Chicago City Opera (CCO) will present “Die Tote Stadt” on May 16 and 17, 2025 at the Horratio N. May Chapel in Rosehill Cemetery.

The opera stars Karlos Piñero-Mercado as Paul, soprano Alannah Spencer as Marietta/Marie, baritone Noah Gartner as Frank/Fritz, mezzo-soprano Nicole Rivera-Montañez as Brigitta/Lucienne, soprano Ashley McKinstry as Juliette, tenor Peter Lorenzo as Gaston/Graf Albert, and tenor Kameron Alston as Victorin. Pianist Jordan Crice accompanies the performers.

The Korngold opera will be directed by Paige Cameron. CCO Artistic Director Alexandra Enyart conducts.

“Die Tote Stadt was met with instant acclaim after a 23 year old Korngold premiered the opera in 1920. It was performed around the world, including at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. By 1931 however, the newly empowered Nazi regime in Germany censored the opera due to Korngold’s Jewish heritage and managed to suppress new performances for decades,” said Enyart, per an official press release. “In the 1970s an effort was made to revitalize the opera with performances around the states, but never here in Chicago. Now, 105 years after its premiere, we are finally bringing this masterpiece to Chicago audiences. This production offers world class singers in Rosehill Cemetery’s May Chapel, which was built in the same decade as the novel Bruges-la-mort was written- furthering CCO’s mission of presenting Grand opera in Chicago’s Grand if intimate venues.”

This is the first opera presented by the company under its new name on its fifth anniversary since its inception in 2019. The company was previously recognized as Ouroboros Opera.

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