Myth, Magic, and Madness in a Handelian Triptych

Haymarket burst onto Chicago's musical scene in 2011 with performances of Handel’s Aci, Galatea e Polifemo. We honored our Handelian debut by launching our 10th season with his English setting of the same Ovidian myth, Acis and Galatea in HD film on October 30th, 2020. This “superb document of a Handel opera” (Chicago Tribune) was followed by our film premiere of Apollo e Dafne.

Next up: Medieval chivalry and sorcery fuse with baroque opulence for the September season finale, Handel’s Orlando.

Next up: Handel’s Orlando

Presented online in a three-performance series, with virtual premieres and opening night parties on September 16th (Act I), 23rd (Act II), and 30th (Act III).

The entire opera will be available for viewing October 1-31, 2021.

Haymarket Transforms to Film

To celebrate our first decade of early opera we partnered with Chicago’s premier movie production company, Resolution Studios to present two new productions in high definition. These virtual performances protected the safety of artists and audiences, while allowing Haymarket to reach well beyond Chicago’s borders. 

Our cast, orchestra, scenic art and lighting are able to shine thanks to a growing team, including Grammy-nominated audio engineer Mary Mazurek, a full film crew at Resolutions Studios, and our distribution team led by Dan Nichols at Aphorism Studios. Long-time friend of the company Garry Grasinski of Grayson Media Inc. has played a starring role, serving as film director. Thanks to this team, our productions have been "superbly done, with sleek visuals and superb sound" (Chicago Classical Review).

Looking Back on a Decade of Early Opera

Haymarket Opera Company has gained an international reputation for creative excellence in the field of historically inspired opera performance. Since 2011, Haymarket Opera Company has engaged audiences with passionate performances of Age of Enlightenment operas, presented with historical staging conventions.

The company has garnered glowing reviews in the Chicago Tribune, Opera News, Italy’s “L’Opera,” and the New York Times, who praised its “finely played, carefully sung, lovingly detailed period performance.” Alongside established cultural institutions including the Chicago Symphony and the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Haymarket Opera Company was listed as one of the Chicago Sun Times’s “Ten Best of the Decade” and the Chicago Tribune’s “Ten Best of 2019.”

Today humanity is mired in the chaos of a global health crisis. At the same time, a vigorous social movement is combatting entrenched racial disparity in a civil rights movement unlike any seen in the United States since the 1960s. What does 18th-century opera have to offer us now when we face such existential challenges?

Haymarket’s tenth season highlights the transformational power of beauty as presented through myth, storytelling, and exquisitely timeless music by one of western music’s most empathetic and compassionate composers. Handel’s irresistibly beautiful music offers us inspiration as humankind grapples with reimagining the future.

Learn More about the Music

What happens when someone holds a rock over Craig’s head to make him choose just one favorite part of the opera? What touches Craig’s heart about this production and why will the intimacy work so beautifully on screen? What operatic “sheer beauty” obsessed Craig 10 years ago when he founded HOC? Read this Q&A with Craig to find out!