Georges Bizet produced some of opera’s most memorable music for Carmen, his 1875 composition, set in Spain and sung in French, about a wildly free-spirited woman whose fickle and domineering […]
Barbershops and beauty salons are important cultural hubs for communities of color. “In my day, a barber was more than just somebody who sit around in a FUBU shirt with […]
What do you get when you mix Englebert Humperdinck, a visual homage to German expressionism, Weimar decadence, and gorgeous singing? The answer is Hansel and Gretel at the Lyric Opera. […]
I was put under a spell on Friday. King Roger by the Chicago Opera Theater (COT) was the spellbinding work that eased my anxiety from sitting in a traffic snarl […]
Rossini’s Le Comte Ory is my second French-language opera within a week. Verdi’s Don Carlos is also at the Lyric. Le Comte Ory is considerably more lighthearted and is in […]
The Lyric Opera in Chicago is at the forefront of opera productions on the world stage. It’s right up there with La Scala in Milan or the Met in New […]
Last year, the Lyric Opera presented a dazzling production of The Magic Flute originally conceived for Berlin’s Komische Oper by Australian director Barrie Kosky. Now, the Lyric is at it […]
For the uninitiated (and perhaps even for those clued in) thinking of going to the opera, the Lyric’s Ernani is likely what they have in mind. This lush 2022-2023 season […]
Quamino’s Map is the 22nd opera by the Belizean-born composer Errollyn Wallen who trained at the University of London and Cambridge. The libretto is by playwright Deborah Brevoort and the […]
I gave high praise to Terence Blanchard’s opera Fire Shut Up in My Bones. The opening night performance at the Lyric was filled with excitement and local luminaries. The following […]
My first opera was at age 10 when our parish priest took us to see La Boheme at the Lyric Opera House. I always thought that opera was sung in […]
The voices! Soprano Michelle Bradley, making her Lyric Opera of Chicago debut in the title role of Giacomo Puccini’s Tosca, and tenor Russell Thomas as her doomed lover Cavaradossi filled […]