Now, after many, many years of exploring Italian early romanticism, I would like to start exploring German early romanticism. But every title depends on many factors: How many years ago was the opera last done? How many tickets is the opera projected to sell? What will marketing be like? It’s actually a very complex process to build a season, which is the result of huge teamwork. I very much like that programming here is collegial - we’re brainstorming together. I’ve been involved in programming at Lyric since I was appointed the music director designate, before COVID, so I agreed to do “Don Carlos” and worked on this season a lot with (general director Anthony) Freud. 1, followed by “The Brightness of Light” Oct. You need time to learn these things.Įnrique Mazzola is the music director of Lyric Opera of Chicago. Conducting is social work a conductor is a master of collaboration, of empathy, of group psychology. Today, young conductors are sometimes projected into major orchestras and opera houses after one year, at their own risk. I try to be very modern in my use of social media and in living my life, but really, I had what I call an old-style career. Even now, leading rehearsals with some of the greatest musicians in the world, when I go onstage to give a note to a singer, I smell the stage dust - the sweat, the old costumes - and I think, “OK, this is where I belong.” I literally recall the moment when I thought, “I will do what this man is doing.” It’s only maybe since when I arrived in Chicago that I realized my passion for opera comes from that period, when I was maybe eight, nine, 10 years old.

The other thing was that I joined the children’s chorus at La Scala, singing many titles with (Claudio) Abbado, Carlos Kleiber, Georges Prêtre, Seiji Ozawa … Watching Abbado on the backstage monitors - they were black and white back then - I imprinted on it, like a small duck.

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