First it was Philip Glass’ “The Fall of the House of Usher.” Now, with Astor Piazzolla’s opera, “Maria de Buenos Aires,“ which opens this Saturday, Chicago Opera Theater is signaling a trend toward more contemporary, unconventional programming. Such an approach fits the artistic outlook of its new general director, Andreas Mitisek.
COT was founded in 1974 by Alan Stone who led and tirelessly built the company for the next quarter-century. He handed the reins to Brian Dickie in 1999 who built upon Stone’s foundation and added his own strong vision for 13 seasons, a time that saw the company gain immeasurably in local and national prominence.
Dickie exposed Chicagoans to a wider range of operas beyond the standards (he produced 22 Chicago premieres). He championed operas from Handel and Mozart to Dimitri Shostakovich and John Adams. For his imaginative leadership, he was twice named a “Chicagoan of the Year’ by the Chicago Tribune.
Andreas Mitisek, Director
Last April, Mitisek was named COT’s third general director. He is currently also Artistic and General Director of Long Beach Opera and will retain his association with that company. He is championing the idea of a close artistic partnership between Long Beach and Chicago Opera Theater as a synergistic solution for shared costs and musical ideas.
At his introduction, he offered a vision of alternative programming and bold ideas, including expanding future seasons from three to five productions. A company brochure lists five of Mitisek goals: Out of the box, Provocative, Engaging, Relevant, Adventurous repertoire. Such artistic ambition can only be applauded. If successful, it can only further raise Chicago’s profile in the opera world.
Maria de Buenos Aires
This month will see the Chicago premiere of the work first presented at Long Beach. According to Mitisek, “Maria is the ultimate metaphor for the heart and soul of Argentina.” She is meant to symbolize the hope, fear and resistance of a generation of Argentine women to the repressive rule of military juntas during the “Dirty War” of the 1970s during which an estimated 10,000 to 30,00 Argentinians were killed or disappeared.
Astor Piazzola
The opera had its world premiere in Buenos Aires in 1968. The surreal story revolves around Maria, a prostitute, both during her life and following her death. It pulses to the passion of Piazzolla’s arresting “nuevo tango” beats and the poetry of Horacion Ferrer’s imaginative story. The opera will have four performances, beginning on Saturday, April 20 with subsequent performances on April 24, 26 and 28.
Closing the season in September will be an opera rarity, Giuseppe Verdi’s “Giovanna d’Arco” (Joan of Arc). Mitisek says that the unifying theme of the three productions is their focus on the tension between the power of love and the love of power.
It is noteworthy that, preceding “Maria de Buenos Aires earlier in April, COT has presented several enrichment programs providing added context to each opera’s plot. There was a film screening at Facets Multimedia of the 1985 Academy Award-winning foreign film, “An Official Story,” and a documentary at Istituto Cervantes, “Burnt Oranges”, about the effects of state terrorism in the country during the 1970s.. This Wednesday, Latin American art expert, Gregorio Luke will speak on the art and politics of the Dirty War at the National Museum of Mexican Art in Pilsen. For more information about Luke’s talk and to purchase tickets to the opera, contact www.chicagooperatheater.org.