By 1956, when Fox took sole command of a rechristened Lyric Opera of Chicago, the company had been nicknamed “La Scala West.”īy the late 1990s, Lyric boasted a greatly expanded repertoire, an imposing roster of world-class singers (including Catherine Malfitano, Renée Fleming, Dawn Upshaw, Jane Eaglen, Jerry Hadley, Ben Heppner, James Morris, and Bryn Terfel), and capacity houses for nearly every performance in seasons that extended from September to March. Italian singers and operas predominated in those early years. The inaugural season brought the American debut of the fiery American-born Greek soprano Maria Callas, as the title role in Bellini'sĬallas went on to even more rapturous successes here as Violetta in Verdi'sĪmong other roles. The success of that production made possible a three-week season in autumn of 1954 consisting of 16 performances of 8 operas 12 of those performances sold out the 3,600-seat theater. On February 5, 1954, the Lyric Theater presented its “calling card,” a starry performance of Mozart'sĪt the Civic Opera House.
Their plan was to restore the city to the front ranks of international opera companies by building a roster of European singers whom the Metropolitan and San Francisco operas had overlooked or ignored. With money from friends and Fox's father, the three formed the Lyric Theatre of Chicago in 1952. Three people changed everything: Carol Fox, a student singer Lawrence Kelly, a businessman and Nicola Rescigno, a conductor and vocal teacher. From 1946 to 1954 the city had no resident opera company. Companies-several merely different names for the same reorganized company-presented seasons at Chicago'sĪnd the Civic Opera House.
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