Chicago Lyric Opera Orchestra

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Chicago Lyric Opera Orchestra Chicago Lyric Opera Orchestra Robinson
David Volfe
Albert Wang
​
VIOLA
Carol Cook, Principal
Terri Van Valkinburgh, Assistant Principal
Frank W. W.

Nominated “Best Opera Orchestra” by the International Opera Awards 2018, the Lyric Opera Orchestra has been a vital and integral part of Lyric Opera of Chicago since the company’s founding and first performances of Mozart’s Don Giovanni in February of 1954. 2021-2022 marks the Lyric Opera Orchestra's 67th season, performing works by Verdi, Mozart, Donizetti, Puccini, Catan, Mazzoli, Vavrek, Blanchard, and Lemmons with an impressive array of international opera stars and conductors. During the past 67 years, the Lyric Opera Orchestra has performed under many of the world’s leading conductors including Artur Rodziński, Dimitri Mitropoulos, Georg Solti, Christoph von Dohnányi, Ferdinand Leitner, and Zubin Mehta. Under its former music director Sir Andrew Davis, the Lyric Opera Orchestra has performed Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen as well as operas of Strauss, Mozart, Tippett, Janacek, Puccini, Tchaikovsky, Berlioz, Massenet, and many others. The Lyric Opera Orchestra looks forward with great anticipation to many fantastic productions with Lyric's new music director Enrique Mazzola. Featured and televised nationally on PBS Great Performances series, the Lyric Opera Orchestra takes its place among an international roster of renowned artists and performing arts companies with broadcasts of “Concerts for Peace” (2012), Jimmy Lopez’s Bel Canto (2016), and Gluck’s Orphée et Eurydice (2017). Lyric Orchestra roster
2021-2022 season

VIOLIN
Robert Hanford, Concertmaster
Alexander Belavsky
Kathleen Brauer
Laura Miller
Liba Shacht
Heather Wittels
Bing Jing Yu

Yin Shen, Principal Second
John Macfarlane, Assistant Principal Second
Diane Duraffourg-Robinson
Ann P***n
Irene Radetzky
John D. Babbitt
Patrick Brennan
Amy Hess
Melissa Trier Kirk​

CELLO
Calum Cook, Principal
+Paul Dwyer, Assistant Principal
Mark Brandfonbrener
William H. Cernota
Walter Preucil

BASS
Ian Hallas, Principal
Samuel Shuhan, Assistant Principal
Andrew L. Anderson
Gregory Sarchet
Collins R. Trier

FLUTE
Marie Tachouet, Principal
Dionne Jackson, Assistant Principal
Alyce Johnson, Piccolo

OBOE
Judith Kulb, Principal
Judith Zunamon Lewis, Assistant Principal/English Horn

CLARINET
Linda A. Baker, Acting Co-Principal/Bass Clarinet
Susan Warner, Acting Co-Principal
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BASSOON
Preman Tilson, Principal
Lewis Kirk, Assistant Principal/Contrabassoon

HORN
Jonathan Boen, Principal
Fritz Foss, Assistant Principal/Utility Horn
Neil Kimel
Robert E. Johnson
Samuel Hamzem
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TRUMPET
William Denton, Principal
​Rebecca Oliverio
​
TROMBONE
Jeremy Moeller, Principal
Mark Fisher, Assistant Principal

TUBA
Andrew Smith, Principal
​
HARP
+Marguerite Lynn Williams, Principal
​​
TIMPANI
Edward J. Harrison, Principal
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PERCUSSION
Douglas Waddell, Assistant Principal
Eric Millstein
​
LIBRARIAN
John Rosenkrans, Principal

+sabbatical

Several members of the Lyric Opera Orchestra will be performing with Classical Music Chicago’s FREE Rush Hour Concerts ...
06/03/2026

Several members of the Lyric Opera Orchestra will be performing with Classical Music Chicago’s FREE Rush Hour Concerts in downtown Chicago this summer!

Abby Black, horn, June 9 & July 14 
Ana Kim, cello, June 19 with Ars Musica Chicago
Heesoo Kim, clarinet, with the Grant Park Chorus
Paul Lueders, oboe, June 9
Susan Warner, clarinet, June 9

Don’t miss this opportunity to hear and SEE (out of the pit!) Lyric musicians performing a wide array of fabulous chamber works. We can’t think of a better way to wind down after your work day!

Presented by Classical Music Chicago, Rush Hour Concerts is a beloved summer tradition featuring world-class chamber music in an intimate setting. Concerts take place Tuesday evenings all summer long.

Doors: 5PM
Pre-concert talk: 5:15PM
Performances: 5:45–6:30 PM
Holy Name Cathedral 735 N State St.
FREE admission!

05/26/2026

A $20 million gift to Lyric Opera of Chicago will be used to expand educational programming and make Mozart a more permanent fixture on the downtown stage.

A little post-season photo dump from us to you!The second half of our season was packed to the brim. Now that it’s over,...
05/26/2026

A little post-season photo dump from us to you!

The second half of our season was packed to the brim. Now that it’s over, you can find us doing our many other projects, teaching, traveling, catching up on our shows (we can really relate to the ER, Noah Wyle! Opera often has lots of blood, too!), and generally enjoying time above ground. Enjoy a few pics we failed to post at the time! 😅

-View from pit + net
-Heesoo backstage for Lyric Touch Tour for our blind and low-vision patrons.
-Low Brass!
-Preman showing around visiting choir students from St. Nicholas Cathedral School during their pit peek-over visit.
-Così fan tutte violas in disguise! 🥸
-Fun times from Lyric end of season celebration.
-A special pit visit and party with the amazing Penelope Steiner!
-Hard at work doing a Frida puzzle during Frida opera! Congrats on your PULITZER, Gabriela Lena Frank!

We enjoyed celebrating our wonderful 25-26 retirees with several joyous events at the end of our season. Help us congrat...
05/07/2026

We enjoyed celebrating our wonderful 25-26 retirees with several joyous events at the end of our season. Help us congratulate our beloved colleagues Patrick Brennan, viola (33.5 years), Robert Johnson, Assistant Principal Horn (34.5 years), Lewis Kirk, Assistant Principal Bassoon/contra bassoon (38 years), and John Rosenkrans, Principal Librarian (19 years)! (YES, math-inclined friends may have calculated that is 125 years of combined service!!)

We wish them all the best and will miss them!

🎭 Act I: Arrive at the Greater Chicago Food Depository. 🎭 Act II: Repack 21,840 pounds of food for seniors across Chicag...
03/28/2026

🎭 Act I: Arrive at the Greater Chicago Food Depository. 🎭 Act II: Repack 21,840 pounds of food for seniors across Chicagoland. 🎭 Act III: Sing a little song, cry happy tears, & feel incredible.
Fin. 👏🥫❤️

Yesterday the Lyric Opera Orchestra family joined forces with LOSA and Lyric administration for our annual volunteer session, and, honestly?

Best. Performance. Yet.

Turns out, orchestra musicians are very good at packing things. Years of fitting instruments, stands, mutes, and snacks into tiny spaces finally paid off.

Alongside our colleagues from across Lyric, we helped repack 21,840 pounds of food and 848 cases for seniors across Chicagoland. Not a bad day’s work.

Different kind of rhythm. Same teamwork. Same attention to detail. Slightly fewer high notes.
Huge thanks to everyone who showed up, pitched in, and made it such a genuinely great day to be together.

From the pit to the community, we are proud to be part of this city.

Lyric Musicians: Never Just One Stage – Part 3And just when you thought we had covered every corner of the city…Last Sun...
03/05/2026

Lyric Musicians: Never Just One Stage – Part 3

And just when you thought we had covered every corner of the city…

Last Sunday, our musicians took to the airwaves.
On the March 1 Ryan Opera Center Recital Series on WFMT, Ensemble conductor Chi-Yuan Lin led Lyric Opera Orchestra members Bing Jing Yu, John D. Robinson, William H. Cernota, Greg Sarchet, and Susan Warner alongside Ryan Opera Center artists Adia Evans, Sihao Hu, and Michael Banwarth in a beautifully curated program.

From Puccini’s lyric sweep to the vibrant colors of Ching-Shan Chang and Tyzen Hsiao, it was an afternoon of intimate music making, broadcast straight into living rooms across Chicago and beyond.

Opera stage one week. Ballet pit the next. Radio recital the next.

Different settings. Different audiences. Same musicians, same artistry.

You can still stream the recital online and hear what happens when Lyric musicians bring chamber precision and operatic heart to the microphone.

And now we’re back in the pit, on to Madame Butterfly and El último sueño de Frida y Diego!

ChamberMusic ChicagoMusic LiveMusic

Lyric Musicians: Never Just One Stage – Part 2We’re back in the pit preparing for two major productions, each with its o...
03/05/2026

Lyric Musicians: Never Just One Stage – Part 2

We’re back in the pit preparing for two major productions, each with its own world, its own sound, and its own emotional voltage: Madama Butterfly and El último sueño de Frida y Diego… but during the two week opera break, our musicians were anything but quiet.

If you’ve been following along, you already know the pattern: Lyric musicians do not exactly “take a break.”

They simply change centuries and/or venues.

Last week, several members of the Lyric Opera Orchestra took the stage with Music of the Baroque for Baroque Blockbusters! And yes, the title delivered.

Under the direction of Richard Egarr, the program dove headfirst into 17th and 18th century brilliance. Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 brought sparkling virtuosity, with Egarr himself stepping to the harpsichord for those electrifying solos. Handel’s Silete venti gave soprano Rowan Pierce the chance to unleash pure vocal fireworks, and Purcell’s Suite from The Fairy Queen added joy, color, and just the right amount of royal flair.

From grand opera to ballet to Baroque fireworks. Different centuries. Different wigs. Same musicians bringing style, precision, and heart to every note.

And if you caught it at the Harris Theater or the North Shore Center, you know exactly what we mean.

📷 Performance photo credit:

Lyric Musicians: Never Just One Stage - Part 1After our Soloists series, you can probably guess the bigger theme: the Ly...
03/01/2026

Lyric Musicians: Never Just One Stage - Part 1

After our Soloists series, you can probably guess the bigger theme: the Lyric Opera Orchestra stays busy, even when the calendar looks “in between.”

Yes, our soloists are out there shining, and at the same time the rest of the orchestra is very much in motion too.

Right now, many of our musicians are in the pit for our ongoing partnership with The Joffrey Ballet , bringing serious musical power to American Icons.

You already heard about Susan, Rebecca, and Jeremy taking on Robert Starer’s virtuosic Concerto A Tre as featured soloists.

But they are not alone down there. The pit is full of familiar Lyric faces, trading opera intensity for ballet precision, sparkle, and lift.

This program is a full tour of styles: Arpino’s Kettentanz brings that Viennese elegance and youthful charm, Graham’s Secular Games is bold and playful with Starer’s edge underneath, Joffrey’s Postcards gives us a witty little slice of early 1900s Paris set to Satie, and Tetley’s Voluntaries soars with emotional depth on Poulenc’s Concerto in G Minor for Organ, Strings, and Timpani.

Opera one week. Ballet the next.

Different stories. Different styles. Same musicians bringing it all to life.

From Strauss sparkle to Poulenc gravity, from Graham intensity to Arpino charm, the Lyric Opera Orchestra musicians are right there, making every leap, turn, and landing feel inevitable.

Catch us in the pit. We promise we’re having just as much fun as it looks.

The Soloists of the Lyric Opera Orchestra – Part 3After Parts 1 and 2, you already know how this series goes: Lyric is p...
02/28/2026

The Soloists of the Lyric Opera Orchestra – Part 3

After Parts 1 and 2, you already know how this series goes: Lyric is packed with ballet, and our soloists are still out there stacking concerts like it’s the main plot.

This weekend, First Violinist Eleanor Bartsch returns to the Dubuque Symphony Orchestra as featured soloist in Samuel Barber’s Violin Concerto for their program Symphonic Landscapes.

And this one comes with a story.

When Eleanor was concertmaster of the Dubuque Symphony, she and Music Director William Intriligator had talked about performing this very concerto together. At the time, they chose a different piece. Now, years later, they finally get to bring that shared vision to life. Full circle. Promise kept.

Intriligator calls the Barber “dessert” and honestly, who are we to argue with that?

From Lyric’s first violin section to Kontras Quartet tours across the U.S. and Europe, to serving as Professor of Violin and Head of Strings at Elmhurst University, Eleanor’s career is a true mix of performing, leading, teaching, and building. She has appeared with numerous symphonies and is widely sought after as a chamber musician, orchestral musician, concertmaster, soloist, educator, and entrepreneur. With two studio albums and major touring and residency work through Kontras Quartet, plus her return ties to Dubuque, she brings both deep experience and fresh momentum to every stage she steps onto.

If you read this from Dubuque, make sure to catch this! Saturday, February 28 and Sunday, March 1, at 7:30 PM at the Five Flags Theater.

Opera may be between cycles… but our soloists are absolutely not resting.



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20 N Wacker Drive
Chicago, IL
60607

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