Displaying items by tag: Mozart

Lyric Opera of Chicago will present two performances of Mozart's Requiem for the first time in the company's history on March 22 and 24, 2024. These special events also represent a first for Lyric Music Director Enrique Mazzola, who will be conducting his first Mozart work for North American audiences.

The creation of this special program by Maestro Mazzola has two distinct parts. The first, featuring the incidental music that Mozart composed for the play Thamos, King of Egypt, is full of splendid and dramatic choruses, a perfect showcase for the Lyric Opera Chorus, prepared by Lyric Chorus Director Michael Black, along with the forces of the Lyric Opera Orchestra. The second half is a performance of Mozart's Requiem, one of the world's greatest choral pieces, with esteemed guest artists.

Four internationally acclaimed vocal soloists will take center stage to perform the Requiem's profoundly moving score: soprano Heidi Stober, mezzo-soprano Elizabeth DeShong, tenor Matthew Polenzani, and bass-baritone Kyle Ketelsen.

• Soprano Heidi Stober has performed several roles at Lyric. Notable appearances include Gretel in Hansel and Gretel (2022/23) and Dalinda in Ariodante (2018/19). Beyond Lyric, her career has flourished since her acclaimed debut at Deutsche Oper Berlin in 2008, and she has graced stages worldwide, including Semperoper Dresden and the Metropolitan Opera.

• Mezzo-soprano Elizabeth DeShong, a Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center alumna, is well known to Lyric audiences with 14 roles since the 2005/06 Season, including standout performances of Pauline in The Queen of Spades (2019/20) and Adalgisa in Norma (2016/17). Her recording of Messiah with the Toronto Symphony, conducted by former Lyric Music Director Sir Andrew Davis, received two Grammy nominations in 2018.

• Tenor Matthew Polenzani, also a Ryan Opera Center alumnus, has portrayed 15 roles at Lyric since the 1995/96 season, including recent performances as the title role in Idomeneo (2018/19) and the Duke in Rigoletto (2017/18). Polenzani's 2023/24 season includes engagements at Wiener Staatsoper, Teatro di San Carlo, and a return to the Metropolitan Opera.

• Bass-baritone Kyle Ketelsen has performed seven roles on Lyric's stage since the 2004/05 season, including Dulcamara in L'elisir d'amore (2021/22) and the King of Scotland in Ariodante(2018/19). Ketelsen's 2023/24 season includes a debut at Opéra National de Paris and performances at Staatsoper Hamburg and the Metropolitan Opera.

Production details:

• Only two chances to see these special performances with very limited ticket availability: Friday, March 22 at 7:00 p.m. and Sunday, March 24 at 2:00 p.m.
  
• Performed in German and Latin with projected English titles above the stage.

• A running time of 2 hours and 15 minutes, including 1 intermission.

Mozart’s masterpiece, and one of the world’s most frequently performed operas, The Magic Flute, is given a modern-day makeover in award-winning director and writer Mary Zimmerman’s production of The Matchbox Magic Flute, now playing at The Goodman Theatre on its Owen stage.

In this world-premiere production, Zimmerman has adapted the traditionally lavish and grandiose opera with full company and orchestra and has created what has been dubbed an opera-in-miniature with a cast of ten and an orchestra of five. The results are nothing less than triumphant.

From the orchestra members dressed in costume with candles flanking their music stands to the delightful Spirit (wonderfully performed by Reese Parish) who guides us through the performance, to the Zimmerman-trademarked scenery which effortlessly flows from forest to palace and back again, every detail contributes to the overall ambiance of the production to create an intimate theatre experience. The audience feels as if they are part of the performance as the actors frequently turn to us and bring us into the action and let us in on the jokes.

The production follows the traditional story line of Prince Tamino (Billy Rude) who finds himself lost in the forest pursued by a dragon. He is rescued by three woodland ladies, who show him the portrait of Princess Pamina (Marlene Fernandez), the daughter of the Queen of the Night (Emily Rohm), who has been abducted by Sarastro (Keanon Kyles) and his sidekick, Monostatos (Russell Mernagh).

The Prince falls in love with the Princess instantly, and when the Queen of the Night commissions him to rescue her daughter, promising him her daughter’s hand in marriage, the Prince is only too happy to oblige. Aided by a magic flute and accompanied by the lovelorn half-bird, half-man, Papageno (brilliantly played by Shawn Pfautsch), the Prince commences his magical mission.

In adapting this classic opera, Zimmerman has gone line by line, not only condensing the plotline to fit a two-hour running time, but also updating the libretto to include unexpected and humorous references to modern life. For instance, when the three woodland ladies (Lauren Molina, Monica West, and Tina Munoz Pandya) discover the unconscious Prince, they coo over his physique as one who has obviously gone to the gym.

Later when Papageno and the Princess meet and sing about “the bird and the girl,” they encourage one another to persevere and not be discouraged “as when you are waiting in the grocery line.” These references are so cleverly embedded throughout the performance that you find yourself waiting and listening for them.

Even though only one of the ten cast members is a trained opera singer (Kyles who plays Sarastro), all have the musical theatre credentials to do justice to Mozart’s soaring operatic scores. Rohm as Queen of the Night gives an outstanding performance of one of the opera’s most well-known arias, Der Hölle Rache, with its fast repetition of High C’s, that challenges most sopranos. And the superbly comedic duet of Pfautsh’s Papageno and his newfound love, Papagena (also played by Lauren Molina), Pa pa pa, is a show-stopper. Also, not to be missed is Kyles’ impressive baritone, whose lower range wows the audience.

Rude as Prince Tamino and Fernandez as Princess Pamina shine in their respective roles, both vocally and in their character portrayal. Fernandez has a particularly beautiful soprano that is magnificent to hear. The three woodland ladies (Molina, West, and Pandya) are outstanding in their roles, adding humorous commentary on the action to both those on stage and to the audience. Mernagh’s Monostatos, as the one real villain in the story, is played with just the right comedic touch in his clumsy attempts to seduce the Princess.

What ensues is a thoroughly engaging and entertaining production that is fast-paced and lively. Toss in a few woodland creatures, whose dancing border on the hilarious as they throw in a little soft shoe, and you have a family-friendly show perfect for all ages. Even some of the musicians get involved and join the action on stage, as when flautist Dalia Chin, leads the Prince and Princess through their final trials with her “magic flute.”

Zimmerman herself sums up the production as a fantastical, adventuresome journey with something for everyone – dancing animals, magical instruments, lessons learned, along with a bit of humor, all set to Mozart’s time-honored classic score. What’s not to like?

Don’t miss your chance to introduce the younger generations – or even yourself -- to opera in a most winsome and captivating way. The Matchbox Magic Flute is playing through March 24 at the Goodman Theatre.

Goodman’s treasured director Robert Falls directs the Lyric Opera’s new production of Don Giovanni, the tale of that lustful, destructive Spanish sexual predator, Don Juan. Falls has wisely exercised restraint in this production, letting the sumptuous music of Mozart prevail. The musical high points will be familiar to anyone who has seen the movie or listened to the soundtrack Amadeus.

The story is another matter – in contemporary #MeToo society Don Giovanni does not quite fit the Weinstein-Epstein model of using leverage and power in his conquest of women. The dramaturgs struggle to find some way to explain Don Giovanni’s behavior to us. But there is none; he is not exactly a realistic character, but an exaggerated fiction who lays waste not to the objects of his desire, but to his posse of servants and friends as well. But there is a contemporary realism to Don Giovanni's destructive force and his entitlement to forcing himself on women. He doesn't accept that no means no, and we are still trying to change that heritage of patriarchy in the 21st century. 

In his day, Don Juan was a libertine. He also seems to be a sociopath and sex addict, cataloging the hundreds of women he has seduced, country by country. Like Epstein he seems to inspire profligacy and among his cohorts, but he takes advantage of them a few too many time. He is stalked by one double-crossed lover - - who makes it her mission to warn other women away from him. All this builds up to generating an enmity that finds an angry crowd of vigilante’s out to kill him.

Mozart’s formal full title of Don Giovanni is “The Rake punished, or Don Giovanni.” This indicates the story was conceived as a moral fable (the libretto in Italian is by Lorenzo da Ponte). Fall’s key touch, aside from a perfect closing scene (more on that later) was to reset the time frame from the 1600’s to the 1920s. This allows the women to reasonably be a bit more empowered, pursuing their own sexual destiny. But the original libretto clashes with this revisionist approach, since loss of reputation and fall from respectability is among their chief complaints against Don Giovanni. The 1920s setting is almost laughable during a ball in which the deco-inspired gowns (knockout costumes here and overall) when the flappers do minuettes rather than Charlestons. But it's opera. 

The music redeems it largely, though the garden bacchanal and Don Giovanni’s machinations are frankly, boring and drag on. Mozart’s music carries on a masterful counterpoint, with the characters given complexity expressed through this most lush score. The Lyric Opera Orchestra is reliably excellent, and this production is no exception. They just know how to play in support of the opera– a full, rich, underpinning for the great singers. 

Finally comes the climactic scene in Don Giovanni is his retribution for all this bad behavior – he is dragged down to hell. Falls did this so powerfully, opening a smoking pit on the stage and upending the banquet table, with Don Giovanni struggling against his fate as he slides into oblivion. It is one of the most satisfying final scenes I have witnessed, and helps cap the story of Don Giovanni, The Rake Punished. It runs at the Lyric Opera in Chicago through December 8.

*Ryan McKinney will portray Don Giovannio December 3rd through 8th

Mozart’s The Magic Flute, now playing at the Lyric Opera of Chicago is an enchanting and charming performance - a perfect family outing especially for the holiday season.

Based on Mozart’s final and majestic opera, The Magic Flute is a timeless tale of good versus evil, perseverance, and love conquering all.

The basic storyline revolves around Princess Pamina, daughter of the Queen of the Night who has been captured by the high priest Sarastro. Prince Tamino falls in love with a portrait of Pamina he receives from the queen’s three ladies. The queen tells Tamino that if he finds Pamina, she will be his. Papageno, the queen's birdcatcher, joins him on the quest. Aided by Tamino’s magic flute and Papageno’s magic bells, they face numerous challenges separately and together, including an encounter with the comically savage Monostatos, who lusts after Pamina. Three genies are their guides. Eventually, the Queen of the Night is vanquished, Tamino and Pamina are united, and Papageno finds love with Papagena as the queen's forces of evil yield to the forces of good. 

Directed by Neil Armfield, the staging of the Lyrics’ version of the Magic Flute is not only inventive with the use of the “play within a play” technique but it also is accessible with a warm familial glow, making it an enjoyable experience for opera lovers and newcomers alike.

With the theme of a backyard party, the show opens with a lovely 1950's Midwestern-style colonial home, designed by Dale Ferguson, filling the stage and slowly rotating as bright stars glitter in the backdrop like spotlights shining down on the performance that is taking place.

The house buzzes with activity as a diverse group of people arrive carrying packages and other items as they prepare for a bit of “backyard community theater” in a production put on by the neighborhood kids.

Perfectly designed rooms from the upstairs bedroom to the dining room and kitchen below are glimpsed through the windows revealing small vignettes of preparation for the evening performance. One neighbor hangs lights along the backyard deck and others set up chairs for the audience and operate the spotlights.

Then finally, after every piece is in place, the neighbors are seated. The kids' show begins and the real audience is transported into a land of fantasy with soaring arias. In particular, soprano Kathryn Lewek in her Lyric debut as Queen of the Night and bass-baritone Adam Plachetka, as Papageno (the queen's birdcatcher) were vocal standouts but the entire cast was sublime.

Highly recommended.

The Magic Flute runs until January 27 at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. There is a free 30-minute pre-performance talk in the theater starting an hour before each performance. For tickets and information call (312) 827-5600 or go to www.lyricopera.org/Flute.