$1 Goes Far for Two Chicago Opera Companies

by Judith H. Dobrzynski  •  Mar 31, 2009 at 4:15 pm
Cross-posted from ArtsJournal.com

http://www.judithdobrzynski.com/2009/03/1-goes-far-for-two-chicago-opera-companies

What is it about opera in Chicago and a dollar bill? In the last year, two companies there have used the buck as a way to draw in people and raise some money at the same time.

Last year, the Chicago Opera Theater set up a six-week "People's Opera" contest, asking people to choose the opera, out of three, that they wanted to see produced -- for $1 a vote. They selected Mosè in Egitto by Gioachino Rossini, which will open the 2010 Spring Festival Season in Millennium Park next April. Chicago Opera Theater, run creatively by Brian Dickie, raised $40,000 from the voting (including a $16,000 matching grant). Voters chose a work -- chronicling Moses leading the Hebrews out of Egypt -- that hadn't been seen in Chicago since Abraham Lincoln's days. Britten's Paul Bunyan came in second; Mozart's La finta giardiniera placed third.

I was reminded of this yesterday, when I received an email...MORE >>

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