A Shostakovich operetta and autumn Mozart on tap for Chicago Opera Theater in 2012

Thu Mar 24, 2011 at 1:01 pm

By Lawrence A. Johnson

Handel’s “Teseo” will be the centerpiece of Chicago Opera Theater’s 2012 season. Painting: Balthasar Denner

Two Chicago premieres and a rare fall production are on tap for Chicago Opera Theater’s 2012 season.

Brian Dickie’s final season as general director opens April 14 with Shostakovich’s Moscow, Cheryomushki. The People’s Opera choice of 2009 is a rare comic operetta from the Russian composer focused on love amid the difficult living conditions of the urban Soviet Union. Resident conductor Alexander Platt returns to COT to lead these performances, his first since 2009.

Another Chicago premiere will be heard with Handel’s Teseo, starting April 21. The opera conclude the company’s Medea trilogy, and will be conducted by Christian Curnyn with Baroque Band in the pit.

COT’s final production, Mozart’s The Magic Flute, will open Sept. 15, the company’s first autumn performances in 11 years.   The production will reteam conductor Jane Glover, music director of Music of the Baroque, with director Diane Paulus for their eighth collaboration, in a new staging premiered in Canada in January.

All casting is to yet be announced. Season subscriptions range from $84-$330. chicagooperatheater.org; 312-704-8414.

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