Christine Steyer, Officer
Christine Steyer, soprano, was the 2020 recipient of The American Prize for outstanding contributions to the arts and winner of the Johnny Mercer Award. She has performed the title role in Madama Butterfly and Violetta in La Traviata. Since 2000, she has sung in over 40 productions at Lyric Opera of Chicago. In 2021, she premiered the role of the Rio de Janeiro Health Care Worker in On Call: COVID-19, and in 2022, she debuted as Flanna in Future Perfect. Steyer also served as the librettist for both of these award-winning operas. Since 2024, she has sung in Elijah, Speed Dating Tonight, recitals of songs by Florence Price and Ernst Bacon, and as the Elf Queen in the Chicago premiere of Pauline Viardot Garcia’s Le Dernier Sorcier. This fall, she and French pianist Jean-Claude Orfali will release videos featuring their original songs as well as the official English versions of works by legendary French composer Henri Betti. Next summer, Steyer will sing the role of the Countess in Le Nozze di Figaro in Chicago. Steyer has brought music to more than 24,000 youth in underserved communities through Bellissima Opera’s In the Classroom program. She is Co-founder of the vocal alliance Working in Concert and serves as Artistic Director of its Bellissima Opera initiative. Steyer is also on the music faculty at Concordia University in River Forest, teaches at Ascension Catholic School in Oak Park, and maintains a private voice studio in Oak Park.