The Walkers 
Composed by Daniel Bernard Roumain with libretto by Anna Deavere Smith.

Four Portraits
Composed by Caroline Shaw with libretto by Caroline Shaw and Jocelyn Clarke.

Night 
Composed by John Luther Adams with libretto by John Haines.

Lyric Opera of Chicago
Chicago, Illinois
March 24-April 8, 2023

Director: Yuval Sharon
Conductor: Kazem Abdullah
Production Designers: Jason H. Thompson and Kaitlyn Pietras
Sound Designer: Jody Elff
Costume Designer: Carlos J. Soto
Choreography: Rena Butler

Proximity comprises three newly-commissioned operas, curated by Renée Fleming for Lyric Opera of Chicago. The Walkers, composed by Daniel Bernard Roumain with libretto by Anna Deavere Smith, uses field work and interviews to give voice to families grappling with gun violence in Chicago; Four Portraits, composed by Caroline Shaw with libretto by Jocelyne Clarke, interrogates the impact of technology on society and the human desire for connection; and Night, a setting of a text by the late poet John Haines composed by John Luther Adams, ruminates on the fragility of the natural world.

Sharon’s wold premiere production highlights the humanity and connection core to the piece, splicing and shuffling the three operas to create an entirely new work that zooms in and out from the scale of the individual to the community to the cosmic.

Enhancing the three shuffled narratives is a stage design on a scale and complexity never before attempted in opera: a monumental curved quarter-pipe video wall, 40 feet wide by 26 feet high, made of 140 LED panels and 240 black marble LED panels, designed by Jason H. Thompson and Kaitlyn Pietras. Complemented by a robust on-set system of responsive cameras and other interactive features, the set design for Proximity affords audiences a new immersive way to experience opera.

Photography provided courtesy of Lyric Opera.