The Chicago Lyric Opera Orchestra is thankful for… OUR VERY OWN COLLEAGUES.
Adjusting and responding to the beautiful voices on the stage, the Lyric Orchestra is a giant thinking, feeling, breathing musical instrument with a historical memory. As a unified wave, we swell together, setting the scene for the most passionate onstage moments. Spinning a single, impossibly quiet musical line, we create an incredibly intimate mood. We have each other's back—ready to quickly move over and play another person’s part, instinctively understanding that the show must go on even with the absence of a key player.
We are thankful for our musicians who volunteer to serve on the Orchestra Committee, spending countless hours negotiating contracts, arranging details, and communicating with musicians and management.
And boy does this orchestra love to party together. With an embarrassment of delicious home-baked desserts and ridiculous opera-themed drinks, no one celebrates a birthday, new baby, or the end-of-the-season better than the musicians of the Lyric Opera Orchestra.
But, we are much more than this.
The Lyric Opera Orchestra is a super-sized family. When one of our members is in distress, we all feel the pain. If a musician loses a spouse, the rest of us flock to the memorial service and grieve along with our colleague. We huddle around musicians stricken with serious illness—cancer, Alzheimer’s disease—offering help and words of comfort. And in our darkest hour, when a member of our orchestra passes away, each of us deeply feels the loss for many years to come, every time we return to that specific moment in an opera that reminds us of how our fallen friend played.
Musicians, colleagues, friends, family.
This is what makes us special. Thank you, sweet orchestra, for being the heart and soul of the Lyric Opera of Chicago.
