Oscar Wilde’s wit. A new musical voice. A timeless satire.

What happens when one of the most dazzling comedies in the English language meets the operatic imagination of a 20th-century master?

Join Chicago Opera Theater for Close Up with The Importance of Being Earnest, an engaging conversation exploring Oscar Wilde’s beloved comedy and Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s musical adaptation of the work.

Moderated by Lawrence Edelson, General Director of Chicago Opera Theater, the conversation brings together an extraordinary group of artists and scholars:

• Brenna Corner, director of COT’s upcoming production

• Kamna Gupta, conductor of COT's upcoming production

• Jeffrey C. Kessler, University of Chicago scholar of attention theory, media, pedagogy, and literary studies

Together, they will explore the many layers of Wilde’s play—from its razor-sharp satire of Victorian society, marriage, class, identity, and respectability to the surprising ways its humor and social observations continue to resonate today. Drawing on Kessler’s research into literary attention and late-nineteenth-century British aestheticism, the conversation will offer a fresh perspective on Wilde’s world—and on the ways we watch, listen, interpret, and pay attention to art. The discussion will also consider what happens when Wilde’s famously precise language is transformed into music. How does Castelnuovo-Tedesco translate wit, irony, character, and theatrical timing into an operatic score? What can music reveal about characters and relationships that words alone cannot?

And... there’s no better way to experience the conversation than by hearing the music itself. The event will feature live musical excerpts from COT’s upcoming production, offering a preview of the sounds, characters, and theatrical energy that will bring this extraordinary adaptation to life.

This program is free and open to all. Advance registration required.