Thompson Street Opera Company presents the Chicago premiere of Uncle Alex, an opera that tackles the complexities of immigration in America, Saturday, January 27, 2018 at Adler University. The performance is part of Faulty Systems, an event that invites speakers and artists from all disciplines to speak about civic engagement, social justice, and activism through art. Uncle Alex, with music …

Hear Andina, a long-lost opera composed by Eustasio Rosales, that had its world-premiere in Chicago after being discovered by the composer’s great-grandson, Arlen Parsa.

Whether you’re new to opera or consider yourself a connoisseur, there’s something for everyone to enjoy this fall in Chicago. Here are four operas we are excited to see in the coming months.

The extraordinary story of Hildegard von Bingen.

Soprano Whitney Morrison began singing before she could even speak. Through her early years of singing in church, she never thought she would pursue a career in opera. Now, Morrison is one of 12 young artists selected for the 2017/2018 ensemble at Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center. The Ryan Opera Center is one …

Get your cauldron brewing with works by Donizetti, Puccini, Haydn, Delibes, and more!

Mark Campbell has written the words to over fifteen operas to date, making him one of the most active librettists alive. When Campbell visited the Windy City, he spoke about his work and explained, “how do you write an opera?”

If “Music oft hath such a charm / To make bad good, and good provoke to harm,” perhaps these 10 Shakespeare-inspired operas will charm you.

Anyone who’s ever tried to sing or play an instrument knows that hard work and practice are essential to make a performance successful. But performing music from memory presents another challenge. The repetitions Glass uses make memorizing his music particularly difficult.

In 2015, former President Barack Obama awarded Shirley with the National Medal of Arts.

You may know Stewart Copeland as a founding member of the band the Police, but did you know he’s also composed works for orchestra, ballets, and even operas? His music has also been featured in countless films and even video games. With such an incredibly diverse output, what has inspired this chart-topping composer and musician to create new operas? In …

Have you ever wondered how opera singers are able to sing so many notes so easily? Mezzo-soprano Vivica Genaux, known for her incredible coloratura, shared some her secrets to singing.

As classical music and opera evolve into the 21st century, so must musicians. Star soprano Renée Fleming explains what every young singer should do.

“I really felt like I was in the zone for those three queens, and I made a promise to myself to live in the moment.”

Elise K. Kirk, emerita director of the White House Historical Society, highlights ten US presidents who changed music in America through the music they presented at the White House.

When exploring the jungles of South America, perhaps one of the last things you would expect to find are centuries old scores by European composers like Scarlatti, Vivaldi, Bassani, and Hasse. But that’s exactly what Father Piotr Nawrot encountered in Jesuit Missions located in modern-day Bolivia, along with the score to an opera, San Ignacio, which receives its Midwestern premiere …

Opera lover and Associate Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has appeared in an opera before – at least, in a way. She is a character in Scalia/Ginsburg, a comic one act with words and music by Derrick Wang that had its world premiere in July 2015. But now, Ginsburg herself will appear in a production of Donizetti’s The Daughter of …

One of the most difficult coloratura arias in the entire operatic repertoire is popularly known as “The Doll Song.”

Philip Glass is simultaneously one of the best known and most misunderstood composers of our time. Though he has many fans, he also has many critics.

At 79 years old, Philip Glass has composed 27 operas. Yet, only a handful have been performed in Chicago, though the composer spent formative years in the Windy City as a student.

Pulitzer-winning composer Paul Moravec: “A supernatural story makes total sense for an opera…”

Tenor Javier Camarena made history on March 12, 2016, when he performed an encore during a performance of Donizetti’s Don Pasquale at the Metropolitan Opera, making him one of three singers to offer encores so in the company’s recent history. He spoke about performing the encore, the music itself, and other exciting moments in his career in anticipation of his upcoming performance in …

A life in opera may seem all glamour and glitter. But, when the curtain falls and audience members leave the opera house, they rarely think of how difficult life can be for a singer.

Gioachino Rossini made so much money from the 39 original operas he created between 1810 and 1829 that he retired in his late 30s.

Growing up, composer Jonathan Berger reflects, “there was an enormous amount of talk in my house about what really constitutes patriotism, what is a right war and a wrong war…”