The Lyric Opera of Chicago gives us a fall doubleheader with two classic Italian operas rooted in the verismo tradition. Pietro Mascagni’s Cavalleria rusticana (1890) and Ruggero Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci (1892) […]
Maestro Enrique Mazzola is now entering his 5th year as music director and conductor of the Lyric Opera of Chicago. Mazzola is the third music director since Bruno Bartoletti, when […]
The Chicago Opera Theater (COT) presented Shakespeare Sings last weekend, an excellent concert of arias from operas by Verdi, Wagner, Britten, and other composers whose works are performed less frequently. […]
The Lyric Opera of Chicago opened its 2025/26 season with a blockbuster with Italian composer Luigi Cherubini’s Medea. Just hearing the name evokes a dark tale of obsession, misogyny, and […]
Georges Bizet wrote his magnum opus 150 years ago. Carmen is an opera of spectacle, passion, and the darkness of obsession. It has been sung in the greatest houses of […]
Soprano Karen Slack, accompanied by the Ryan Center pianist Michael Banwarth, performed a program of compositions by Black composer Florence B. Price on Saturday. The First United Methodist Church-Chicago Temple […]
There are not many names that bring such vivid memories as Carmen. Georges Bizet’s scandalous and groundbreaking opera marked the beginning of a movement in opera that emphasized realism. The […]
Sunday, September 7, was a memorable evening. The Corn Moon waxed full, hung in the clear over the lake. The temperature was cool with a nip of autumn to come. […]
I asked one of my Gen Z friends if they knew about the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Their quizzical expression hit me like a lead weight. The history of the Civil […]
The Lyric Opera of Chicago is refreshing classical music by bringing in newer works. The Listeners is written by Missy Mazzoli with a libretto by Royce Vavrek based on the […]
This may be the fourth time I have seen La Boheme at the Lyric. It is my all-time favorite and gets me misty every time. The 2025 version is advertised […]
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