Four world-class opera artists — soprano Sydney Mancasola, mezzo-soprano Zoie Reams, tenor Dominick Chenes, and baritone Edward Parks — will join creative visionary and rock legend, Billy Corgan and the Lyric Opera Orchestra and Chorus for one of the most anticipated events on the fall cultural calendar: A Night of Mellon Collie and Infinite Sadness, on stage at Lyric Opera of Chicago for seven performances only, November 21–30, 2025. A limited number of tickets are still available and are on sale now; VIP packages will go on sale to new and existing ticket holders on Thursday, June 12.
These world-premiere performances, produced by Lyric in partnership with Corgan, celebrate the 30th anniversary of Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, the era-defining album from Corgan’s band The Smashing Pumpkins. The four vocalists will perform with Corgan on newly commissioned arrangements and orchestrations — by Corgan and James Lowe, who also conducts — of many of the album’s seminal songs, powered by the Lyric Opera Orchestra and Chorus. The concerts will harness all of Lyric’s technical and artistic forces, including costume design by House of Gilles by Gilles Mendel and Chloé Mendel Corgan, for an immersive sonic and visual experience that blurs the boundaries of opera, rock, and performance art.
Soprano Sydney Mancasola made her Lyric debut in the 2024/25 Season as Marzelline in Beethoven’s Fidelio. Her notable recent appearances include Adina in Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore at Opéra National de Paris, Pamina in Mozart's The Magic Flute at the Metropolitan Opera, and Bess in a new production of Missy Mazzoli and Royce Vavrek’s Breaking the Waves at the Adelaide Festival Centre in Australia and the Edinburgh International Festival in Scotland, a role she has also performed at LA Opera. She made her European debut with Komische Oper Berlin as the heroines in Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann.
Mezzo-soprano Zoie Reams, a native of Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood, has become a Lyric favorite in recent seasons. She performed two roles in the 2024/25 Season: the Mother in Jeanine Tesori and Tazewell Thompson’s Blue and Maddalena in Verdi’s Rigoletto. She has also appeared as the Sibyl and Chief’s Daughter #2 in the world premiere of Proximity and as Ragonde in Rossini’s Le Comte Ory in the 2022/23 Season, following her debut as Flora in Verdi’s La traviata in the 2018/19 Season. Also in the 2024/25 Season, she appeared with the LA Phil as part of the Eldorado Ballroom series curated by Solange Knowles for Saint Heron, singing Julia Perry’s Stabat Mater, with an additional performance this summer in Houston. In the 2025/26 Season, she returns to Lyric as Neris in the season-opening production of Cherubini’s Medea, to Canadian Opera Company as Maddalena, and to the LA Phil as Siegrune in Act III of Wagner’s Die Walküre under the baton of Gustavo Dudamel.
Tenor Dominick Chenes makes his Lyric debut with these performances. He recently made his Metropolitan Opera debut in the leading role of Greenhorn in Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer’s Moby-Dick. His other engagements in the 2024/25 Season include his house debut as Pollione in Bellini’s Norma for Oper Leipzig, Cavaradossi in Puccini’s Tosca with New Orleans Opera, Turiddu in Mascagni’s Cavalleria rusticana with Opera Orlando, and Erik in Wagner’s Der fliegende Holländer with Oper im Steinbruch in Austria. In the 2025/26 Season, he sings the role of Solano in Delius’s The Magic Fountain at the Wexford Festival in Ireland.
Baritone Edward Parks, a resident of Highland Park, last appeared at Lyric as Valentin in Gounod’s Faust in the 2017/18 Season. In addition to performing the leading baritone roles in the classic repertory, Parks is noted for his interpretations of new works, including Steve Jobs in the world premiere of Mason Bates and Mark Cambell’s The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs at Santa Fe Opera, The Creature in the world premiere of Gregg Kallor’s Frankenstein at Arizona Opera, and the role of Jack Torrance in Paul Moravec and Mark Campbell’s The Shining at Opera Colorado and Lyric Opera of Kansas City. He has also performed in several worldwide stadium tours alongside superstar tenor Andrea Bocelli. A national winner of the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition, Parks trained at the Met’s Lindemann Young Artists Development Program and was also awarded third prize in the Operalia Competition.
Grammy-nominated conductor, arranger, orchestrator, and composer James Lowe made his Lyric debut conducting performances of Oklahoma! in the 2012/13 Season and returned to conduct West Side Story in the 2018/19 and 2022/23 Seasons. He appears regularly with major opera houses in the United States and abroad, as well as on Broadway. He recently arranged, orchestrated, and conducted Songbird, a new adaptation of Offenbach’s La Périchole in the style of 1920’s New Orleans jazz for The Glimmerglass Festival, Washington National Opera, and Milwaukee's Florentine Opera. On Broadway, he was the music director and conductor of the recent revival of Les Misérables, as well as the Tony Award-winning revival of Anything Goes starring Sutton Foster and Joel Grey. He made his Broadway debut conducting performances of Gypsy starring Patti LuPone. He has appeared in concert with Sir Elton John, conducting his own orchestrations and choral arrangements of Elton’s classic songs, as well as with singer-songwriter Randy Newman and the legendary Booker T. Jones. He has played in several rock, jazz, blues, and country bands and was the keyboardist, rhythm guitarist, lead singer, and songwriter for the rock band Backwash for five years.
Performance dates for A Night of Mellon Collie and Infinite Sadness are November 21, 22, 25, 26, 28, 29, and 30. Remaining tickets are on sale now; the best availability is on Wednesday, November 26 and Sunday, November 30. All performances begin at 7:30 p.m. at Lyric Opera House, 20 N. Wacker Drive, Chicago.
Tickets for A Night of Mellon Collie and Infinite Sadness are available at lyricopera.org/melloncollie.
"Billy Corgan’s music was very much part of my life growing up, so getting the chance to work with him now is incredibly meaningful.
We both live in Highland Park, which makes this collaboration feel even more personal. I’m excited to create something that pushes boundaries and lets these two musical worlds speak to each other in a whole new way." – Edward Parks
About Billy Corgan
Beyond founding and fronting GRAMMY® Award-winning band The Smashing Pumpkins, Billy Corgan stands out as a solo artist, producer, songwriter, poet, wrestling promoter, podcast host, and café owner. His solo catalog comprises TheFutureEmbrace [2005], Aegea [2014], Ogilala [2017], and, most recently, Cotillions [2019]. In the studio, he has notably collaborated with everyone from Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath, Rick Ocasek, Cheap Trick, Ray Davies, New Order, Marianne Faithful, and Scorpions to Korn, Phantogram, The Veronicas, and Code Orange. He has also contributed music to soundtracks such as Ransom directed by Academy® Award winner Ron Howard, Stigmata, and Spun, to name a few. He released his first poetry book, Blinking with Fists, in 2004. A lifelong wrestling aficionado, he owns and serves as president of The National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) — home to a dynamic roster and bombastic pay-per-view spectacles. He notably owns Madame ZuZu’s Tea House in Highland Park, Illinois, where he often performs intimate surprise sets, and recently debuted his new podcast, "The Magnificent Others," under Bill Maher’s production company, Club Random Studios. Corgan also remains a staunch animal advocate who supports no kill shelters such as PAWS Chicago. The Chicago native is constantly writing and recording new music.
About House of Gilles
House of Gilles is a Haute Couture house rooted in craftsmanship and artistry. A sixth-generation family business, it was founded by Gilles Mendel and Chloé Mendel Corgan, merging a legacy of savoir-faire with modernity to create exquisite garments in New York City. Renowned for dressing life’s greatest moments, from bridal to red carpet, the house also designed costumes for the 2024 New York City Ballet Fashion Gala. House of Gilles embodies elegance, precision, and innovation, redefining the couture experience. Gilles Mendel, a CFDA honoree, Smithsonian’s Cooper Hewitt National Design Award winner, and member of the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode, brings decades of expertise to every creation. At House of Gilles, couture is an experience — where craftsmanship, heritage, and personal storytelling meet.
About Lyric
Lyric Opera of Chicago is committed to redefining what it means to experience great opera. The company is driven to deliver consistently excellent artistry through innovative, relevant, celebratory programming that engages and energizes new and traditional audiences.
Under the leadership of General Director, President & CEO John Mangum and Music Director Enrique Mazzola, Lyric is dedicated to reflecting, and drawing strength from, the diversity of Chicago. Lyric offers, through innovation, collaboration, and evolving learning opportunities, ever-more exciting, accessible, and thought-provoking audience and community experiences. We also stand committed to training the artists of the future, through The Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center; and to becoming increasingly diverse across our audiences, staff, programming, and artists — magnifying the welcoming pull of our art form, our company, and our city.
Through the timeless power of voice, the splendor of a great orchestra and chorus, theater, dance, design, and truly magnificent stagecraft, Lyric is devoted to immersing audiences in worlds both familiar and unexpected, creating shared experiences that resonate long after the curtain comes down.
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For more information, visit lyricopera.org.