Barnaby Hughes

REDEFINING OPERA FOR THE 21ST CENTURY An ambitious, world premiere production, The Factotum celebrates the joys and struggles of African Americans living on the south side of Chicago. Created primarily by Will Liverman and DJ King Rico (who both perform in the show), it offers a mashup of genres and styles that can appeal to…

HANSEL AND GRETEL IS FOR THE CHILDREN IN ALL OF US Boasting a beautiful score, a fun-filled plot, and a handful of incredibly talented singer-actors, Hansel and Gretel is this season’s family-friendly opera. Any child who doesn’t mind reading supertitles and can sit still for two hours and twenty minutes minus the twenty-five-minute intermission will…

LE COMTE ORY: BEL CANTO GOES DRAG After two very serious and heavily-plotted Verdi operas, it’s incredibly refreshing to see Rossini’s sexy and riotous Le Comte Ory. This Lyric premiere production boasts a stunning bel canto score, an entertaining and talented cast, a relatively short (by comparison) run-time of 2 hours 40 minutes, and lots…

THE FULLEST AND GRANDEST DON CARLOS OF ALL Don Carlos is every bit the grand opera that audiences should expect, from the size of the chorus and the number of principal roles to the length of the performance and complexity of plot. It’s full of gorgeous music that ranges from the introspective to the anguished,…

ERR: NAH, NI? MAYBE Ernani is billed as the second installment in Lyric Opera’s early Verdi series, which began with Luisa Miller in 2019-20. This, despite a production of Nabucco in 2016, which is earlier than both Ernani and Luisa Miller. No matter. Ernani contains some very beautiful music that deserves to be better known…

YAY OR NAY? IT’S A TOSCA-UP I was really looking forward to seeing this season’s new-to-Chicago production of my favorite Puccini opera, but this Tosca did not live up to my expectations. It’s not a bad production, but neither is it a great one; it’s simply okay. The best thing about it is its diversity….

FLORENCIA EX MACHINA Mexican composer Daniel Catán wrote a handful of operas before his untimely death in 2011 at the age of 62. Most premiered in the United States, including Florencia en el Amazonas, which was co-commissioned by Houston Grand Opera, Los Angeles Opera, and Seattle Opera. Although it premiered in 1996, this is Lyric’s…

A DELIRIOUSLY DELECTABLE LOVE POTION Opera is a bit like wine: many are difficult to enjoy at first, but gradually grow on you; a few are impossible to gain a taste for at all; and some entice you from the get go. Gaetano Donizetti’s The Elixir of Love (or L’elisir d’amore) is a superlative example…

ENGLISH PLAY, ITALIAN OPERA, SCOTS-AMERICAN PRODUCTION The first performance I reviewed of Giuseppe Verdi’s Macbeth was simply terrible, so it was a delight to hear this new production at Lyric. But almost any opera would have been delightful after a pandemic hiatus of eighteen months. Mandatory masking did not fail to dampen the opening night…

Fresh on the heels of a high-stakes digital season, Chicago Opera Theater returns with in-person performances for its 2021-22 Season. The company’s commitment to showcasing new voices, fresh takes, and different styles of opera will be on full display in a varied season of premieres and high-profile debuts. ####################################### CARMEN Music by Georges Bizét; libretto…

Tickets now on sale for Lyric Opera of Chicago’s 2021|22 Season Call 312-827-5600 or visit  lyricopera.org Here are the shows: NEW PRODUCTION Verdi MACBETH Sung in Italian with projected English texts September 17, 23m, 30, October 3m, 6m, 9, 2021 Lyric’s riveting season-opener is the inaugural production of Music Director Enrique Mazzola’s tenure, and a brand-new…

WHAT A QUEEN! Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikosky’s ballets Swan Lake and The Nutcracker are both beloved and celebrated, yet his operas are scarcely known. Indeed, we don’t get much Russian opera at all, at least in Chicago. Lyric produced Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin in 2017, while Chicago Opera Theatre produced his Iolanta in 2018 and Rachmaninoff’s Aleko…

A CAUTIONARY TALE FOR THE #METOO ERA When this production first premiered at Lyric Opera in 2014, opening the company’s sixtieth anniversary season, I noted how much Chicago loves Don Giovanni. Its popularity seems to have formed the foundation of the company, which made the Mozart opera its first production back in 1954 and has…

DEAD MAN SINGING Lyric Opera doesn’t put on many contemporary operas, at least not like the Windy City’s edgier companies Chicago Fringe Opera and Thompson Street Opera. And that’s not a criticism. But when Lyric Opera does go contemporary, it goes boldly, with big, splashy productions — and Dead Man Walking has got an excellent…