Haymarket Opera Company

The Haymarket Opera Company is one of the few operatic organizations between the U.S. coasts to offer historically informed productions of opera and oratorio. The group claims to be the most active early opera company in the U.S. The Haymarket Opera Company was formed in 2010 in Chicago. Its name derives both from that of the Haymarket neighborhood in London, where many of Handel's operas were produced and that of the 1886 Haymarket Riot in Chicago, which marked the beginning of the modern U.S. labor movement. Performing at DePaul University's Gannon Concert Hall and Jarvis Opera House, as well as at other venues in Chicago and elsewhere in the Midwest, the group has mounted more than 30 productions that use period instruments and delve into historical staging conventions and techniques. Performers are a mixture of local players and singers and nationally and internationally known figures. The group emphasizes lesser-known repertory and has gained press attention not only in Chicago but from New York publications and even from Italy's L'Opera. During the shutdowns associated with the COVID-19 virus in 2020, the Haymarket Opera Company gained national notice for offering a full season of filmed operas online. These have reached more than 800,000 households to date. The company has also been heard on WFMT radio's widely aired Saturday Afternoon Matinee broadcasts alongside such major companies as the Metropolitan Opera, Covent Garden, and Paris Opera, reaching over a million listeners worldwide. In 2022, the Haymarket Opera Company mounted a production of L'amant anonyme, the only surviving opera of 18th century Black composer Joseph Boulogne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges; that production gained acclaim and was recorded for release in 2023 by Chicago's Cedille label, with underwriting help from the Ruth Bader Ginsburg Fund for Vocal Recordings. It was the fund's first album project. The company's 2022-2023 season included a production of La liberazione di Ruggiero dall’isola d’Alcina by early Baroque composer Francesca Caccini.
© James Manheim /TiVo