The English conductor Harry Bicket is well known for his skill at making modern-instrument orchestras like the Metropolitan Opera and LyricOpera of Chicago sound like period-instrument ensembles.
Like the Tulsa Opera, the LyricOpera has a history of supporting rising talent, none more significant than the mezzo Joyce DiDonato, who grew up in the Kansas City suburbs, on the Kansas side.
Among his recent roles are Emile de Becque in the Lincoln Center revival of "South Pacific" that recently toured Australia (a role that has been played by opera singers), and Stanley Kowalski in the coming modern-opera production of "A Streetcar Named Desire" at Chicago's LyricOpera and New York's Carnegie Hall in March.