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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
April - May, 2017
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from both the University of Cincinnati
College-Conservatory of Music and DePaul
University, Henneberry has also stage-managed
for Seattle Opera, Utah Symphony and Opera,
and Pittsburgh Opera.
RACHEL A. TOBIAS
(
Assistant Stage Manager
)
has been a stage manager
and assistant stage manager
at Lyric for 16 seasons.
Since 2009 she has spent
part of each summer as
lead stage manager for
opera programming at the
Ravinia Festival in Highland Park. Tobias
has held similar stage-management positions
with San Francisco Opera, Michigan Opera
Theatre, Glimmerglass Festival, and Chicago
Opera Theater, among others.
VALERIE MAZE
(
Assis-
tant Conductor
) is a member
of Lyric’s musical staff. She
received the After Dark
Award for outstanding
music direction for
Cats
at Theatre at the Center.
She has served as music
director at Drury Lane
Theatre, Chicago Shakespeare Theater,
Goodman Theatre, Writers Theatre, Peninsula
Players, Repertory Theatre of Saint Louis,
Wagon Wheel Theatre, Light Opera Works,
and Provision Theater Company. Whether
as assistant conductor or pianist, Maze has
worked at Portland Opera, Indianapolis
Opera, Utah Festival Opera, Light Opera
Works (Evanston), Harrisburg Opera, and
DuPage Opera. Among the recent acclaimed
productions for which she has served
as conductor are
White Christmas
(Drury
Lane Theatre), Sondheim’s
Gypsy
and
Follies
(Chicago Shakespeare Theater),
Brigadoon
(Goodman Theatre), and
A Little Night Music
(Writers Theatre – Jeff Award nomination,
music direction).
WILLIAM C. BILLING-
HAM
(
Musical Preparation
),
has been on the music staff
at Lyric since 1995. An
active recital accompanist
and chamber musician, he
received his training from
the Oberlin Conservatory,
Peabody Conservatory,
and the University of Southern California.
Billingham has been a
répétiteur
for the
Heidelberg and Düsseldorf opera houses and
has served as a coach at the Aspen Music
Festival and School, Cleveland Orchestra,
Florentine Opera (Milwaukee), LA Opera,
Midsummer’s Music Festival (Door County,
Wisconsin), and Lyric’s Ryan Opera Center.
TIM LENIHAN*
(
Musical
Preparation
), an alumnus
of DePaul University, is
an active pianist and
conductor in the Chicago
area working with several
theaters, including the Para-
mount Theatre (
Sweeney
Todd
,
The Little Mermaid
,
Mamma Mia!
,
West Side Story
,
Cats
,
Miss
Saigon
,
Annie
), Drury Lane Theatre (
West Side
Story
,
Camelot
,
Sunset Boulevard
,
Hairspray
,
Aida
,
Spamalot
,
Miss Saigon
,
Mame
), and
Oriental Theatre (
Newsies
,
Wicked
,
Billy
Elliot
). Lenihan has also performed with the
Kalamazoo Symphony, Northwest Indiana
Symphony, Elgin Symphony, Chicago Sin-
fonietta, and Chicago Civic Orchestra.
IAN BURTON*
(
Drama-
turg
) has worked with
director Robert Carsen
since 1987. Among their
collaborations have been
Orfeo ed Euridice
(2005/06)
and
Iphigénie en Tauride
(2006/07). Burton, who
has published eight volumes
of poetry, has had articles published by many
opera houses, including the Vienna State Opera,
Metropolitan Opera, English National Opera,
Flemish Opera, Cologne Opera, Deutsche
Oper am Rhein, and Opéra National de Paris.
He has written many libretti, including –
with Strasbourg composer Boris Boulanger-
Haas – works based on Shakespeare’s
Titus
Andronicus
and Dostoevsky’s
White Nights
,
as well as
Richard III
(Antwerp),
Citoyen de
Genéve
(Geneva),
The Duchess of Malfi
(English
National Opera),
Pop’pea
(Paris’s Châtelet), and
CO2
(La Scala). Burton’s work as a director
includes the prize for best production of the
year given by the Province of Antwerp for three
one-act works by Peter Maxwell Davies:
Eight
Songs for a Mad King
,
Vesalii Icones
, and
Miss
Donnithorne’s Maggot
.
CHRISTINE ADAIRE*
(
Dialect Coach
) is a pro-
fessor at the Chicago
College of Performing Arts
at Roosevelt University.
She began her career as an
actor, later apprenticed with
the renowned vocal coach
Kristin Linklater for five
years, and has been a master teacher of Linklater’s
technique since 1987. Adaire has coached Tony
Award-winning actress Deanna Dunagan, Tom
Hardy, Keeanu Reeves, Matthew Modine, and
MarloThomas, among others. She has worked on
more than 150 productions at prestigious venues
(including the Guthrie, Chicago Shakespeare,
Goodman, and Steppenwolf theater companies),
as well as the first national tour of
Mary Poppins
.
Her current area of research is transgender voice
modification.
Higgins’s study, designed by Tim Hatley for the Châtelet production of
My Fair Lady
.
*Lyric debut
MARIE-NOËLLE ROBERT / THÉÂTRE DU CHÂTELET