Ward Stare is a young up-and-coming conductor who used to play trombone with the Lyric, where he started at age 18. He is now 30 and conducting Hansel and Gretel at the Lyric next week. Ward Stare is in the conductor pit at the Lyric on November 29, 2012. | Al Podgorski~Chicago Sun-Time

Ward Stare is a young up-and-coming conductor who used to play trombone with the Lyric, where he started at age 18. He is now 30 and conducting Hansel and Gretel at the Lyric next week. Ward Stare, outside the Lyric, on November 29, 2012. | Al Podgorski~Chicago Sun-Time

FILE - In this Dec. 9, 2010 file photo, world renowned soprano Renee Fleming speaks during a news conference after the Lyric Opera of Chicago announced her appointment as a vice president and creative consultant in Chicago. On Monday, Sept. 12, 2011, Fleming announced the Lyric is partnering with a music school to offer teenagers tuition-free opera and musical theater solo training. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green, File)

Ward Stare is a young up-and-coming conductor who used to play trombone with the Lyric, where he started at age 18. He is now 30 and conducting Hansel and Gretel at the Lyric next week. Ward Stare, outside the Lyric, on November 29, 2012. | Al Podgorski~Chicago Sun-Time