The Lyric wants Davis to take the reins as music director. Some 15 more years would pass before Davis, by then a successful conductor, would see his first Wagner operas: “Tristan and Isolde” and “Meistersinger.” He was hooked.įast-forward nearly three decades. I saw my first opera when I was 17 or 18.” My family weren’t particularly musical, so a lot of this I did on my own. “Not only did I come to Wagner quite late, but throughout most of my twenties, opera wasn’t really my thing,” Davis said.
He paused backstage at Orchestra Hall to reflect on his late-blooming history with Wagner’s music, his fascination with the monumental “Ring” and the frankly boggling effort required to bring it off. Huge puppets represent the giants Fasolt and Fafner in the Lyric Opera production of ‘Das Rheingold,’ part one of the ‘Ring.’ (Todd Rosenberg)ĭavis’ current undertaking of Wagner’s “Ring” is indeed his second go at this grandest of all grand opera enterprises, both cycles at Lyric, the first brought to a head 15 years ago. When the now 76-year-old conductor steps down as Lyric’s music director in May 2021, he can brandish – rather like a repeat Super Bowl champion – not one “Ring” but two. 4 at Orchestra Hall, featuring both Beethoven’s First and Fourth Piano Concertos, play into the orchestra’s year-long celebration of the 250th anniversary of the composer’s birth.Īs it happens, 2020 marks a round-numbered anniversary for Davis, as well: 20 years at Lyric’s artistic helm.
JohnsonĬonductor Andrew Davis, music director of Lyric Opera of Chicago, is taking a time-out from the bit of Wagner he’s preparing over at Lyric – the four-opera, 17-hour “Ring of the Nibelung” – to conduct the Chicago Symphony Orchestra with pianist Paul Lewis in some Beethoven.ĭavis’ concerts Jan. (Dario Acosta) Interview: Lyric Opera’s music director contemplates Beethoven with Chicago Symphony even as Wagner looms (very) large. Andrew Davis, who will step down as Lyric Opera music director in spring 2021 after two decades, is preparing his second ‘Ring’ cycle with the company.
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