Editing Lyric Opera of Chicago (section)

==Lyric Opera, 1954 to 1980==
Carol Fox, America's first female opera impresario at the age of 28, began her first season in 1954 by bringing [[Maria Callas]] for her American debut in the title role of ''[[Norma (opera)|Norma]]'', the first of many electrifying Callas performances in Chicago. However, this first eight-opera season in 1954 was not the result of a long apprenticeship in opera production; Carol Fox, fluent in Italian and French, had studied opera singing for many years, culminating in two years of intensive work in Italy. However, when she realized that performance was not to be in her future, she decided that it lay in bringing the performances of the world's finest artists to her home town of Chicago. Her success can be measured in one statistic regarding the filling of Lyric's Civic Opera House: in 1954, the season ran for three weeks; in 2007/08 Lyric had an almost six-month season.

Fox also used her formidable persuasive powers on artists other than singers: she was able to bring [[Rudolf Nureyev]] to make his debut on an American opera stage at Lyric; [[Vera Zorina]], [[Alicia Markova]], [[Erik Bruhn]] and [[Maria Tallchief]] also danced at Lyric, and [[George Balanchine]] created choreography for Lyric. The Italian composer [[Pino Donati]] was her artistic director. [[Bruno Bartoletti]] was principal conductor, but other conductors included [[Tullio Serafin]], [[Dimitri Mitropoulos]] and [[Artur Rodziński]]. [[Christoph von Dohnányi]] and Sir [[Georg Solti]] chose Lyric for their American operatic debuts. [[Franco Zeffirelli]] staged operas as did [[Harold Prince]]. After retiring from dancing, Tallchief moved to Chicago where she served as director of ballet for Lyric from 1973 to 1979. In 1974, she founded Lyric Opera's ballet school, where she taught the Balanchine technique.<ref name=Tribune>{{cite news |last1=Anderson |first1=Jon |first2= Sid |last2=Smith |title=Maria Tallchief dead at 88:Chicago dance legend, Balanchine muse|access-date=15 September 2015|newspaper=[[Chicago Tribune]]|date=April 12, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150807030155/http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-04-12/entertainment/ct-ent-0413-tallchief-obit-20130413_1_joffrey-ballet-chicago-city-ballet-ballet-students|archive-date=7 August 2015|url-status=live |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/2013/04/12/maria-tallchief-dead-at-88/}}</ref><ref name=NYT_obit>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/13/arts/dance/maria-tallchief-brilliant-ballerina-dies-at-88.html |title=Maria Tallchief, a Dazzling Ballerina and Muse for Balanchine, Dies at 88 |last=Anderson |first=Jack|author-link=Jack Anderson (dance critic)|date=April 12, 2013 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=April 13, 2013}}</ref>

Because of Fox's illnesses and her refusal to lower her artistic standards despite Lyric's dire financial state in 1980, her resignation was sought and given. She died a few months later, survived by a daughter, Victoria.

It was of Lyric's founder that [[Saul Bellow]] wrote in 1979 "Miss Fox will be remembered, together with [[Jane Addams]] of Hull House and [[Harriet Monroe]] of Poetry magazine, as one of Chicago's greatest women."{{sfn|Cassidy|1979}}

Throughout the many years at Lyric, Carol Fox developed the confidence and authority to bring world-famous artists to Lyric: [[Luciano Pavarotti]] (56 performances in 7 roles), [[Tito Gobbi]], [[Eleanor Steber]], [[Jussi Björling]], [[Birgit Nilsson]], [[Renata Tebaldi]], [[Giuseppe Di Stefano]], [[Giulietta Simionato]], [[Richard Tucker]], [[Boris Christoff]], [[Eileen Farrell]], [[Dorothy Kirsten]], [[Leonie Rysanek]], [[Leontyne Price]], [[Elisabeth Schwarzkopf]], [[Geraint Evans]], [[Mirella Freni]], [[Nicolai Ghiaurov]], [[Alfredo Kraus]], [[Renata Scotto]], [[Robert Merrill]], [[Joan Sutherland]], [[Christa Ludwig]], [[Jon Vickers]], [[Marilyn Horne]], [[Grace Bumbry]], [[Montserrat Caballé]], [[Tatiana Troyanos]], [[Sherrill Milnes]], [[Plácido Domingo]], [[Felicia Weathers]], [[Vyacheslav Polozov]] and [[José Carreras]]. [[Anna Moffo]] also chose Lyric for her American debut.