Lyric Opera of Chicago is at the Civic Opera House, (312) 827-5600
Edited by Jodie Jacobs
For tickets and more information visit Lyric Opera