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Articles tagged with: Sean T. Cawelti

Chicago Opera Theater buffs up neglected jewel in high-tech staging of Bloch’s grand ‘Macbeth’

Sep 17, 2014 – 3:12 pm
Nmon Ford in title role of Ernest Bloch' 'Macbeth' at Chicago Opera Theater (Keith Ian Polakoff)

Review: When Swiss-born Ernest Bloch began to contemplate the creation of his first and only opera, “Macbeth,” he was an untested 25 and would turn 30 before his opus found footing at the Opéra-Comique in Paris. The opera then slipped into oblivion. What is surprising is how staggeringly good Bloch’s result is — for an opera that almost no one knows. ★★★

Off-beat coupling of works by Ullmann and Orff casts vibrant light on opera as intimate theater

Jun 6, 2014 – 9:36 am
The Harlequin (Bernard Holcomb) consults with Death (David Govertsen) in 'The Emperor of Atlantis.' (Liz Lauren)

Review: When opera is really working as theater, you tend to forget you’re listening to sung speech as you lose yourself in drama’s thrall. That’s precisely the effect in Chicago Opera Theatre’s potent evening of one-act rarities: Viktor Ullmann’s darkly surreal “The Emperor of Atlantis” and Carl Orff’s wry parable “The Clever One.” ★★★★