A native of Great Britain, Jane Irwin studied at Lancaster University and the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. She enjoys an active career in concert, opera and recital alike and sings roles ranging from Suzuki in Madama Butterfly to Thea in Michael Tippett's The Knot Garden. She is currently giving several performances at the Edinburgh International Festival; from there she goes to Birmingham for a recording and performance of Elgar's oratorio The Dream of Gerontius; in October she makes her San Francisco Opera debut as Brang‹ne in Tristan und Isolde.

The Lyric Opera production of Dialogues, a house premiere, will be directed by Robert Carsen and conducted by company music director Andrew Davis. Starring alongside Irwin as Mother Marie will be Isabel Bayrakdarian (Blanche de la Force), Anna Christy (Sister Constance), Felicity Palmer (Mme. de Croissy, the Old Prioress) and Patricia Racette (Mme. Lidoine, the New Prioress). There will be nine performances from February 17 to March 17, 2007.

Information about Lyric Opera of Chicago's 2006-07 season is available at www.lyricopera.org.