Allegra Libonati returns to Boston Lyric Opera, having worked as Assistant Stage Director for BLO’s 2015 production of Don Giovanni. An international theater and opera director, her Guerilla Opera production, Troubled Waters, won Best World Premiere in the Boston Classical Review. Other credits include Assistant Director for  Death and the Powers: The Robot’s Opera (Dallas Opera, Chicago Opera Theatre, American Repertory Theater, Monaco Opera House) and most recently, Director for Peter Pan’s Neverland, a new, immersive adventure currently running in Beijing, China.  Ms. Libonati is the Resident Director at the American Repertory Theater (ART) in Cambridge, where she has directed The Snow Queen, Hansel and Gretel, The Pirate Princess and The Light Princess, which also ran at the New Victory Theater.  She has directed numerous musicals and Shakespeare productions at the Summer Theatre of New Canaan and looks forward to working at Opera Omaha next season on their production of Falstaff.

John Conklin has designed sets on and off Broadway, at the Kennedy Center, and for opera companies around the world, including The Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Seattle Opera, San Francisco Opera, Bastille Opera in Paris, The Royal Opera and the opera houses of Munich, Amsterdam, and Bologna, among others. Locally, his work has been seen in Boston Lyric Opera’s recent productions of I Puritani (2014), La Bohème (2015), Werther (2016) and The Merry Widow (2016), as well as at the American Repertory Theater and Boston Ballet. Additionally, Mr. Conklin develops lecture series and community events for BLO that enrich the audience experience and strengthen the presence of opera in Boston’s arts community. He is on the faculty at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and was a recipient of the 2011 National Endowment for the Arts Opera Honors.

STRAVINSKY

Yury Yanowsky returns to Boston Lyric Opera after appearing in BLO’s 2015 production of In the Penal Colony. His career as a principal dancer with the Boston Ballet spanned over two decades. He was the recipient of the first prize at the Prix de Lausanne and won the Silver medal at both the Varna International Ballet Competition and the International Ballet Competition. Over the past decade, Mr. Yanowsky has had the opportunity to choreograph numerous ballets for Boston Ballet, Boston Ballet II, Carlos Acosta’s “Premieres Plus,” Festival Ballet Providence, The Bundes Jugend Ballet, among others. In 2015, he was awarded the Choreographic Prize at the prestigious Erik Bruhn Competition for his ballet, District, and he was the guest choreographer at the 2016 Jacob’s Pillow Opening Night Gala. Mr. Yanowsky is currently on faculty at Harvard University and most recently served as movement consultant for the American Repertory Theater’s production of Fingersmith.

TOM RAKEWELL

Ben Bliss is a 2016 recipient of the Martin E. Segal Award at Lincoln Center, awarded by The Metropolitan Opera. He was also the recipient of the Mozart and Plácido Domingo Awards at the 2015 Francisco Viñas International Competition in Barcelona, first prize in the 2014 Gerda Lissner and Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation competitions, as well as Sara Tucker and Sullivan Foundation grants. Mr. Bliss’ 2016/2017 Season included a US recital tour with pianist Lachlan Glen, with stops at Carnegie Hall, the Folly Theater in Kansas City as part of the Harriman- Jewell series, Theater of the Arts at the University of the District of Columbia as part of the Vocal Arts DC Emerging Artists series, Hahn Hall at Music Academy of the West as part of the University of California, Santa Barbara Arts & Lectures series, and in Cincinnati with Matinée Musicale. Operatic appearances include a return to The Metropolitan Opera, as Tamino in The Magic Flute and Steuermann in Der Fliegende Höllander. Other opera appearances included Belmonte in Die Entführung aus dem Serail (Atlanta Opera), Count de Rosillon in Die Lustige Witwe (Gran Teatre del Liceu). This is his Boston Lyric Opera debut.

NICK SHADOW

Kevin Burdette returns to Boston Lyric Opera after playing Leporello in Don Giovanni and Death/ Loudspeaker in The Emperor of Atlantis. Recent highlights include Stefano in The Tempest with The Metropolitan Opera (Deutsche Grammophon DVD,2014 Grammy Award); Beck Weathers in Everest, Eric Gold/Bazzetti’s Ghost in Great Scott, and Ob in Becoming Santa Claus, all world premieres with The Dallas Opera; multiple roles in Shostakovich’s The Nose (The Metropolitan Opera); Doktor in Wozzeck (Philharmonia Orchestra); Scattergood in The Last Savage, Général Boum in La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein and Stobrod/Blind Man in the world premiere of Cold Mountain (Santa Fe Opera); Leporello in Don Giovanni (Los Angeles Philharmonic); Sulpice in La Fille du Régiment (San Diego Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Washington National Opera); Osmin in Die Entführung aus dem Serail and Colline in La Bohème (Teatro Colón); Bartolo in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Prophet/King in Dark Sisters, and Stobrod/Blind Man in Cold Mountain (Opera Philadelphia); and Dulcamara in L’Elisir d’Amore (Opera Philadelphia, San Diego Opera). His upcoming engagements include performances with The Metropolitan Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Seattle Opera, and Dallas Opera.

BABA THE TURK

Heather Johnson returns to Boston Lyric Opera after playing the title character of Lizzie Borden in Boston and at Tanglewood. She made her Metropolitan Opera debut as a Flower Maiden in Parsifal and returned for their productions of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Hansel and Gretel and Enchanted Island. Ms. Johnson began the 2016/17 Season singing the title role in Tancredi (Baltimore Concert Opera and Opera Southwest) and will also appear as La Messaggera, La Musica and La Speranza in Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo (Chautauqua Opera). Other highlights include Page in Salome (Dallas Opera), Berlioz’s Nuits d’Eté (Minnesota Orchestra), Jesse in the world premiere of The Long Walk (Opera Saratoga) and Jo in Little Women (Madison Opera). She has appeared with Sarasota Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, Opera Orchestra of New York, Virginia Opera, Nashville Opera, PORTOpera, National Art Centre Orchestra, New York Choral Society, Volkstheater Rostock, American Ballet Theater, Moab Music Festival, New Hampshire Music Festival, Mill City Summer Opera, Napa Festival del Sole and New York City Opera where she was the 2006 recipient of the prestigious Stanley Tausend Award.

KEEPER OF THE MADHOUSE

Simon Dyer is a 2016/17 BLO Jane and Steven Akin Emerging Artist. He was a young artist at The Glimmerglass Festival in 2016 and will spend the summer of 2017 as a member of the Apprentice Singer Program at Santa Fe Opera. Recent appearances include Giorgio in La Gazza Ladra, and Rev. Hale (cover) in The Crucible (Glimmerglass Festival); Luka in The Bear and Mr. Grinder in The Zoo (Odyssey Opera); Superintendent Budd in Albert Herring (Boston Opera Collaborative); Prophet/King in Dark Sisters, Melisso in Alcina, Figaro in Le Nozze di Figaro, Immigration Officer in Flight and Nick Shadow in The Rake’s Progress (The Boston Conservatory). In concert, he recently appeared as the soloist in Verdi’s Requiem in London, at a recital at the MFA Boston and as curator of John Cage’s SongBooks also at the MFA. He also appears on a CD with Boston Modern Orchestra Project released in late 2016.