Dennis Polkow – Seen and Heard International

Lyric Opera of Chicago pares down a Wagnerian epic for a pandemic drive-through

31/05/202130/04/2021 by Dennis Polkow

United States Twilight: Gods, a Drive-Through Adaptation of Wagner’s Götterdämmerung: Soloists, actors and dancers, Members of the Lyric Opera of Chicago Orchestra. Performed at Millennium Lakeside Parking Garage, Chicago and reviewed on 26.4.2021 (running through 2.5.2021). (DP)

avery r. young (narrator) in *Twilight: Gods* (c) Kyle Flubacker

In an Extended Residency, Muti Resurrects Rare Prokofiev and Gives a World Premiere by the Other Adams

24/04/201721/04/2017 by Dennis Polkow

United States Rossini, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Haydn, Prokofiev, S. Adams, Schumann: Soloists, Chicago Symphony Chorus/Duain Wolfe (director), Chicago Children’s Choir, Josephine Lee (artistic director), Chicago Symphony Orchestra / Riccardo Muti (conductor). Orchestra Hall at Symphony Center and Holy Name Cathedral, Chicago. 16-17-25.2; 21.3.2017. (DP)

2/23/17 9:22:26 PM Chicago Symphony Orchestra Riccardo Muti Conductor Gérard Depardieu Ivan Yasen Peyankov narrator Michael Brown The Holy Fool Sasha Cooke mezzo-soprano Mikhail Petrenko bass Chicago Symphony Chorus Duain Wolfe chorus director Chicago Children's Choir Josephine Lee artistic director Prokofiev's Ivan the Terrible © Todd Rosenberg Photography 2017 — Gérard Depardieu in Prokofiev’s *Ivan the Terrible*
with Riccardo Muti and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra & Chorus (c) Todd Rosenberg

Muti and Friends Combat Crime with Culture

23/10/201619/10/2016 by Dennis Polkow

United States Verdi, Burleigh, Bach, Pryor, Shanahan, Glenworth, Beethoven: Joyce DiDonato (mezzo-soprano), Eric Owens (bass-baritone), Riccardo Muti (piano), Jennifer Gunn (piccolo), Gene Pokorny (tuba), Cynthia Yeh (percussion). Illinois Youth Center, Chicago, IL. 25.9.2016. Chicago Symphony Orchestra / Riccardo Muti (conductor). Apostolic Church of God, Chicago, IL. 13.10.2016. (DP)

Riccardo Muti and Eric Owens at the Illinois Youth Center in Chicago. (Photo: Todd Rosenberg)

Domingo’s Star Quality Compensates for a Fading Voice

28/02/201625/01/2016 by Dennis Polkow

United States Verdi, Giordano, Dvořák, Lehár, Kálmán, Rogers and Hammerstein, Bernstein, de Falla, Torroba, Lecuona: Plácido Domingo (baritone, tenor), Ana María Martínez (soprano), Lyric Opera Orchestra, Sir Andrew Davis (conductor), Civic Opera House, Chicago, 9.1.16 (DP)

Plácido Domingo (baritone, tenor) and Ana María Martínez (soprano). Photo: Michael Brosilow.

Wozzeck Returns to Chicago’s Lyric Opera in a Memorable New Production

15/11/201512/11/2015 by Dennis Polkow

United States Berg, Wozzeck: Lyric Opera of Chicago Orchestra & Chorus, Chicago Children’s Choir. Sir Andrew Davis (conductor), Michael Black (chorus master), Josephine Lee (children’s chorus master). Civic Opera House, Chicago, Illinois, 4.11.2015. (DP)

ZACHAR-1 — Zachary Uzarraga, Tomasz Konieczny and Angela Denoke in Lyric Opera of Chicago’s *Wozzeck*
Photo: Cory Weaver

An Imaginative Director Camps Up Figaro

14/10/201504/10/2015 by Dennis Polkow

United States Mozart, The Marriage of Figaro: Lyric Opera of Chicago Orchestra & Chorus, Henrik Nánási (conductor), Michael Black (chorus master), Civic Opera House, Chicago, Illinois, 26.9.2015 (DP)

Anvils and gypsies steal the revival of David McVicar’s Il trovatore

24/02/202430/10/2014 by Dennis Polkow

noname-500 — The Anvil Chorus in Verdi’s *Il trovatore* at Lyric Opera of Chicago (Photo: Robert Kusel)

United States Verdi, Il trovatore: Soloists, Lyric Opera of Chicago Orchestra and Chorus, Asher Fisch (conductor), Michael Black (chorus master), Civic Opera House, Chicago 27.10.2014. (DP)