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 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.
by Dennis Polkow | October 4, 2024Double Freedom from Tyranny: A Review of “Fidelio” at Lyric Opera and “Leonora” at Chicago Opera Theater
by Dennis Polkow | September 19, 2024An Embarrassment of Riches: A Review of “Rigoletto” at Lyric Opera
by Dennis Polkow | March 13, 2024Going Out and Coming In with a Bang: A Review of “Aida” at Lyric Opera
by Dennis Polkow | February 23, 2024Kindling a Fire: A Review of “The Matchbox Magic Flute” at Goodman Theatre
