Press Releases
Contact:
Colleen Flanigan
Director of Marketing and Public Relations
312-704-8420 ext. 25
cflanigan@chicagooperatheater.org
CHICAGO OPERA THEATER ANNOUNCES
THE PEOPLE’S OPERA
Opera Fans Vote with Their Dollars to Select an Upcoming Opera!
CHICAGO (February 27, 2008)—Chicago Opera Theater (COT) will revolutionize the public’s participation in the arts when it presents “The People’s Opera” for 6 weeks this coming spring. By voting on one of the operas presented in 2010, opera fans and art patrons will have the opportunity to get involved at the deep end of the decision making, while making a significant contribution to COT’s operating funds. With each vote costing a mere dollar, this will truly be The People’s Opera.
Distinguished director, author and COT Board Trustee Sheldon Patinkin says “Arts companies are continually looking for unique ways to raise money each year. Chicago Opera Theater is one of the most unique arts companies in the country, so it makes sense for a company like ours to launch this revolutionary campaign. ”
“In true Chicago fashion, we want to encourage everyone to vote early and often! The low cost of a vote allows everybody to get involved,” says COT Director of Development Marla Krupman
General Director Brian Dickie has picked three operas from which the public may cast their vote. The selections are consistent with Chicago Opera Theater’s distinctive niche of presenting first class productions of rarely-seen masterpieces:
Paul Bunyan
by Benjamin Britten
Mosè in Egitto (Moses in Egypt)
by Gioachino Rossini
La finta giardiniera
by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
“Chicago Opera Theater would be proud to present any of these masterworks in a given season,” says General Director Brian Dickie. “To pass the choice along to the opera fans and fanatics to see what comes out on top will be very exciting, as well as give much needed support to Chicago Opera Theater.”
The People’s Opera campaign will begin in mid-April, 2008 with votes being accepted online at ChicagoOperaTheater.org and at the Harris Theater during performances of the 2008 Spring Season (April 30-June 8). Moreover, an anonymous donor has generously offered to match contributions from this campaign up to $16,000.
ABOUT CHICAGO OPERA THEATER
Founded in 1974 by Alan Stone, Chicago Opera Theater has carved a significant place for itself in the operatic life of Chicago and has reached an audience of hundreds of thousands through its main stage performances, outreach, education and young artist programs.
Since Brian Dickie’s appointment as General Director in 1999, COT has evolved as an opera company that is young, fresh, and colorful - an image well suited to its surroundings at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance in Millennium Park.
Chicago Opera Theater’s 2008 Spring Season opens at the Harris Theater with Mozart’s Don Giovanni (April 30-May 11), followed by the Midwest Premiere of John Adams’ A Flowering Tree (May 14-25), and closes with Handel’s Orlando (May 28-June 8). For more information on the 2008 Spring Season, go to ChicagoOperaTheater.org or call 312-704-8414.
