CHICAGO (6/3/19) — Tickets will go on sale this Thursday, June 6 at 10am, for the September 7 onstage return of the legendary opera diva Maria Callas to the Lyric Opera House — where she made her American debut in the title role of Norma in 1954, to open the company’s very first season.
Performing her greatest hits with the spectacular sound of the Lyric Opera Orchestra playing live on stage (conducted by Eímear Noone), the internationally renowned musical sensation is set to return with Callas in Concert — The Hologram Tour.
Through cutting-edge technology and extraordinary theatrical stagecraft, this first-of-its-kind live concert tour brings the fabled opera star back to Lyric Opera of Chicago, 64 years after her final appearance here and 42 years after her death, through breathtaking state-of-the-art digital and laser projection for a live full concert experience featuring original recordings that have been digitally remastered.
“This is something special, and given today’s culture, audiences are looking for that unique hook to get them out of their homes and into communal experiences.” said Marty Tudor, executive producer and CEO of BASE Hologram Productions. “This production does that in an innovative, creative, and immersive way that changes the live show landscape.”
Maria Callas (1923 - 1977) left a forever-lasting impact on the world of opera as the definition of the diva as artist. She remains one of classical music's best-selling vocalists and, arguably, the greatest soprano who has ever lived. This tour, directed by The Juilliard School’s Stephen Wadsworth (Masterclass), a veteran of many of Callas’s theaters, including La Scala, the Met, and Covent Garden, allows audiences to experience the legendary emotional and musical force that is Maria Callas.
“The event appeals to generations of audiences who never experienced Callas and who may know little about her beyond her reputation, as well as to opera lovers who are very familiar with her work, her recordings, and her complex life story,” said Stephen Wadsworth. “We’ve had the opportunity to curate one of the greatest artists of the 20th century, and we [have done] that with great care – from her fantastically diverse repertoire to her revealing gestural language and her complicated relationship with her audience. We are all in different ways close to Callas’s influence, because her work had a huge impact on every artist working in music, opera, acting, stage design, and fashion.”
From one moment to the next, fans feel her passionate heat, cool detachment, heartrending vulnerability, fierce confidence, and breathtaking grace. Audiences bear witness as she inhabits her operatic characters and evokes the drama that inspired her devotees to call her “La Divina.”
Maria Callas made her sensational American debut at Lyric Opera of Chicago in the company’s debut season. In November 1954 she triumphed in the title role in Bellini’s Norma, Violetta in Verdi’s La traviata, and the title role in Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor. Callas opened Lyric’s 1955 season as Elvira in Bellini’s I puritani, followed by Leonora in Verdi’s Il trovatore and Cio-Cio-San in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly — her only staged performances of that role. When a third performance was added, it sold out the 3,563-seat house in 98 minutes.
Warner Classics, the label of Maria Callas’s recorded legacy, has provided the sound recordings of the diva’s voice for this experience. The recently released Callas: Live (42-CD) and Callas Remastered (complete studio recordings 69-CD), all remastered with the latest technology, have been hailed as revelatory. In addition, Warner Classics has released a CALLAS IN CONCERT CD recording, which features the program of the show.
The label also launched the first official Maria Callas website: maria-callas.com, which has been conceived both to reflect Callas’s status as a figure of major cultural importance and to encourage discovery of her life and her art. Visit: www.maria-callas.com.
Tickets are on sale now for the one-night-only experience on Saturday, September 7 at 7:30pm in the Ardis Krainik Theatre of the Lyric Opera House, 20 N. Wacker Dr.
For reservations and more information, go to lyricopera.org/Callas or call the Audience Services Department at 312-827-5600. Tickets range from $39-$125.
