Program areas at Chicago Opera Theater
Production: since its founding in 1973, in a city where storefront theaters and global icons thrive side by side, Chicago Opera Theater (cot) has grown from a grassroots organization to a national leader in an increasingly vibrant, diverse, and forward-looking art form. Each season, cot produces a combination of contemporary operas alongside rarely produced works, many of which are Chicago premieres. Cot alsoproactively seeks to amplify the work of artists from historically underrepresented groups, including women and artist of color. The 2023-24 season marked the 50th anniversary of cot, during which the company produced the Chicago premieres of soldier songs (little); the nose (shostakovitch); book of mountains and seas (huang ruo); and before it all goes dark (heggie/scheer.
Education programs: cots Opera for all (ofa) is a comprehensive program for chicagopublic school students. Ofa empowers creativity and fosters collaboration throughhands-on, weekly in class workshops. During ofa sessions, teaching artists guide each classroom through the stages of creating, producing, and performing their own short operas. In addition to libretto writing, composing, painting, singing,dancing, and performing, students are able to attend a professional Opera performance at cot. Opera for all is free for all participating schools. During the 2022-23 season, ofa served just over 500 students.
Professional artist development: cot is committed to mentoring the next generation of Opera artists through two distinct initiatives: the young artist program for singers and pianists; and the vanguard program for emerging Opera composers. Cots program for singers and pianist is offered in collaboration with roosevelt university Chicago college of performing arts (ccpa). Through this program, developing performers with significant career promise are provided with bothpersonalized training and professional performance opportunities in cots productions. This is a tuition-free initiative, during which artists receive a weekly stipend to assist with their living expenses. The vanguard program for composers is an immersive residency that includes participation in cot productions, training with top industry leaders, extensive study of repertoire and vocal writing, direct insight into administrative and other behind-the-scenes processes, and culminates with the development of a full-length chamber Opera commissioned by cot. Vanguard composers receive a monthly stipend and also receive commission fees for writing new works under the auspices of the program. During the 2023-24 season, 4 singers, 1 pianist, and 2 composers were supported through cots professional artist development initiatives; and cot presented the concert premiere of the weight of light, a new Opera written by vanguard composer in residence gillian rae perry in collaboration with librettist marcus amaker.