CHICAGO, IL – The Opera Festival of Chicago announces two pre-show talks featuring WFMT Music Director and host of “Listening to Singers” Oliver Camacho. The two, free special events are being held, Friday, June 27 at 6:30 p.m. and Sunday, June 29 at 1 p.m., at the George Van Dusen Theatre, North Shore Center for the Performing Arts in Skokie, 9501 Skokie Blvd. in Skokie, immediately before that day's Pagliacci performance. Camacho will discuss the evolution of Italian opera — from a showcase of technical feats of the human voice to a provocative spectacle that turned a mirror on the audience; and how Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci put a shocking story ripped from the headlines on the stage.
The 2025 Opera Festival of Chicago season concludes with Pagliacci by Ruggero Leoncavallo, directed by Sasha Gerritson, conducted by Uff. Emanuele Andrizzi with a cast of more than 50 performers and a 40-piece orchestra. Performances are Friday, June 27 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, June 29 at 2 p.m. at the George Van Dusen Theatre, North Shore Center for the Performing Arts in Skokie, 9501 Skokie Blvd. in Skokie. Single tickets are $25 - $50 with subscriptions available at OperaFestivalChicago.org.
The 2025 season concludes with one of the pillars of Italian opera and one of the most passionate dramas of all times, Pagliacci by Ruggero Leoncavallo. Sung in Italian, Pagliacci follows the story of a troupe of actors led by Canio and his unfaithful wife Nedda and features the famous aria “Vesti la giubba.” Love triangles, heartbreaks, betrayal and violent verismo vendettas erupt on stage, where art imitates life in this tragic masterpiece
In addition to Pagliacci, the Opera Festival of Chicago continues with the Festival’s leading artists, in concert, for Love is a Triangle, June 14 at 7:30 at the Jarvis Opera Hall on DePaul University’s campus. This program includes works by Verdi, Puccini, Leoncavallo, Mascagni and others with themes of love, betrayal, and jealousy – the beating pulse of Italian opera. Sung by our Opera Festival of Chicago festival company members including Angela DeVenuto, Jerek Fernandez, David Greene, Maria Kanyova, Joseph Lodato, Leo Radosavljevich, Franco Pomponi and others.
ABOUT OLIVER CAMACHO, SPEAKER
Tenor and orator Oliver Camacho has been praised as “superbly stylish” by the Chicago Tribune and for offering “sumptuous depth and storyteller’s drama” by Chicago Classical Review. A proud graduate of Chicago’s Lane Tech High School where he was mentored by George Rico, Camacho went on to study music at Northwestern University and historically informed performance practice at Amherst Early Music Festival and Early Music Vancouver. He has been a soloist with the Newberry Consort, Bella Voce, Chicago Choral Artists, Bach Cantata Vespers, the Chicago Bach Ensemble, Vox 3 Collective, and Distant Worlds Philharmonic Orchestra. As a lecturer, he has been engaged by Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Apollo’s Fire, Music of the Baroque, Opera Festival of Chicago and Fourth Presbyterian Church. He is a producer and co-host of “Opera Box Score” podcast and is music director of Classical WFMT, where he hosts “Listening to Singers.”
ABOUT SASHA GERRITSON, GENERAL DIRECTOR
Sasha Gerritson is a highly sought after opera and musical theater stage director who directs for many local and regional companies, specializing in traditional productions of believed repertoire. For the Opera Festival of Chicago, Gerritson received rave reviews for her production of Assassinio nella Cathedrale (2023). She also is regularly involved with Music Theater Works where she recently directed Guys and Dolls (March 6 - 30, 2025), Lerner & Loewe’s Brigadoon (2023) and Irving Berlin’s White Christmas (2022) both to great critical acclaim.
Gerritson served as the Opera and Music Theatre director of Northeastern Illinois University from 2010-2022, has directed for Musica Nelle Marche (Urbino, Italy), Opera Piccola, DePaul University, the Cherub Music Theatre program for Northwestern University, in addition to various other summer programs in the area.
In addition to her stage direction work, she is a choral conductor and singer, serving as the director of music ministries for the Park Ridge Community Church. She also proudly serves on a number of boards city-wide, including The Brookfield Zoo, the Navy Pier Foundation, the Goodman Theatre and DePaul University, for which she is vice chair.
Gerritson lives in Glenview with her husband, Eugene Jarvis, and their two sons.
ABOUT OPERA FESTIVAL OF CHICAGO
The Opera Festival of Chicago presents world-class standard productions of Italian opera masterpieces in Chicago that rarely grace the stage in the United States. In doing so the Opera Festival of Chicago aspires to: generate an inquisitive operatic appetite within Chicago audiences; make its work – and its cultural context – accessible to a wide audience; provide a stimulating and inspirational environment of Italian opera for artists and audiences alike; provide a vital opportunity for young artists entering the profession to uphold the high integrity and demands of Italian opera with artists and musicians who are established professionals and to highlight and celebrate the immense talent that has originated from the Chicagoland area.
The 2025 Festival is sponsored by the Illinois Arts Council, Istituto Italiano di Cultura and Roosevelt University.
The Opera Festival of Chicago 2025 Includes
Love is a Triangle
Saturday, June 14 at 7:30 p.m.
Jarvis Opera Hall, Holtschneider Performance Center at DePaul University School of Music, 800 W. Belden Ave.
Tickets: $50
Celebrating the Opera Festival Chicago’s fifth season’s theme, “Love is a Triangle,” Chicago's leading artists gather for a concert featuring Verdi, Puccini, Leoncavallo, Mascagni and others highlighting the beating pulse of Italian opera - the themes of love, betrayal and jealousy.
Pagliacci
by Ruggero Leoncavallo
Directed by General Director Sasha Gerritson
Conductor Maestro Sir Emanuele Andrizzi
Cast includes: Franco Pomponi (baritone) and Michelle Allie Drever (soprano) with the Opera Festival of Chicago Orchestra
Friday, June 27 at 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, June 29 at 2 p.m.
North Shore Center for the Performing Arts in Skokie, 9501 Skokie Blvd., Skokie
Tickets: $25 - $50