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Article: Lyric Celebrates 40 Years of Opera At Its Most Grand
- Article from:
- Chicago Sun-Times
- Article date:
- September 4, 1994
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 1994 Chicago Sun-Times. (Hide copyright information)
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Forty years ago, the word "opera" wasn't even on the company
letterhead.
The vision that Carol Fox, Lawrence V. Kelly and Nicola
Rescigno had of bringing resident opera to Chicago after an
eight-year hiatus was named Lyric Theatre.
But the scope of their dream was opera at its most grand. On
Feb. 5, 1954, in the Civic Opera House, they presented a calling-card
performance of Mozart's "Don Giovanni." When they returned in
November for a three-week season, the three had snared megastar
soprano Maria Callas for her American debut. She sang the leading
roles in "Norma," "Lucia di Lammermoor" and "La Traviata" in a season
that included "Carmen," "La Boheme," "Tosca," "The Barber of ...