Acclaimed for her performances of opera’s leading heroines, Christine Lyons has been hailed a “true virtuosa” by Broadway World, exclaimed a “revelation” by Gay City News, and been lauded for her “impressive range of emotions, all of them personified by her soaring soprano” by Maryland Theater Guide. This 22-23’ season, she performs the title role in Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor with Maryland Opera in Bravissimo Bel Canto, and Liú in Puccini’s Turandot with Toledo Opera in Celebrazione del Coro, and joins San Francisco Opera for the world premiere of John Adams’ Antony and Cleopatra as the cover for Cleopatra. Ms. Lyons will welcome next season in Union Ave Opera’s Donizetti’s Don Pasquale as Norina and returns to San Francisco Opera as the Leonora cover in Il Trovatore. 

 

Last season, Lyons gave inspired performances of Handel’s Agrippina with Florida Grand Opera, and Governess in Britten’s The Turn of the Screw with IlluminArts Miami, with Palm Beach Arts noting her “grace, powerful presence, and rippling soprano,” and South Florida Classical writing that she brought “a regal bearing and opulent timbre to Handel’s showpiece solos.” In concert, she sang with Lyric Fest at The Academy of Vocal Arts in My Letter to the World.

 

Exceptionally celebrated in the bel canto repertoire, Lyons has starred in the title roles of Bellini’s La Straniera at Lincoln Center and Bellini’s Norma with Winter Opera St. Louis, garnering her the Outstanding Achievement in Opera award nomination from the 2020 St. Louis Theater Circle. As well, she has reimagined Giulietta in Bellini’s I Capuleti e i Montecchi with Saltworks Opera, Amenaide in Rossini’s Tancredi with Teatro Nuovo, and Adina in Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’amore with City Lyric Opera. In 2021, Lyons re-joined Teatro Nuovo for The Complete Recordings of Giuseppe Verdi and Bel Canto in 30 Minutes.

 

Favorite roles of earlier seasons include the title role in Handel’s Alcina, Massenet’s Manon, Mimí in Puccini’s La Bohème,Puccini’s Suor Angelica, and Puccini’s Madama Butterfly with Baltimore Concert Opera. Other engagements of the 2019-20 season were to include the title role in Donizetti’s Anna Bolena with dell’Arte Opera Ensemble.

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As a recitalist, she has curated inclusive programs for the Art Song Preservation Society of New York, Vocal Arts DC at the Kennedy Center, the Festival of the Arts at Mohonk Mountain, the Gelman Concert Series with River City Opera in Richmond, Virginia. As well, she has performed at Ravinia and the Tucson Desert Song Festival on tour with the Ravinia Festival’s Steans Music Institute.

 

In concert, Lyons has appeared with Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Maryland Symphony Orchestra, Queens Symphony Orchestra, St. Veronica Orchestra of New York, Spectrum Symphony of New York, and Charleston Symphony Orchestra. Highlights from past orchestral engagements include several performances of Mozart’s Exsultate, jubilate, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, and Rossini’s Stabat Mater.

 

A decorated soprano, Lyons holds the Grand Prize in the Mary Trueman Art Song Vocal Competition in New York and has garnered top awards from the Gerda Lissner Foundation, Vocal Arts DC Discovery Art Song Competition, Opera Columbus Cooper-Bing International Vocal Competition, New York Lyric Opera National Vocal Competition, Rochester International Vocal Competition, The American Prize for Women in Opera Competition, and Washington International Competition. Lyons was the featured artist on Celebrating Our Musical Future with WWFM Classical Radio, and her artistry has been celebrated in such publications as Opera News, The New York Times, Musical America Worldwide, Bachtrack, Operawire, and New York Classical Review.

 

Christine Lyons is an alumna of Carnegie Mellon University and Peabody Conservatory, and completed further studies at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria. 

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