Beyond the Aria: Nicole Cabell, Lucy Baker, and Finn Sagal

Lyric Opera of Chicago
Lyric Opera of Chicago is committed to redefining what it means to experience great opera. The company is driven to deliver consistently excellent artistry through innovative, relevant, celebratory programming that engages and energizes new and traditional audiences.

Under the leadership of General Director, President & CEO Anthony Freud, Music Director Enrique Mazzola, and Special Projects Advisor Renée Fleming, Lyric is dedicated to reflecting, and drawing strength from, the diversity of Chicago. Lyric offers, through innovation, collaboration, and evolving learning opportunities, ever-more exciting, accessible, and thought-provoking audience and community experiences. We also stand committed to training the artists of the future, through The Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center; and to becoming increasingly diverse across our audiences, staff, programming, and artists—magnifying the welcoming pull of our art form, our company, and our city.

Through the timeless power of voice, the splendor of a great orchestra and chorus, theater, dance, design, and truly magnificent stagecraft, Lyric is devoted to immersing audiences in worlds both familiar and unexpected, creating shared experiences that resonate long after the curtain comes down.

 

Nicole Cabell
Universally acclaimed for her velvety timbre and finely nuanced interpretations, American soprano Nicole Cabell continues to demonstrate her incredible versatility in repertoire ranging from baroque to contemporary on the opera and concert stages as well as on disc. 

Cabell’s notable debuts have included Handel’s Alcina at Grand Théâtre de Genève, and Flavia (Eliogabalo) at Dutch National Opera, both under Leonardo García Alarcón, alongside appearances in full lyric roles such as Violetta (La traviata) at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and for her debut at Opéra national de Paris. In 2022/23, Cabell performed her first staged Bess in James Robinson’s acclaimed production of Porgy and Bess for English National Opera, conducted by John Wilson. Last season, Nicole Cabell will made her debut at the Royal Swedish Opera as Donna Anna (Don Giovanni) in a new production directed by Michael Cavanagh under Nil Venditti.

Nicole Cabell was the winner of the 2005 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition. Her solo debut album, Soprano, was named Editor’s Choice by Gramophone and received the 2007 Georg Solti Orphée d’Or from the French Académie du Disque Lyrique.

 

Lucy Baker
A second-year mezzo-soprano with the Ryan Opera Center from Wilmington, North Carolina, Lucy Baker will appear in The Marriage of Figaro as 2nd Peasant Girl in the 2024/25 Season following her performances of Hansel in Hansel and Gretel with the Aspen Music Festival. She has performed the title role in Ariodante, Dorabella in Così fan tutte, and The Hostess in Blitzstein's Triple-Sec with Curtis Opera Theatre. 

Previous roles include Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro and Hansel with DePaul Opera Theatre and Justice Ginsburg (cover) in Wang's Scalia/Ginsburg with Chautauqua Opera Company. In concert, Baker has appeared with the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society and Chautauqua Symphony. 

Baker received the Edith Newfield Award from the Musicians Club of Women and first prize in her category from the Chicago Chapter of the NATS competition. A 2022 fellow at Ravinia's Steans Music Institute, Baker holds a Bachelor of Music from DePaul University and a Master of Music from the Curtis Institute of Music.