The local bar is probably the last place you’d go to check out an opera concert, but Opera on Tap is looking to change that. The group initially started in 2005 in New York in order to make opera music more accessible to the masses. Erin Thompson, the general managing diva of Opera on Tap’s Chicago branch, found out about the group in 2007 and felt that the concept would fare well in the Windy City. “It’s something that Chicago doesn’t have, but I think that it needs to,” she says. Opera on Tap’s first Chicago performance will be held June 24 at Angelo’s Taverna, 1612 North Sedgwick. Each performance will revolve around a specific theme and each song will be accompanied by commentary so that viewers can follow along. Thompson is planning to host two-to-three shows a month and would like to branch out into several venues. She also hopes that the performances will give audiences a broader sense of what opera can encompass. “The audience for opera is shrinking and this is one way that we can help bolster that,” Thompson says.
Double Divas: A Review of "Jenufa" at Lyric Opera This is only the third time that “Jenufa” has been performed at Lyric Opera, but a number of things made Sunday afternoon’s opening an historic occasion.
