Lyric Opera of Chicago

Today's story getting a 10 out of 10, a field trip that might just be producing the next great opera star.

Cue the high notes! The Lyric Opera of Chicago welcomed more than 150 students from six public high schools for its third annual Choral Fest.

Led by chorus director Michael Black and professional singers, students got to rehearse like the pros, learn how an opera comes together, and eventually perform on the Lyric's main stage.

I hope they see this as a place where they can, if they want, if they want to work in the arts or perform or sing, that this is a place for them.

So long Here is Summertime from George Gershwin opera Porgy and Bess.

According to the Lyric Opera in Chicago, Summertime has been covered by over 25,000 musical artists of all genre, yet the Guinness Book of Records tallies it at 65,000.

The version we just heard is from a performance in 2002 at the Lincoln Center of the opera.

Written by George Gershwin, Du Bois Haywood and Ira Gershwin.

So Don Giovanni is an opera show.

basically that they've been doing at the lyric opera of chicago for 72 years i had no idea about this so basically from the point that the lyric started like the not even before it was i don't know before it was called the lyric like it was they were doing this show um they've been doing it for over seven years which i was astounded to learn and i did not know that apparently it's just a thing that they do every year apparently they just start the season with it every year i mean that's from what i read about from the playbill you know the pamphlet they give you uh that's what i could discern um so that's pretty cool i didn't know that uh but i arrived there on time i went to um this bar called eve's which is right in the same building as the lyric um it was packed it was everybody just it just it was a bunch of people that were trying to go to the opera that were trying to drink before basically i did find a spot uh at the bar and i had a couple cocktails and i had some like bread or something it was pretty good it was they were good drinks um they served me a martini out of like the smallest little glass it was so like just like the wrong glass for it and they just went with it anyway you know how sometimes you'll get like those tiny little glasses for people that drink alcohol those tiny little glasses where it's got like a stem and that's like a tiny little glass and it's like it's usually used for cocktails that have like you know high alcohol volume because there's such a small amount um you know think a Louisiana purchase kind of thing they gave me a martini in that which really just showed to me wow they only have one type of glass for cocktails don't they because i got a different cocktail that was like one of their standard house prepared cocktails and it was in the same exact glass but that one it made sense a gin martini i mean i want a freaking martini glass with that man uh but you know decent service the bread was good it was like bread with butter and olives or something it was you know it was expensive but it was good so i did show up to the venue with uh the tux i was in the tux um And, you know, everything went fine with it.

It only took like 15, 20 minutes to put it on.

I felt like last time it took an hour.

But I did show up with the talks, went into the Lyric Opera, the inside of the Lyric Opera.

I haven't been there since high school.

In high school, in junior or senior year, we did a school trip from Nicolet to the Lyric Opera of Chicago to see Carmen.

I think it was for a French class.

Every room that he enters, he transforms and makes his own, whether there is a literal stage there or not.

In addition to talking about some of the amazing things he's done, namely the premiere of his opera, Saffronia, at the Lyric Opera House of Chicago.

Which was quite an ado.

Quite a production and really made impact in the city.

You go outside, you may stop breathing, but this is some crazy shit.

Either way it go, straight up plague.

But get this opportunity to write a libretto with Lyric Opera out of all people.

And then was asked, do you have a story you want to tell? And I was like, sure.

Very proud of it too.

Also designed the scarf for the Lyric Opera of Chicago's commemorative scarf, sold out in a week for the opera Don Quixote.

There's just the list goes on.

Whatever kind of piques my fancy, I look at and then I think about it.