Despite selling 97 percent of its tickets, the Chicago Lyric Opera will end its season with a “deficit of $1.1 million, on an operating budget of $48.6 million. The deficit ends a 16-year winning streak in which the company posted operating surpluses every season. Expenses for 2002-03 exceeded budget by about $700,000, including charges related to revising next season’s repertory, while ticket revenues fell $400,000 short of expectation.”