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The third time is the charm, as it turns out. Handel’s “Teseo” (“Theseus”), crowning Chicago Opera Theater’s spring season and the penultimate opera of Brian Dickie’s general directorship, is also the last of COT’s Baroque opera “Medea” trilogy that began with 2010’s production of Cavalli’s “Giasone” (“Jason”) and continued with last year’s production of Charpentier’s “Médée” (Medea). Taken as a whole, this cycle stands as one of the most important artistic initiatives COT has brought us.

Medea was last seen in the climax of “Médée” setting fire to Corinth and murdering her two children, but between Charpentier’s opera and Handel’s she has made her way to Athens to seek asylum and betrothal from King Egeo who has no heir since his only son Teseo is unknown to him due to a promise the king made to Teseo’s mother. In Handel’s “Teseo,” the young hero fights for the king without either knowing their identity and with both courting Agilea. The king plots to kill Teseo while Teseo is magically seduced into cohorting with Medea, and so on. If it all sounds a lot like Handel’s “Rinaldo,” seen recently at Lyric Opera though set during the Crusades, only the setting and names are substantially different. Read the rest of this entry »

Sara Heaton and Paul LaRosa/Photo: Liz Lauren

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Brian Dickie has certainly given Chicago many firsts and many thrills in his twelve years as general director of Chicago Opera Theater, but Dickie has saved one of his best for last: the professional Chicago premiere of a satirical musical by, of all people, Dmitri Shostakovich.

With Stalin having declared modernism and the avant-garde anathema in 1936, operetta became a regime-approved art form and began flourishing during the Soviet era. Operetta houses were built next to theaters and opera houses, large orchestras and repertory casts engaged, and an entire generation of Soviet composers began writing a new species of still popular Russian operetta that remains largely unknown in the West. Read the rest of this entry »

Chicago Opera Theater’s New General Director Andreas Mitisek Announces 2013 Season
3 New Productions by Philip Glass, Ástor Piazzolla and Giuseppe Verdi

CHICAGO, IL – (April 4, 2012) Andreas Mitisek announced today Chicago Opera Theater’s (COT) 2013 Season, his first as General Director. The season opens in February of 2013 with the Chicago Premiere of Philip Glass’ The Fall of the House of Usher, followed by Ástor Piazzolla’s María de Buenos Aires in April, and concluding in September with another Chicago Premiere, Giuseppe Verdi’s Joan of Arc (Giovanna d’Arco). These three new productions will be presented at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance in Millennium Park.

“Each time you come to COT, you should be surprised by something you hadn’t thought existed. We want to make you laugh and cry and reflect on the stories we present,” said Andreas Mitisek. “What ties these operas together is their focus on the tension between the power of love and the love of power. Philip Glass, Ástor Piazzolla and Giuseppe Verdi all question our views and enlighten us with insights into the eternal means of the human heart.”  Read the rest of this entry »

Quinn Kelsey and Hui He/Photo: Dan Rest

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On paper, at least, the first cast of Lyric Opera’s production of Verdi’s “Aida” that opened in January looked as if it would be the premier cast, and indeed, had a lot going for it with Verdi heroine extraordinaire Sondra Radvanovsky as Aida, Italian tenor Marcello Giordani as Radames and mezzo soprano Jill Grove as Amneris. And yet for all of its superb singing, somehow the dramatic intricacies of the love-pyramid aspect of the opera left much to be desired.

The second time is the charm, as it were, for those who want high drama with glorious singing. Making a spectacular Lyric Opera debut is Chinese soprano Hui He, all that you could ever ask for in an Aida. Not only does He sing with a voice powerful enough to fill the rafters of the Civic Opera House—a rare find these days—but she does it with purity of tone and with immense attention to Verdi’s dynamic markings. Her pianissimo high notes float beautifully; He never feels the need to show off how loud she can bring off her high notes as Radvanovsky likes to do. He is also able to flesh out the character of this tormented lovesick princess who keeps her dignity while serving as a slave in the court of a country with which her own nation is at war. Read the rest of this entry »

David Daniels, center/Photo: Dan Rest

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Long before the renaissance of Handel’s operas being performed in their complete form, virtually everyone knew an aria or two from his opera “Rinaldo.” Such pieces, in fact, as they were heard in vocal recitals and on recording anthologies were the only glimpse many opera lovers had into this vast world at a time when Handel operas by and large were still largely unknown to contemporary audiences.

The first Handel opera ever performed at Lyric Opera was, in fact, a concert version of “Rinaldo” back in 1984, and a year later for the Handel tricentennial Lyric staged its first Handel, though not an opera, his oratorio “Samson.” Lyric Opera has come a long way from those days when singers would stand statically and wobble their way through Handel’s vocal lines with excessive vibrato at a snail’s pace. Read the rest of this entry »

By Dennis Polkow

A year ago when Lyric Opera held a press conference announcing its 2011-12 season, including a new production of “Show Boat,” then-general manager Bill Mason was asked if the N-word would be used in the production.

“I don’t think so,” said Mason. “That is one word that you will not hear on the stage of Lyric Opera,” proudly citing the fact that when the same creative team had done Lyric’s first-ever “Porgy and Bess” in 2008, the word had not been used.

Mason was reminded that director Hal Prince—who has also worked at Lyric Opera over the years—had kept the word in his famous Broadway revival of “Show Boat” in the 1990s. Director Francesca Zambello also cut in via Skype to say, “Well, Bill, I don’t know yet.” Mason was incredulous and said, “I stand corrected.”

Sitting in an upstairs company office last week after having completed her final dress rehearsal of “Show Boat,” Zambello now says, “That’s not what this show is about. Let’s talk about something else. I hate it when that becomes the focus of an interview.” Read the rest of this entry »

Photo: Robert Kusel

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In the world of musical theater, the genre is divided between B.S.B. (Before Show Boat) and A.S.B (After Show Boat), so revolutionary a work was “Show Boat” when it first premiered nearly eighty-five years ago. So revolutionary, in fact, that we have to almost remind ourselves that “Show Boat” began life as a 1926 novel by Edna Ferber.

Composer Jerome Kern read “Show Boat” upon its publication and immediately became excited about transforming the story to the musical stage. He even called a journalist friend to arrange a meeting with Ferber, who told Kern that she couldn’t imagine her dark tale taking life as a musical comedy. Kern won her over and soon hired a then largely unknown thirty-year old librettist by the name of Oscar Hammerstein II to write the book and lyrics for the show. Read the rest of this entry »

Anthony Freud, general director of Lyric Opera of Chicago, announced today the repertoire, principal singers, conductors, directors, and designers for Lyric’s 2012-13 season. This was Freud’s first news conference since becoming Lyric’s general director on Oct. 1, 2011. Joining Freud for today’s announcement was Sir Andrew Davis, Lyric’s music director; and Lyric’s creative consultant, Renée Fleming (via Skype).

Lyric’s 2012-13 subscription season will offer 68 performances of nine different operas beginning Saturday, October 6, 2012, and concluding Saturday, April 6, 2013.  Read the rest of this entry »

Charles Castronovo/Photo: Dan Rest

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The perfect Mozart opera? Most would pick “The Marriage of Figaro,” some “Don Giovanni,” perhaps a handful even “Così fan tutte,” all Mozart collaborations with brilliant librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte. And yet, for comedy, fantasy and intrigue, “The Magic Flute” has to top the list. A product of those much romanticized last months of his short life, this is Mozart at his most witty, his most charming and at the full height of his soon-to-be-silenced miraculous musical powers.

The memorable August Everding production that Lyric Opera is still using dates back to the mid-1980s and has frankly had more revivals than I can count with casts of various quality levels. After a quarter of a century of use here and elsewhere, apparently some of the pieces could barely be repainted and lighting had to be adjusted to compensate for the age of some of the scenery. If so, this is never obvious in the current revival. Read the rest of this entry »

Amber Wagner, Brandon Jovanovich/Photo: Dan Rest

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During the recently ended Bill Mason era at Lyric Opera, the philosophy was that works of Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss had to alternate for attention to contain costs of the huge orchestra needed for these works. This year, however, the Strauss opera presented, “Ariadne auf Naxos,” employs a chamber orchestra, yet nonetheless was left to stand as the single season ambassador to represent the vast canvas of German Romanticism.

This production was originally mounted for soprano Deborah Voigt, who had sung the role here in 1998 and was to have sung this revival, “Ariadne” being one of her signature roles. However, soon after a Chicago Symphony concert over the summer spotlighting Strauss and Wagner roles associated with her where Voigt was having obvious vocal trouble, she abruptly withdrew from these performances with a statement that she was “focusing increasingly on dramatic soprano roles and thus has decided to drop the part from [her] repertory for the time being.” Read the rest of this entry »