Two operatic opus ones will have their Chicago premieres this weekend, and they both command a chorus of well over 100. Chicago Opera Theater opens its 2019-20 season with a double bill: Joby Talbot’s Everest and Rachmaninoff’s Aleko.

In the early 1990s, the famed composer and librettist Gian Carlo Menotti came to Chicago as the guest for a black-tie event for Chicago Opera Theater. “This could be fun!,” I thought. A rare opportunity to spend time with a world-famous musician and composer. Who could pass up a chance like this? I volunteered.

Moby-Dick is a Great American Novel, no doubt. But that fact doesn’t make Herman Melville’s 600+ page opus any less intimidating. For readers who got stuck somewhere in the middle of the colossal work (we can’t blame you if you were discouraged by the lengthy section of whale taxonomies), you can still join Ahab, the Pequod, and of course, the …

This morning, music director Lidiya Yankovskaya and general director Ashley Magnus announced Chicago Opera Theater’s 2019-20 season. Opening on November 16, 2019, the upcoming 47th season boasts a complete slate of Chicago premieres, as well as the second world premiere commission in COT’s history. In the season announcement, Magnus, who was appointed as general director in January, said that “to ensure that …

Chicago Opera Theater concludes its 2017/18 season with a Donizetti double bill presenting two Chicago premieres: “Il Pigmalione” and “Rita.”