Fans can vote for opera

The old Windy City tradition of "vote early and vote often" gets revived thanks to Chicago Opera Theater and its "The People's Opera" fundraiser.

Through June 8, COT lets the general public vote on one of three operas for its 2010 season. All it costs is $1 per vote.

An added "People's Opera" perk for COT is that an anonymous donor has agreed to match up to $16,000 in votes.

"I chose three operas, which I would love COT to do at some point," said COT general director Brian Dickie. "I'd be happy with any of those three."

While each candidate is an opera rarity, they can also be highly politicized since they appeal to different blocks of voters.

Religious conservatives could cast their ballots for Rossini's 1818 "Mosè in Egitto" ("Moses in Egypt") due to its biblical subject matter, while gay voters might rally around Britten and W.H. Auden's 1941 operetta "Paul Bunyan" out of solidarity for its gay creators. The final candidate could easily court the youth vote, since Mozart's 1775 "La finta giardiniera" ("The Phony Gardener") was written when he was only 18.

COT also announced another opera democratization recently. COT's May 9 performance of Mozart's "Don Giovanni" at 7:30 p.m. will be simulcast live to a movie screen at Millennium Park's Pritzker Pavilion. This is a first for Chicago and up to 10,000 people can see the screening for free.

Visit www.chicagooperatheater.org to vote and for more information.