Chicago Opera Theater
The Chicago Opera Theater (COT) is an opera company that was founded as the Chicago Opera Studio in 1974 by Alan Stone[1] [2]
The stated mission of COT is to provide first class productions of operatic repertoire that include the greatest works of the 17th through 20th centuries. [3] and in the past it has had an emphasis on American composers and performers who sing in English.
In 2012, Brian Dickie retired as General Director after 13 years. He has been succeeded by Austrian conductor Andreas Mitisek.
The company's home is the 1,525-seat Harris Theater for Music and Dance in Chicago's Millennium Park. The Harris Theater was built in 2003 as a mostly underground, state-of-the-art downtown performance facility, and is also home to the Hubbard Street Dance Chicago.[4] Prior to the 2004 season, COT was most recently at the Athenaeum Theatre on the city's north side.[5]
Productions
In addition to some of the standard works, the company presents many rarely seen operas which are not in the mainstream.[6]
The 2013 season, which opens on 23 February, features Philip Glass’ The Fall of the House of Usher, Ástor Piazzolla’s María de Buenos Aires, and Giuseppe Verdi’s Giovanna d’Arco (Joan of Arc)
Past productions of rarely staged works
- 2012: Dimitri Shostakovich’s Moscow, Cheryomushki; George Frideric Handel’s Teseo.
- 2011: Tod Machover's Death and the Powers; Marc-Antoine Charpentier's Medea and (composer?) He/She.
- 2010: Gioachino Rossini Moses in Egypt; Francesco Cavalli's Jason; Jake Heggie's Three Decembers
- 2009: Mozart's La clemenza di Tito, La Tragédie de Carmen; Benjamin Britten's Owen Wingrave
- 2008: John Adams' A Flowering Tree; Handel's Orlando;
External links
References
Notes
- ↑ Marsh, Robert C., "The Fox Years", p. 167: "In April 1974 Alan Stone, who had learned from missteps with the offerings of this Pilot Knob company the previous year, was back on the operatic scene, this time in the five-hundred-seat auditorium of Jones Commercial High School (which remained his company's mainstage location through 1976) with a workshop group he called Chicago Opera Studio and a production of Così fan tutte that had excellent young singers and genuine charm. Six performances cost $8,000 to produce."
- ↑ Marsh, Robert C., "Author's Preface": "It should be said that Chicago has always had a number of smaller opera groups, some ethnically oriented, some essentially opera workshops to give vocal students performance experience. The Chicago Opera Theater began in 1974 as an organization of this type but was transformed into an important professional production group."
- ↑ "The Company: Who is the Chicago Opera Theatre?" page Retrieved 6 February 2013
- ↑ "Harris Theatre History". Harris Theater for Music and Dance. Archived from the original on May 14, 2006. Retrieved 6 February 2013.
- ↑ Athenaeum Theatre, Chicago, website Retrieved 6 February 2013
- ↑ COT's website list of past productions Retrieved 6 February 2013
Sources
- Marsh, Robert C. "Author's Preface" and "The Fox Years", in Pellegrini, Norman (ed.), 150 Years of Opera in Chicago, DeKalb, Illinois: Northern Illinois University Press, 2006 ISBN 0-87580-353-9
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