Chicago Opera Theater announced a scaled-back 2024-25 season on Tuesday, its first programmed by new general director Lawrence Edelson.
The company will oversee just two staged productions in its 51st season, both of which will receive three performances rather than the two that have long been COT’s standard. Edelson makes his company directorial debut with the North American premiere of Ferdinando Paër’s 1804 opera “Leonora.” Paër’s work adapts the same story as Beethoven’s only opera, “Fidelio,” onstage at Lyric Opera at the same time as “Leonora.”
The COT season closes with “She Who Dared,” a world premiere by composer Jasmine Barnes and librettist Deborah D.E.E.P. Mouton about the women behind Browder v. Gayle. The 1956 court case, which was eventually heard by the Supreme Court, legally desegregated the Montgomery, Alabama, bus system. The director will be Timothy Douglas, whose opera credits include “Blue” at New Orleans Opera and “Champion” at Boston Lyric Opera. COT is partnering with the Kehrein Center for the Arts in Austin for additional programming, including a free concert at the center on Feb. 22, 2025.
Between the operas are two nonstaged programs: “Bohème and Beyond,” a concert highlighting “how Puccini’s work impacted the evolution of opera and musical theater” and timed to the 100th anniversary of that composer’s death (Dec. 7), and “Remedios Varios Para las Aflicciones del Cuerpo y el Espíritu” (“Various Remedies for the Afflictions of the Body and Spirit”), the annual Vanguard Initiative opera by composer Carlos R. Carrillo and librettist Stephanie Fleischmann (April 5, 2025).
Guest conductors Dame Jane Glover (“Leonora”), Eli Chen (“Remedios Varios”), and Michael Ellis Ingram (“She Who Dared”) will lead these productions, with the cast for “Bohème and Beyond” to be announced this summer. Lidiya Yankovskaya, who steps down as music director of the company this season, remains involved with the organization as a mentor for the Vanguard Initiative, which she established in 2018.
A leaner COT season comes as no surprise, given industry trends and recent developments at the company. Last year, COT cut its production of Rameau’s “Platée,” originally slated for March, due to budget constraints. The company’s exclusive partnership with the Chicago College of Performing Arts’s professional opera diploma program, whose students made up its Young Artists Program, also ends this season.
Edelson said in an email to the Tribune that the company is “taking this opportunity to restructure COT’s young artist program independent of CCPA,” with details forthcoming in the fall.
“Leonora,” 7:30 p.m. Oct. 1 and 4, 3 p.m. Oct. 6, Studebaker Theater at the Fine Arts Building, 410 S. Michigan Ave.
“Bohème and Beyond: The Legacy of Puccini,” 3 p.m. Dec. 7, Gannon Concert Hall at DePaul University, 2330 N. Halsted St.
“Remedios Varios Para las Aflicciones del Cuerpo y el Espíritu,” 7:30 p.m. April 5, 2025, Athenaeum Center for Thought and Culture, 2936 N. Southport Ave.
“She Who Dared,” 7:30 p.m. June 3 and 6, 3 p.m. June 8, 2025, Studebaker Theater at the Fine Arts Building, 410 S. Michigan Ave.
Single tickets ($50-$150) go on sale July 15; chicagooperatheater.org
Symphony Center Presents Jazz
The nonclassical arm of the Chicago Symphony has announced its Symphony Center Presents Jazz lineup for the 2024-25 season.
The season begins with a double bill celebrating two great saxophonists, past and present: Charles Lloyd, playing with his quartet, and the late Wayne Shorter, honored here by the three remaining members of his own great quartet. Later in the fall, pianist Jason Moran leads tight, rhythm-only multimedia tribute to James Reese Europe, a composer and bandleader whose musical innovations bridged ragtime and jazz.
The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra returns early next year for its annual residency with two programs: “Bebop Revolution” and “Cool School & Hard Bop.” Singer Cécile McLorin Salvant, also a SCP Jazz regular, returns in a program mixing standards and originals. For its concerts, the Bill Charlap Trio teams up with vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater and trumpeter Nicholas Payton.
Two artists make their series debut on April 4, 2025: pianist/bandleader Hiromi and her funky Sonicwonder quartet, which released a self-titled debut last year, and harpist Brandee Younger and her trio. Jazz harp fans rejoice: that performance is followed a month later by Colombian harpist Edmar Castañeda, also making his SCP Jazz debut on a bill with Brazilian singer-pianist Eliane Elias.
The SCP Jazz season concludes with a rare performance of Oscar Peterson’s full “Africa” suite, revived here by composer, arranger and bandleader John Clayton. His all-star band includes bassist Christian McBride, guitarist Russell Malone, drummer Lewis Nash and pianist Benny Green.
The organization also announced two non-jazz programs: qawwali (Sufi devotional music) performers Rizwan and Muazzam Mujahid Ali Khan, in a co-presentation with the South Asia Insititute, and an evening of boleros with Tres Souls and Trío Remembranza.
“Charles Lloyd Quartet / Legacy of Wayne Shorter,” 8 p.m. Oct. 25, tickets $45-$129.
“Jason Moran and the Harlem Hellfighters: James Reese Europe and the Absence of Ruin,” 8 p.m. Nov. 22, tickets $35-$99.
“Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis: Bebop Revolution,” 8 p.m. Jan. 24, 2025, tickets $59-$199.
“Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis: Cool School & Hard Bop,” 7:30 p.m. Jan. 25,2025, tickets $55-$149.
Cécile McLorin Salvant, 8 p.m. Feb. 21, 2025, tickets $39-$115.
“Rizwan-Muazzam Qawwali,” 8 p.m. March 14, 2025, tickets $29-$99.
“Bill Charlap Trio with special guests Dee Dee Bridgewater & Nicholas Payton,” 8 p.m. March 21, 2025, tickets $39-$115.
“Hiromi’s Sonicwonder / Brandee Younger Trio,” 8 p.m. April 4, 2025, tickets $39-$115.
“Boleros de Noche featuring Tres Souls & Trío Remembranza,” 7:30 p.m. April 12, 2025, tickets $35-$125.
“Eliane Elias / Edmar Castañeda: Family,” 8 p.m. May 9, 2025, tickets $39-$115.
“Oscar Peterson’s Africa Suite,” 8 p.m. June 13, 2025, tickets $45-$129.
All concerts at Symphony Center, 220 S. Michigan Ave. Single tickets on sale in August, more information at cso.org
