CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- After a long wait, opera is finally taking center-stage at DePaul University this week.
The DePaul School of Music's brand-new, Sasha and Eugene Jarvis Opera Hall is finally ready for business after being delayed because of the pandemic.
DePaul actually cut the ribbon on the brand-new, state-of-the-art 160-seat space on the school’s Lincoln Park campus in March 2020, but just days later, the pandemic hit shutting down everything and leaving the new facility empty.
Now, the opera hall, which is devoted entirely to teaching and performing opera, is finally open—with COVID protocols in place— for its inaugural student opera production of “La Calisto" on Nov. 12 and 14.
The opera hall is one of only a few nationally that sits on a college campus.
“La Calisto” Director Harry Silverstein, chair of musical performance, DePaul Opera Theatre Director, told WBBM before a recent rehearsal, “We’ve been working on making this happen, having a new space for opera to be performed for about 25 years. We’re very excited to be in. We’re very excited to get going.”
DePaul student Errol-Wesley Shaw is one of the opera’s stars. He told WBBM “I’m very excited. Ever since we started rehearsing for the show I’ve felt the acoustics for the building, and it’s just fantastic.”
Sarah Conniff, a second year graduate student at DePaul, has the title role and told WBBM, “it’s a great space. The thing I love about it is it kind of seems to sound similar anywhere you are within that space.”
Colin Safley, a senior at DePaul majoring in vocal performance, is also in the production. He is eager to get on stage, saying “it has just been sitting for a year and now is our first performance and that’s really cool, really exciting.”
Conniff added “opera is great and a little bit underrated, I would say. And you don’t really know what you’re missing out on until you see it in person.”
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