09/08/18 – Bel Canto – 1pm

Lyric Opera of Chicago

Bel Canto

COMPOSER: Jimmy López

Libretto by Nilo Cruz
Based on the novel by Ann Patchett

In Spanish, English, Japanese, Russian, German, French, Latin, and Quechua

Ann Patchett’s best-selling novel Bel Canto took the literary world by storm. Now, in a new work curated by Lyric’s creative consultant, Renée Fleming, this riveting story inspired by a real-life event becomes a powerful opera.

Superstar American diva Roxane Coss has flown to Peru to sing at the vice president’s home for a visiting Japanese mogul who is an opera buff. Dignitaries of every nationality are there — but an international crisis explodes when terrorists storm the mansion and take everyone hostage. Isolated for months, unlikely alliances form between captors and captives as fear and anger mingle uneasily with desire and even love. Music is the one universal language — but can it draw forth the humanity that exists in us all?

The extraordinary international cast of Bel Canto is led by Danielle de Niese, who caused a sensation as Lyric’s Cleopatra in 2007. Sir Andrew Davis teams up with Kevin Newbury(Anna Bolena) for this world premiere with a libretto by Pulitzer Prize winner Nilo Cruz and music by Jimmy López, a native of Peru and “one of the most interesting young composers anywhere today.” Chicago Sun-Times

CAST: