Chicago companies celebrate operatic milestones and transitions
This season sees Chicago’s major opera companies celebrating many anniversaries amid a time of leadership changes.
The Lyric Opera of Chicago is not only commemorating its 70th anniversary season, but also the 50th anniversary of the company’s young artists development program (officially known as The Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center). This is also the first time that the Lyric has programmed two operas by female composers in the same season: Jeanine Tesori’s “Blue” from Nov. 16 to Dec. 1 and Missy Mazzoli’s “The Listeners” from March 30 to April 11.
Meanwhile, Chicago Opera Theater is emerging from its half-century celebration last season with two world premieres, “Remedios Varios” (April 5) and “She Who Dared” (June 3-8), and the North American premiere of “Leonora,” a rarity from the early 19th century.
This season also highlights how the Chicago opera scene is in transition. The Lyric recently hired John Mangum as the company’s new general director, president and CEO, replacing Anthony Freud, who stepped down this past spring. Mangum’s past artistic administrative duties involved work with symphony orchestras in Houston, San Francisco, New York and Los Angeles.
And Chicago Opera Theater General Director Lawrence Edelson begins his second full season being in charge of the company’s administrative management and artistic leadership. Edelson also marks his company directing debut with the season opener “Leonora.”
There’s a lot to look forward to this season in Chicago as a diverse array of opera artists find ways to simultaneously innovate and carry on the traditions of this more than 400-year-old art form.
Truth to power
Lyric music director Enrique Mazzola kicks off the season by conducting a traditional revival of Verdi’s “Rigoletto” (now through Oct. 6). Though this Victor Hugo-inspired revenge tragedy dates back to 1851, contemporary audiences will likely see many parallels to the past few years following so many #MeToo revelations of powerful men who have abused their status.
Internationally acclaimed Mexican tenor Javier Camarena makes his long-awaited Lyric debut in “Rigoletto” as the lascivious Duke of Mantua (who gets most of the opera’s famous tunes), while Armenian soprano Mané Galoyan builds upon her previous successes with other companies as the overly sheltered Gilda (also her Lyric debut). Baritone Igor Golovatenko (“Don Carlos”) returns to sing the title role of the Duke’s cursed court jester.
Another Lyric revival is Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro” (Nov. 9-30). This 1786 romantic comedy is also critical of bad-behavior aristocrats. Chicago Shakespeare Theater founder Barbara Gaines returns to direct her colorful 2015 production, this time with several artists making their Lyric debuts like Peter Kellner as Figaro, Federica Lombardi as Countess Almaviva and conductor Erina Yashima. Acclaimed Chinese soprano Ying Fan (“The Magic Flute,” “Don Giovanni”) returns to play the wily servant Susanna.
Seeking justice
After a previous pandemic postponement, “Blue” finally makes its Lyric debut this season. This co-commissioned 2019 tragedy brings together two-time Tony Award-winning composer Jeanine Tesori (“Fun Home,” “Kimberly Akimbo”) with librettist and director Tazewell Thompson.
“Blue” is set in modern-day Harlem and explores how a Black police family must cope when their teenage son is shot by a white police officer. Lyric debuts include Joseph Young as conductor and Kenneth Kellogg as the family patriarch.
Beethoven’s only opera, “Fidelio,” returns to the Lyric from Sept. 26 to Oct. 10 after a nearly two-decade absence. Though “Fidelio” premiered in 1805, director Matthew Ozawa has updated this famed “rescue opera” to contemporary times and reset it in a maximum-security prison. This new-to-Chicago production originally premiered at San Francisco Opera in 2021.
South African soprano Elza van den Heever stars as Leonore, the faithful wife who goes undercover as a guard named “Fidelio” to rescue her political-prisoner husband, Florestan (returning American tenor Russell Thomas). Enrique Mazzola conducts.
And in a nice show of cross-company collaboration, Chicago Opera Theater presents the North American premiere of “Leonora” at the Studebaker Theater on Oct. 1, 4 and 6. This 1804 opera by Italian composer Ferdinando Paër is another take on the same rescue story of “Fidelio,” and Chicago Opera Theater has programmed their three performances of “Leonora” to allow audiences to compare and contrast with Beethoven’s opera.
Dame Jane Glover conducts “Leonora,” which stars soprano Vanessa Becerra in the title role and Edgardo Rocha as Florestano.
Always Puccini
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the death of Giacomo Puccini. A season almost never goes by without the highly melodic and deeply emotional works of this beloved Italian composer.
In commemoration, Chicago Opera Theater presents the concert “Bohème and Beyond: The Legacy of Puccini” on Dec. 7 at DePaul University’s Gannon Concert Hall. Arias from Puccini’s operas are featured alongside works by other composers who were influenced by him like Gian Carlo Menotti and Andrew Lloyd Webber.
The Lyric offers its Puccini commemorations next year with the concert return of Berwyn native and internationally acclaimed soprano Sondra Radvanovsky. She performs “The Puccini Heroines” on Feb. 8, 13 and 16.
Then the Lyric revives Puccini’s “La Bohème” for a 10-performance run starting March 15. This new-to-Chicago production is directed by Melanie Bacaling. It was originated in Los Angeles by the late Hollywood director Herbert Ross (“Steel Magnolias,” “The Turning Point”). Elk Grove Village native Ailyn Pérez stars as Mimi, and Jordan de Souza conducts.
Special events
The Lyric hosts a Broadway legend for its season-opening gala: “Patti LuPone: A Life in Notes” on Friday, Oct. 4. LuPone is not only a three-time Tony Award winner for “Evita,” “Gypsy” and “Company,” but also has past opera credits with Weill’s “Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny” at Los Angeles Opera and Blitzstein’s “Regina” with Washington National Opera.
Grammy Award-winning mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato returns for a holiday concert, this time with the a cappella group Kings Return and accompanist Craig Terry for “KINGS ReJOYCE!” on Dec. 13 at Chicago’s Harris Theater for Music and Dance. The same venue is famed for its Beyond the Aria recital series, with intimate opera singer performances on the stage of Millennium Park’s Pritzker Pavilion on Nov. 15 and Feb. 19.
In terms of concert opera productions, Glen Ellyn’s own New Philharmonic presents Donizetti’s romantic comedy “The Elixir of Love” on Jan. 25 and 26. Later, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra gets dark with Esa-Pekka Salonen conducting Bartók’s “Bluebeard’s Castle” on Feb. 7 and 8 with opera stars Ekaterina Gubanova and Ryan Opera Center alum Christian Van Horn.
Other companies
Beyond the Lyric and Chicago Opera Theater, the Windy City also has a number of smaller companies dedicated to experimental and chamber works. Some of these companies have announced their next season, while others are still in the planning stages.
Oak Park-based Belissima Opera celebrates author Edgar Lee Masters’ “Spoon River Anthology” with performances within his historic Chicago home at Kenwood and 49th Street in Hyde Park. The performance Sept. 22 has been curated around the work’s characters and the music of the time.
Thompson Street Opera Company presents a dystopian double bill of contemporary one acts with Craig Carnahan’s “The Last Word” and Elizabeth Gartman’s “Forever” Oct. 11-20 at the new Bramble Arts Loft in Chicago.
Chicago Fringe Opera marks the 100th anniversary of Chicago’s notorious Leopold and Loeb murder with a true crime-inspired opera called “HindSight” by composer Felix Jarrar and librettist Bea Goodwin. The company teams up with /kor/ productions for performances at Chicago Dramatists Nov. 1-9.
The Opera Festival of Chicago recently completed its fourth summer season, which commemorated the 100th anniversary of Puccini’s death with a special concert and his tragedy “Manon Lescaut.” The company specializes in operatic rarities tied largely to Italian composers, so it will be interesting to see what they announce for 2025.
Another seasonal company is Chicago Summer Opera, which produces chamber productions for up-and-coming singers and musicians. Chicago Summer Opera has lately made a home in Ganz Hall in Roosevelt University’s Auditorium Building, but the company has also staged a past season at the Prairie Lakes Community Center in Des Plaines.
South Shore Opera Company of Chicago is teasing some plans for Fall 2024 on its website. Also keep an eye out for other smaller opera companies like Elgin-based Fox Valley Lyrical Productions, Transgressive Theatre-Opera and Opera Cabal.