Zach Carstensen

Chicago City Opera finds big laughs in Mozart’s small-scale singspiels

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United StatesUnited States Mozart, The Impresario, Bastien und Bastienne: Soloists of Chicago City Opera, Jordan Crice (piano) / Alexandra Enyart (conductor). Fulton Street Collective, Chicago, 16.8.2026. (ZC)

Valerie Beck, Tracey Furling, Ian Murrell and Matthew Peckham in Bastien und Bastienne © Zach Carstensen

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Szymanowski’s King Roger gets an ambitious anniversary revival at Des Moines Metro Opera

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United StatesUnited States Szymanowski, King Roger: Soloists, Orchestra of Des Moines Metro Opera / David Neely (conductor). Blank Performing Arts Center Pote Theatre, Indianola, 4.7.2026. (ZC)

Christopher Sokolowski (Shepherd) and Alexander Birch Elliott (Roger) © Cory Weaver

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Joshua Weilerstein conducts a richly varied program of American classics in Chicago

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United StatesUnited States Various: Harry Lennix (narrator), Chicago Symphony Orchestra / Joshua Weilerstein (conductor). Orchestra Hall, Chicago, 18.6.2026. (ZC)

Harry Lennix and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra led by Joshua Weilerstein in Copland’s Lincoln Portrait © Amy Aiello

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Des Moines Metro Opera’s 2026 summer season this July

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Cornfields, summer heat and Tosca: Des Moines Metro Opera’s 2026 summer season

The Cunning Little Vixen in 2025 by DMMO at the Blank Performing Arts Center © Cory Weaver

Central Iowa in July is not a place most people associate with opera. The corn and soybean fields south of Des Moines run flat and full beneath a wide sky, the heat presses down and the towns along Highway 69 move at the pace of a long summer. The town of Indianola has a grain elevator and a small liberal arts college (empty of students until the fall) and, every summer since 1973, hosts one of the more adventurous opera festivals in the United States.

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