South African tenor Lunga Eric Hallam is a recent graduate of the prestigious Ryan Opera Center at the Lyric Opera of Chicago and was previously in the Young Artist Program at Cape Town Opera.

Future engagements include Carmina Burana with the Richmond Symphony, followed by Il Conte d’Almaviva (Il Barbiere di Siviglia) at Pittsburgh Opera and a debut at Houston Grand Opera in the 2023–24 season. In future seasons Hallam will debut with the Sao Paolo Symphony and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

He began his career in Cape Town, where he studied at the University of Cape Town College of Music, and was in the Young Artist program at Cape Town Opera. There he performed the roles of Tebaldo (I Capuletie i Montecchi), Edgardo (Lucia di Lammermoor), Roberto (Maria Stuarda), and Ramiro (La Cenerentola). He also founded a non-profit organization called Phenomenal Opera Voices in his home of Cape Town.

At the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Lunga appeared in the Harris Theater’s Beyond the Aria series alongside Joyce DiDonato, and his recent debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Riccardo Muti as the Judge in Un ballo in maschera. Recent performances at the Lyric Opera include the “Sunday in the Park with Lyric’s Rising Stars” concert, as well as in the Chicago premieres of Fire Shut Up in My Bones (Adult Nathan) and Le Comte Ory (First Courtier). In the 2022–23 season, he debuted at Wolftrap Opera as Don Ottavio (Don Giovanni) and Jupiter (Semele).

Grammy Award winning pianist and arranger Craig Terry enjoys an international career regularly performing with the world’s leading singers and instrumentalists. Currently Craig serves as Music Director of The Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center at Lyric Opera of Chicago after having served for eleven seasons at Lyric as Assistant Conductor. Previously, he served as Assistant Conductor at the Metropolitan Opera after joining its Lindemann Young Artist Development Program.

Craig has performed with such esteemed vocalists as Jamie Barton, Stephanie Blythe, Christine Brewer, Janai Brugger, Lawrence Brownlee, Nicole Cabell, Sasha Cooke, Eric Cutler, Danielle de Niese, Joyce DiDonato, Giuseppe Filianoti, Renée Fleming, Christine Goerke, Susan Graham,Denyce Graves, Bryan Hymel, Brian Jagde, Joseph Kaiser, Quinn Kelsey, Kate Lindsey, Amanda Majeski, Ana María Martínez, Eric Owens, Ailyn Perez, Nicholas Phan, Susanna Phillips, Luca Pisaroni, Patricia Racette, Hugh Russell, Bo Skovhus, Garrett Sorenson, Heidi Stober, Christian Van Horn, Amber Wagner, Laura Wilde, and Catherine Wyn-Rogers. He has collaborated as a chamber musician with members of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, the Lyric Opera of Chicago Orchestra, the Gewandhaus Orchester, and the Pro Arte String Quartet.

Craig’s upcoming and recent highlights include more than forty concerts in North America, Europe, and Asia with artists including Katherine Beck, Ben Bliss, Christine Brewer, J’Nai Bridges, Lawrence Brownlee, Andriana Chuchman, Joyce DiDonato, Christine Goerke, Will Liverman, Ana María Martínez, Whitney Morrison, Richard Ollarsaba, Susanna Phillips, David Portillo, Patricia Racette, Hugh Russell, and Laura Wilde.