Porgy and Bess

P R O F I L E S | L Y R I C O P E R A O F C H I C A G O

N O V E M B E R 1 7 - D E C E M B E R 2 0 , 2 0 1 4

Houston Grand Opera, Washington National

Opera, The Dallas Opera, Glimmerglass,

Canadian Opera Company, New York City

Opera, Seattle Opera and San Francisco

Opera including the full

Ring

cycle

directed by

Francesca Zambello. Among McCullough’s

successes in theater have been the

Broadway

productions of

Outside Mullingar

Jesus Christ

Superstar

(revival),

After Ms. Julie

, and

The

American Plan.

McCullough’s work has also been

seen Off-Broadway and in American regional

theater companies, including the Shakespeare

Theatre Company (Washington, D.C.), Mark

Taper Forum, Long Wharf, The Old Globe,

Oregon Shakespeare, Guthrie Theater, and

Steppenwolf. International theatre credits

include

Whistle Down the Wind

(Aldwych

Theatre, London);

Der Besuch der alten Dame

(

Ronacher Theatre, Vienna),

Artus

(St. Gallen,

Switzerland), and

Rebecca

(St. Gallen, also

Stuttgart’s Palladium Theatre), and the U. K.

tour of

Jesus Christ Superstar.

MICHAEL BLACK

(

Chorus Master

)

Previously at Lyric Opera:

Chorus master since 2011-

12; interim chorus master,

2009-10.

Chorus

master

from

2001 to 2013 at Opera

Australia in Sydney, Black prepared the OA

chorus for more than 90 operas and many

concert works. He returned there earlier this

year for musical preparation of

Otello

. At

OA he progressed from rehearsal pianist to

assistant chorus master and children’s chorus

master, before his appointment as chorus

master. He has served in that capacity for such

distinguished organizations as the Edinburgh

Festival, Holland Park Opera (London), and,

in Australia, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra

(including Rachmaninoff’s

The Bells

, led by

Vladimir Ashkenazy), and Philharmonia Choir,

Motet Choir, and Cantillation chamber choir.

One of Australia’s most prominent vocal

accompanists, Black regularly performed for

recitals, broadcasts, and recordings (he was

heard numerous times in Australian Broadcast

Corporation programs). He has been a lecturer

at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, of

which he is an alumnus. Black also holds a

master’s degree in musicology from the

University of New South Wales.

DENNI SAYERS

(

Choreographer, Associate

Director

)

Previously at Lyric:

Five

productions since 2000-01,

most recently

Porgy and

Bess

(2008-09);

The Pirates

of Penzance

(2003-04);

Sweeney Todd

(2002-03).

The British choreographer’s collaborations with

Porgy and Bess

director Francesca Zambello have

included

Paul Bunya

n and

The Bartered Bride

at the Royal Opera at Covent Garden,

Boris

Godunov

at English National Opera,

Arshak 11

in San Francisco,

Peter Grimes

in Amsterdam,

War and Peace

at the Opéra National de Paris,

and

Of Mice and Men

at the Bregenz Festival.

Sayers has worked in many international theaters

in an immensely varied operatic repertoire, ranging

from Wagner (

Der fliegende Holländer

, San

Francisco Opera) to Rachel Portman (

The Little

Prince

(world premiere, Houston Grand Opera).

Among her directing credits are Canadian Opera

Company’s

Boris Godunov

and

Tosca

, Covent

Garden’s

Carmen

at the Jerusalem Festival,

West

Side Story

for Israel’s renowned Habima Theater;

Virtual Reality

at the London International Opera

Festival; and

Takeaway

with Cambridge Theatre

Company. She recently choreographed Henze’s

Boulevard Solitude

in Genoa and

Turandot

Netherlands Opera. The latter was directed

by Nikolaus Lehnhoff, with whom Sayers has

collaborated at Lyric, Baden-Baden (

Eugene

Onegin

), Glyndebourne Festival Opera (

The

Bartered Bride

), and Covent Garden. The core

of Sayers’s work remains operatic choreography,

including

Boulevard Solitude

(Covent Garden),

Tosca

(Canadian Opera Company), and

productions for Opera North, Scottish Opera, and

New Israeli Opera.

AUGUST TYE

(

Ballet Mistress

)

Previously at Lyric Opera:

30 productions since 1993-

94 as dancer, choreographer,

or ballet mistress, most

recently

Don Giovanni,

Capriccio

(both 2014-15);

Die Fledermaus

(2013-14).

The American dancer-choreographer’s operatic

credits include remounting the choreography of

Lyric’s

Iphigénie en Tauride

at San FranciscoOpera

and Covent Garden. She has presented a 20-year

retrospective of her work at Chicago’s Vittum

Theater and Ruth Page Dance Center, as well as

in her hometown, Kalamazoo, Michigan. Tye is

a past recipient of Regional Dance America’s Best

Young Choreographer Award and the Monticello

Choreographer’s Award; the latter garnered her

invitations to choreograph throughout America.

In addition to Lyric Opera, she has performed

in Chicago with Joel Hall Dancers, Salt Creek

Ballet, and Second City Ballet. Tye is artistic

director and principal ballet instructor at the Hyde

Park School of Dance, which she founded in

1993. Four years later she founded Tyego Dance

Project, which has performed at Steppenwolf, the

Athenaeum, and throughout America in a revival

of Spike Jones’s

Nutcracker.

SARAH HATTTEN

(

Wigmaster and Makeup

Designer

)

Previously at Lyric Opera:

Wigmaster and makeup

designer since 2011-12.

Lyric’s wigmaster and

makeup designer has worked

in a wide repertoire at Des Moines Metro Opera

and Michigan Opera Theatre (both since 2006),

as well as Columbus Opera, Toledo Opera, the

Cabrillo Music Festival, and the University of

Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. She

has also worked at Glimmerglass Opera and the

major opera companies of Los Angeles, Omaha,

Cleveland, Sarasota, and Central City, as well

as Wisconsin’s American Players Theatre and,

in Los Angeles, the Pantages Theatre and the

Geffen Playhouse. Hatten earned a B. A. in music

at Simpson College.

CHUCK COYL

(

Fight Director

)

Previously at Lyric Opera:

La damnation de Faust

(2009-10);

Porgy and Bess

(2008-09);

Roméo et

Juliette

(2006-07).

A professional fight director

for more than 30 years, Coyl is president of the

Society of American Fight Directors. Recent credits

include the Broadway production and national

tour of

August Osage County, The Crucible

and

Superior Donuts

at Steppenwolf Theatre Company

Magnolia

at the Goodman Theatre, and

Private

Lives

at Chicago Shakespeare Theatre. Other

notable productions in Chicago include the world

premieres of

Killer Joe

(Next Lab Theatre),

Bug

(

Red Orchid Theatre), and

The Point of Honor

(Single Action Theatre Company). Coyl is a

founding member of the Single Action Theatre

Company, and is on the faculty of the Actor’s

Gymnasium and Roosevelt University in Chicago.