DuPage Opera Theatre
Encyclopedia
The DuPage Opera Theatre (DOT) is one of three professional opera
companies located in the Chicago area, along with Lyric Opera of Chicago
and Chicago Opera Theater
. Founded in 1977 as a resident, professional ensemble at the McAninch Arts Center in Glen Ellyn, Illinois
, DuPage Opera has mounted several hundred performances since its inception.
DuPage Opera Theatre performs in the 793-seat Mainstage of the Arts Center. The Arts Center celebrated its grand opening
on October 10, 1986, and 12 years later was renamed the Harold D. McAninch Arts Center. The MAC as it is commonly referred to, is home to three resident professional ensembles: Buffalo Theatre Ensemble, DuPage Opera Theatre, and New Philharmonic, as well as the Gahlberg Gallery, a space for visual art exhibition.
Harold Bauer
was the founding Artistic Director and Conductor of the company. Kirk Muspratt is the current Artistic Director and Music Director, a position that he has held since July, 2004. Recognized as one of the outstanding figures in the new generation of conductor
s, Muspratt has garnered international critical acclaim as a "born opera conductor"(Rheinische Post
), "a knowledgeable musician who delivers superbly controlled, gorgeously shaped readings" (St. Louis Post-Dispatch
), and "friend to local music" (Midwest Beat Magazine). The Los Angeles Times
declared "Watch him!"
In December 2006 Muspratt was named "Chicagoan of the Year" in classical music by John von Rhein and the staff of the Chicago Tribune
. In his first four seasons, productions at the DuPage Opera Theatre featured Le Nozze de Figaro, Il Barbiere di Seviglia, La Boheme
, Faust
, Otello
and Tosca
. In 2008 Muspratt stated that by tackling such renowned operas as Otello "We are showcasing DuPage Opera's growth and new vision."
DOT's productions of the last 20 years include:
Gianni Schicchi
(2011)
Turandot
(2010)
The Elixir of Love (2009,1997)
The Beggars Opera (2009)
Otello (2008)
Tosca (2008)
Hansel and Gretel (2007)
La Boheme (2007, 1999)
Carmen (2006, 1998)
The Barber of Seville
(2005,1993)
Faust (2005)
The Marriage of Figaro
(2004,1997)
La Traviata
(2004)
Amahl and the Night Visitors
(2003,1995)
Don Giovanni
(2003)
Tosca (2002)
Susannah (2002)
Werther (2001)
The Magic Flute
(2001)
Fidelio
(2000)
The Merry Wives of Windsor
(2000)
The Merry Widow
(1999)
Abduction from the Seraglio (1998)
Lazarus (1996)
La Rondine
(1996)
Die Fledermaus
(1995)
Don Pasquale
(1994)
Jenufa
(1994)
Cosi Fan Tutte
(1991)
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
companies located in the Chicago area, along with Lyric Opera of Chicago
Lyric Opera of Chicago
Lyric Opera of Chicago is one of the leading opera companies in the United States. It was founded in Chicago in 1952, under the name 'Lyric Theatre of Chicago' by Carol Fox, Nicolà Rescigno and Lawrence Kelly, with a season that included Maria Callas's American debut in Norma...
and Chicago Opera Theater
Chicago Opera Theater
The Chicago Opera Theater is an opera company that was founded as the Chicago Opera Studio in 1974 by Alan Stone to give vocal students performance experience, although it has grown into a professional opera company...
. Founded in 1977 as a resident, professional ensemble at the McAninch Arts Center in Glen Ellyn, Illinois
Glen Ellyn, Illinois
Glen Ellyn is an affluent village in DuPage County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2000 Census, the village population was 26,999.-Geography:...
, DuPage Opera has mounted several hundred performances since its inception.
DuPage Opera Theatre performs in the 793-seat Mainstage of the Arts Center. The Arts Center celebrated its grand opening
Grand opening
Grand opening is a term used when a business, public office, or private association wishes to announce the official opening of a new location. This differs from just opening the doors on the first day, in that a grand opening is more of a celebration event, not just the first day having the doors...
on October 10, 1986, and 12 years later was renamed the Harold D. McAninch Arts Center. The MAC as it is commonly referred to, is home to three resident professional ensembles: Buffalo Theatre Ensemble, DuPage Opera Theatre, and New Philharmonic, as well as the Gahlberg Gallery, a space for visual art exhibition.
Harold Bauer
Harold Bauer
Harold Bauer was a noted pianist who began his musical career as a violinist.Harold Bauer was born in London; his father was a German violinist and his mother was English. He took up the study of the violin under the direction of his father and Adolf Pollitzer. He made his debut as a violinist in...
was the founding Artistic Director and Conductor of the company. Kirk Muspratt is the current Artistic Director and Music Director, a position that he has held since July, 2004. Recognized as one of the outstanding figures in the new generation of conductor
Conducting
Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...
s, Muspratt has garnered international critical acclaim as a "born opera conductor"(Rheinische Post
Rheinische Post
The Rheinische Post is a major German regional daily newspaper, published since 1946 by the Rheinische Post Verlagsgesellschaft mbH company....
), "a knowledgeable musician who delivers superbly controlled, gorgeously shaped readings" (St. Louis Post-Dispatch
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch is the major city-wide newspaper in St. Louis, Missouri. Although written to serve Greater St. Louis, the Post-Dispatch is one of the largest newspapers in the Midwestern United States, and is available and read as far west as Kansas City, Missouri, as far south as...
), and "friend to local music" (Midwest Beat Magazine). The Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
declared "Watch him!"
In December 2006 Muspratt was named "Chicagoan of the Year" in classical music by John von Rhein and the staff of the Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
. In his first four seasons, productions at the DuPage Opera Theatre featured Le Nozze de Figaro, Il Barbiere di Seviglia, La Boheme
La bohème
La bohème is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions quadro, a tableau or "image", rather than atto . by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Scènes de la vie de bohème by Henri Murger...
, Faust
Faust (opera)
Faust is a drame lyrique in five acts by Charles Gounod to a French libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré from Carré's play Faust et Marguerite, in turn loosely based on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust, Part 1...
, Otello
Otello
Otello is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on Shakespeare's play Othello. It was Verdi's penultimate opera, and was first performed at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan, on February 5, 1887....
and Tosca
Tosca
Tosca is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It premiered at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900...
. In 2008 Muspratt stated that by tackling such renowned operas as Otello "We are showcasing DuPage Opera's growth and new vision."
DOT's productions of the last 20 years include:
Gianni Schicchi
Gianni Schicchi
Gianni Schicchi is a comic opera in one act by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Giovacchino Forzano, composed in 1917–18. The libretto is based on an incident mentioned in Dante's Divine Comedy. The work is the third and final part of Puccini's Il trittico —three one-act operas with...
(2011)
Turandot
Turandot
Turandot is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, set to a libretto in Italian by Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni.Though Puccini's first interest in the subject was based on his reading of Friedrich Schiller's adaptation of the play, his work is most nearly based on the earlier text Turandot...
(2010)
The Elixir of Love (2009,1997)
The Beggars Opera (2009)
Otello (2008)
Tosca (2008)
Hansel and Gretel (2007)
La Boheme (2007, 1999)
Carmen (2006, 1998)
The Barber of Seville
The Barber of Seville
The Barber of Seville, or The Futile Precaution is an opera buffa in two acts by Gioachino Rossini with a libretto by Cesare Sterbini. The libretto was based on Pierre Beaumarchais's comedy Le Barbier de Séville , which was originally an opéra comique, or a mixture of spoken play with music...
(2005,1993)
Faust (2005)
The Marriage of Figaro
The Marriage of Figaro
Le nozze di Figaro, ossia la folle giornata , K. 492, is an opera buffa composed in 1786 in four acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte, based on a stage comedy by Pierre Beaumarchais, La folle journée, ou le Mariage de Figaro .Although the play by...
(2004,1997)
La Traviata
La traviata
La traviata is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on La dame aux Camélias , a play adapted from the novel by Alexandre Dumas, fils. The title La traviata means literally The Fallen Woman, or perhaps more figuratively, The Woman...
(2004)
Amahl and the Night Visitors
Amahl and the Night Visitors
Amahl and the Night Visitors is an opera in one act by Gian Carlo Menotti with an original English libretto by the composer. It was commissioned by NBC and first performed by the NBC Opera Theatre on December 24, 1951, in New York City at NBC studio 8H in Rockefeller Center, where it was broadcast...
(2003,1995)
Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and with an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It was premiered by the Prague Italian opera at the Teatro di Praga on October 29, 1787...
(2003)
Tosca (2002)
Susannah (2002)
Werther (2001)
The Magic Flute
The Magic Flute
The Magic Flute is an opera in two acts composed in 1791 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. The work is in the form of a Singspiel, a popular form that included both singing and spoken dialogue....
(2001)
Fidelio
Fidelio
Fidelio is a German opera in two acts by Ludwig van Beethoven. It is Beethoven's only opera. The German libretto is by Joseph Sonnleithner from the French of Jean-Nicolas Bouilly which had been used for the 1798 opera Léonore, ou L’amour conjugal by Pierre Gaveaux, and for the 1804 opera Leonora...
(2000)
The Merry Wives of Windsor
The Merry Wives of Windsor (opera)
The Merry Wives of Windsor is an opera in three acts by Otto Nicolai to a German libretto by Hermann Salomon Mosenthal, based on the play The Merry Wives of Windsor by William Shakespeare....
(2000)
The Merry Widow
The Merry Widow
The Merry Widow is an operetta by the Austro–Hungarian composer Franz Lehár. The librettists, Viktor Léon and Leo Stein, based the story – concerning a rich widow, and her countrymen's attempt to keep her money in the principality by finding her the right husband – on an 1861 comedy play,...
(1999)
Abduction from the Seraglio (1998)
Lazarus (1996)
La Rondine
La rondine
La rondine is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Giuseppe Adami, based on a libretto by Alfred Maria Willner and Heinz Reichert...
(1996)
Die Fledermaus
Die Fledermaus
Die Fledermaus is an operetta composed by Johann Strauss II to a German libretto by Karl Haffner and Richard Genée.- Literary sources :...
(1995)
Don Pasquale
Don Pasquale
Don Pasquale is an opera buffa, or comic opera, in three acts by Gaetano Donizetti. The librettist Giovanni Ruffini wrote the Italian language libretto after Angelo Anelli's libretto for Stefano Pavesi's Ser Marcantonio ....
(1994)
Jenufa
Jenufa
Jenůfa is an opera in three acts by Leoš Janáček to a Czech libretto by the composer, based on the play Její pastorkyňa by Gabriela Preissová. It was first performed at the Brno Theater, Brno, 21 January 1904...
(1994)
Cosi Fan Tutte
Così fan tutte
Così fan tutte, ossia La scuola degli amanti K. 588, is an opera buffa by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart first performed in 1790. The libretto was written by Lorenzo Da Ponte....
(1991)