The Opera Festival of Chicago announces tickets are now on sale for its fifth season of the Festival The 2025 season, May 9 – June 29, will be seen at venues across the Chicagoland area. The 2025 Festival commences with The Love of Three Kings (L’amore dei tre re) by Italo Montemezzi, May 9 and May 11, and continues with its Young Artists program performing a delicious program featuring songs inspired by food in opera, Delicatessen Recital, June 5, the Opera Festival of Chicago’s leading artists then appear in concert for Love is a Triangle, June 14, with the season concluding with Ruggero Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci, June 27 and 29.
“The 2025 Festival, our fifth season, is going to be a season of celebration here at the Opera Festival of Chicago. This organization began forging its path in the opera world in 2021 with the mission of presenting Italian opera masterworks that rarely-if ever- grace the stage in the United States,” said General Director Sasha Gerritson. “These fully staged productions featured star-studded casts and have included several United States and Chicago premieres. We look forward to welcoming audiences from all over the Chicagoland area to this year’s season, which is based on a powerful theme, “Love is a Triangle,” and continues our mission in 2025 with concerts and two Italian masterworks.”
The 2025 Opera Festival of Chicago includes:
The Love of Three Kings (L’Amore dei tre Re)
Friday, May 9 at 7:30 p.m. & Sunday, May 11 at 2 p.m.
by Italo Montemezzi
Directed by General Director Sasha Gerritson
Music Directed by Uff. Emanuele Andrizzi
Cast includes: Andrea Silvestrelli (bass), Andrew Morstein (tenor), Franco Pomponi (baritone), Maria Kanyova (soprano)
Athenaeum Theatre, 2936 N. Southport Ave.
Tickets: $25 – $50
This dark and powerful tale of love, passion, jealousy, betrayal and murder, was once a staple of the operatic repertoire, then mysteriously vanished. For the first time in 70 years, The Love of Three Kings returns to Chicago.
Young Artists Program Delicatessen Recital
Thursday, June 5 at 7:30 p.m.
Artifact Events, at 4325 N. Ravenswood Ave.
Tickets: $50
The Opera Festival continues to grow its Young Artists program, a partnership with the opera programs at DePaul University and Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University. This season its rising talents perform in this concert inspired by food in opera.
Presented in collaboration with the Accademia Italiana della Cucina.
Love is a Triangle
Saturday, June 14 at 7:30 p.m.
Jarvis Opera Hall, Holtschneider Performance Center at DePaul University School of Music, 800 W. Belden Ave.
Tickets: $50
Celebrating the Opera Festival Chicago’s fifth season’s theme, “Love is a Triangle,” Chicago’s leading artists gather for a concert featuring Verdi, Puccini, Leoncavallo, Mascagni and others highlighting the beating pulse of Italian opera – the themes of love, betrayal and jealousy.
Pagliacci
Friday, June 27 at 7:30 p.m. & Sunday, June 29 at 2 p.m.
by Ruggero Leoncavallo
Directed by General Director Sasha Gerritson
Conductor Maestro Sir Emanuele Andrizzi
Cast includes: Franco Pomponi (baritone) and Michelle Allie Drever (soprano) with the Opera Festival of Chicago Orchestra
North Shore Center for the Performing Arts in Skokie, 9501 Skokie Blvd., Skokie
Tickets: $25 – $50
The 2025 season concludes with one of the pillars of Italian opera and one of the most passionate dramas of all times, Pagliacci by Ruggero Leoncavallo. Sung in Italian, Pagliacci follows the story of a troupe of actors led by Canio and his unfaithful wife Nedda and features the famous aria “Vesti la giubba.” Love triangles, heartbreaks, betrayal and violent verismo vendettas erupt on stage, where art imitates life in this tragic masterpiece.