Lyric Returns With Free Star-Studded Virtual Gala

Lyric Opera of Chicago’s season opens this weekend in truly unprecedented fashion: with a virtual gala.

Mozart meets COVID-19: Finnish opera adapts classic piece

“Covid fan tutte” is a satirical take on Mozart’s classic opera “Cosi fan tutte,” with an adapted contemporary story line that reflects the Nordic country’s coronavirus outbreak.

Hope and Strength: Celebrating Black Artistry with Lawrence Brownlee & Lyric

Ahead of a free livestream this weekend, the star tenor reflected on his colleagues and career in opera and what he thinks classical music organizations should be doing to better represent their communities.

Stand up With the Sitdown: Black Singers Share Their Experiences in Opera

Star tenor Lawrence Brownlee’s new Facebook Live series aims to change the face of the industry through interviews with other Black opera singers and advice for aspiring Black opera singers, Brownlee explains.

Three Chicago Premieres in Chicago Opera Theater’s 2020-21 Season

General director Ashley Magnus maintains that even in troubled times, the company is “moving forward with the belief that opera truly is a living, resilient art form.”

Share Some Coffee and Songs With Tenor Lawrence Brownlee

Like most of us, tenor Lawrence Brownlee is trying to make the best use of his time and keep his spirits high during the pandemic…

American Takes Top Prize at 2020 Glyndebourne Opera Cup, Ryan Opera Center Tenor Takes Third

In March, the ascendant American baritone Edward Nelson took first prize at the 2020 Glyndebourne Opera Cup, an operatic singing competition hosted in England.

Opera E-ducation: Met Opera Hosts Free Student Streams, Artist Q&As

Find out how to register for a free digital Q&A with Renée Fleming, offered as part of the Met’s free student streams program.

6 Hours, 12 Countries, 250 Performers: ‘The Lunar Opera’ Gets the Virtual Treatment

A marathon 6-hour performance will be held in an unexpected (but increasingly familiar) place: Zoom! The video conferencing platform will provide the proscenium for a performance of Pauline Oliveros’ postmodern masterpiece ‘The Lunar Opera.’

Beethoven Said It First: ‘Oh what joy, in the open air!’

Getting through winter in Chicago is tough enough, but when it’s immediately followed by a global pandemic and social distancing, it’s a real double-whammy. We’re reminded of the Prisoners’ Chorus from Beethoven’s ‘Fidelio.’

Discover Illinois’ Newest Opera Company — Opera Edwardsville

A four-hour drive southwest from Chicago and just across the Mississippi River from St. Louis sits Edwardsville, Illinois. The small city — founder Chase Hopkins’ hometown — is the site of the state’s newest opera company.

Plácido Domingo has coronavirus amid Spain outbreak

The opera star said in a post on his personal Facebook account Sunday that “I feel it is my moral duty to announce to you that I have tested positive for COVID19.”

Verdi’s Got Game: Rigoletto’s Got All the Right Moves

Could this ‘Rigoletto’-inspired video game be help bring kids into opera?

Show goes on: DiDonato, Beczala sing opera from apartment

From DiDonato’s New York City living room, the pair performed excerpts of Massenet’s ‘Werther’ for nearly 90 minutes that were streamed live on DiDonato’s Facebook and Instagram pages.

9 Works by Women Writers We Want to See Adapted into Operas

We’re glad to see that in recent decades, more and more works by women writers have been given their due in the opera house. Here’s a look back at some of them, and a short list of works by women that we’re waiting to see operatically staged.

AP: US opera union probe finds Plácido Domingo abused power

People familiar with the findings have said that an investigation found more than two dozen people who said they were sexually harassed or witnessed inappropriate behavior by Domingo over two decades

Drawing Hope and Courage from Opera: Dan Shore’s ‘Freedom Ride’

With a story that highlights how far we’ve come and how far we still have to go, Chicago Opera Theater presents the world premiere of Dan Shore’s Freedom Ride, which centers on a pivotal moment in the civil rights struggle.

Is This the Real Life? Opera Artists on Singing ‘Verismo’ With Muti & CSO

Rather than depicting nobility or mythology, ‘verismo’ opera tells stories of everyday people, and ‘Cavalleria rusticana’ by Pietro Mascagni is a premiere example of the genre.

Drinking, Dueling, and a Dragon? Huzzah!

It’s Baroque opera, minus the sobriety. The serious operas of Handel and Gluck get the parody treatment in this excerpt from the 1737 opera The Dragon of Wantley performed by Haymarket Opera Company!

Britten the Composer, Pacifist, Remembered by the Star of His Antiwar Opera, ‘Owen Wingrave’

A lifelong pacifist, Britten used his music to advocate for peace. Baritone Benjamin Luxon, who created the title role of the composer’s pacifist opera Owen Wingrave, reflects on Britten’s legacy of music and pacifism.

Sondra Radvanovsky on the Acrobatic Bel Canto, Spectacular Couture of ‘The Three Queens’

Soprano Sondra Radvanovsky’s renowned vocal prowess is on impressive display at Lyric Opera of Chicago in The Three Queens. Also on display are three stunning gowns by designer Rubin Singer, who’s designed for stars like Beyoncé and Renée Fleming.

Opera Explores the Brink of Humanity: ‘Dog Days’ Gets Chicago-Area Premiere

“It has been said that a society can be judged by the way it treats its animals,” composer David T. Little says in the program notes for his chamber opera, Dog Days. Based on a short story by Judy Budnitz, the opera is set in a war-torn future that’s not too far away from our own time.

Video: Ahead of Chicago Premiere, An Excerpt From Rachmaninoff’s ‘Aleko’

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.

An Operatic Oasis in the English Countryside — Journey to the Glyndebourne Festival 

It’s not easy to get to Glyndebourne, and that’s the point. “We’re forcing people to slow down their busy lives,” says Gus Christie, the opera festival’s executive chairman, “and to come in and soak it all up.” Discover the multi-sensory experience – the aromas of the gardens, the taste of champagne bubbles, the sounds from the stage – that is Glyndebourne.

Opera Is a “Contact Sport” in the Lost 1963 Documentary ‘In the Mouth of the Wolf’

Audiences will be irate this weekend at the Siskel Center. No, not the people in the theater, but the onscreen audiences portrayed in In the Mouth of the Wolf. The made-for-TV documentary depicts the infamously fanatical opera culture of Parma, Italy through the lens of a troubled production of Verdi’s Luisa Miller.