Gothic psychodrama at the Field Museum: Chicago Opera Theater's La hija de Rappaccini

 An unusual double bill of operas by Joby Talbot and Sergei Rachmaninov under conductor Lidiya Yankovskaya in Chicago.  

“Love conquers all.” Too often this phrase has been repeated, yet too true this statement has proven. Rather than just being a passionate emotion in which desires of the world and flesh prevail, true love is a genuine feeling which trials or extreme evil cannot break, even in the most difficult of circumstances.

Helen of Troy is the theme for this half of Odyssey’s season, launched with Gluck's rarity. 

Historically informed rarities from Rameau and Vinci aim to recreate the world of 18th-century opera-going in Paris. But a misaligned production distracts from this specialised experience.

Confusion has such lovely music! Sydney's pioneering Baroque and early classical opera specialists, Pinchgut Opera offered Haydn's Armida as its 16th production. 

A complex portrait of obsessive and destructive passion.