Civic Opera House
20 North Wacker Drive
312-332-2244
www.lyricopera.org

Home to both the Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Civic Theater,  Chicago’s Opera House was designed in 1928 by the architectural firm Graham, Anderson, Probst, & White.  Due to the fact that the building resembles a gargantuan throne when seen from the West, it was mockingly known as “Insull’s Throne” for the utility magnate and then president of the Chicago Civic Opera Association.  Although the man himself is largely forgotten today, Insull’s careful stewardship ensured a magnificent home for opera. The recently renovated Opera House is a brilliant example of art de luxe.

A 45-story limestone skyscraper flanked by two 22-story wings, the Civic Opera House reveals its beauty shyly at the street level, the ornate bronze fixtures around its entry doors hidden behind a modest colonnade. Inside the breathtaking foyer, Roman travertine marble columns rise to gilded capitals, and the floor and wainscot, of gray and pink Tennessee marble, glow with the brilliant light shed by Austrian crystal chandeliers. 

Top stars and emerging talents are joined on the Lyric’s stage, which enjoys an international reputation. This is certainly due in part to remarkable consistency in leadership. The Lyric has recently engaged a new general director in William Mason, whose association with the Lyric dates to 1962, and a new artistic director, Sir Andrew Davis, who follows Maestro Bruno Bartoletti, retiring in 1999 after 35 years with the Lyric. The main auditorium of the Civic Opera House was named the Ardis Krainik Theater in honor of its longtime general director and guiding spirit, whose death in 1997 marked the end of an era.

Time-honored classics of the art form are mounted here, as well as new works in daring productions. The Lyric’s Preview Lecture Series and Symposium provides in-depth background to the operas for both connoisseurs and novices. And by the way, the Lyric proudly advertises that it has sold out for eleven consecutive seasons. If you want good seats, you’d better have tickets in hand or know someone pretty special. Though tickets are sold in advance for as little as $28, these are rarely available on the day of the performance. Call the day before to discover if a subscriber has returned tickets to the Opera for resale.