The new company launches with fully staged works by Puccini and Wolf-Ferrari, plus a concert inspired by Dante’s Divine Comedy.

A Verdi and bel canto expert, Lyric’s new music director Enrique Mazzola will open the season with Verdi’s Macbeth and Donizetti’s The Elixir of Love, while also conducting contemporary opera Proving Up by Missy Mazzoli later in the season.

Many composers have also answered the call of springtime’s riotous colors during this, the blooming season.

An audience is an audience, no matter who (or what species) is in it. Case in point: Erin G. McCarthy recently gave a quick recital in her barn to an audience of three alpacas.

Lyric’s 2019-2020 season will include seven mainstage operas (three of which are company premieres), three full performances of Lyric’s new Ring cycle, and the Broadway at Lyric premiere of 42nd Street.