by Dennis Polkow | August 28, 2026Lyric Opera’s Sunday in the Park Showcases Selections From the Upcoming Season On Sunday evening, the opera company performed selections from five of the six staged operas that will make up its 2026-27 season, among other works.
by Dennis Polkow | July 8, 2026Isn’t It Rich To Experience Sondheim in the Round? The Marriott Theatre's "A Little Night Music" is an optimistic operetta.
by Mark Thomas Ketterson | June 18, 2026The Opera Festival of Chicago Pairs “La Boheme” with a Rarer Paris-Set Masterwork Sasha Gerritson, the festival's general director, shares their plans for the summer season, titled "Bohemian Tragedy," and discusses the strategy behind it.
by Dennis Polkow | April 17, 2026Lyric’s John Mangum and Enrique Mazzola Discuss the 2026-27 Opera Season Mangum, the Lyric's general director, president and CEO, and Mazzola, the Lyric's music director, discuss what's in store for the opera company in the year ahead.
by Mary Wisniewski | April 8, 2026avery r. young’s Afro-Surrealist Opera, “safronia,” Is A Story of the Great Migration The West Side native and interdisciplinary artist is taking on a new challenge—acting and singing in his own production that draws from gospel hymns, blues, funk and poetry.
by Dennis Polkow | March 18, 2026Reimagined “Butterfly” Leaves Sumptuous Score Intact but Turns Reality on Its Head Matthew Ozawa’s multidimensional staging of “Butterfly” that premiered at Cincinnati Opera in 2023 is now being presented at his home company of Lyric Opera, where he is chief artistic director.
by Ted C. Fishman | February 25, 2026Kurt Weill’s “Der Silbersee” Gets Its Chicago Premiere Nearly a Century Later Chicago Opera Theater is staging the opera that premiered in Germany in 1933 before being banned by the Nazi party.
by Dennis Polkow | February 6, 2026Solid Singing Takes Lyric’s “Così” Beyond Buffoonery Lyric’s production transports the Da Ponte-Mozart opera to a 1930s seaside resort, where the colors, costumes, scenery and approach are overstated.
by Tristan Bruns | January 15, 2026A New Phantom Stalks the Streets of Naperville in BrightSide’s “Phantom in Concert” In between songs, the actors engage in dialogues and soliloquies that flesh out the narrative, which delves deeper into the backstory of the Phantom than the Lloyd Webber version.
by Dennis Polkow | November 24, 2025Smashing Genres: Billy Corgan Gets Artsy at Lyric Opera Billed as “A Night of Mellon Collie and Infinite Sadness,” Friday night was not your typical night at the opera.
by Mark Thomas Ketterson | November 5, 2025Lyric Opera Revives “Cavalleria Rusticana & Pagliacci” in a Double Bill of Italian Opera The classic Elijah Moshinsky stagings of Mascagni and Leoncavallo’s works follow the opera's season-opening mounting of Cherubini’s "Medea."
by Dennis Polkow | October 16, 2025Hometown Heroes Triumph in Lyric’s First-Ever “Medea” The long journey to get Cherubini’s “Medea" to Lyric Opera culminates in a spectacular production and stellar performance.
