In Tuesday’s (2/12) Chicago Tribune, John von Rhein writes, “From its debut in 2011, the Haymarket Opera Company has thrived by putting on repertory of the sort no other Chicago group has investigated as thoroughly—unusual baroque chamber operas using period instruments and historically informed stage direction, movement and design. These intimate rarities have felt perfectly at home in Mayne Stage, a cabaret-style theater in the city’s Rogers Park neighborhood that seats 230 and serves drinks during performances. Sold-out houses have greeted such esoteric offerings as Handel’s ‘Acis and Galatea’ and ‘Clori, Tirsi e Fileno,’ and Marc-Antoine Charpentier’s ‘La Descente d’Orphee aux Enfers.’ … Haymarket Opera—which takes its name from both the notorious 1886 bombing in Chicago’s Haymarket Square and the theater in London’s Haymarket district where many of Handel’s operas were produced—has made steady artistic advances in its two seasons. The company budgets conservatively (expenses for the two ‘Dido’ performances total about $40,000) and, largely because of that, continues to operate in the black. [Music Director Craig] Trompeter reports a hands-on involvement on the part of Haymarket’s seven-member board.”
Posted February 13, 2013
