"Blue" - Review by Jeffrey Leibham
****HIGHLY RECOMMENDED**** Lyric Opera of Chicago's ongoing commitment to presenting at least one contemporary opera per season has an added bonus in the programming of their current 2024/2025 season -- not just one but two of the six fully-staged operas that Lyric is producing are company premieres of operas written by living composers and featuring librettos which are sung in English. The first of these operas is "Blue," an emotionally riveting and profoundly powerful work from composer Jeanine Tesori and librettist Tazewell Thompson, who also serves as the director of this finely crafted production. The second, Missy Mazzoli and Royce Vavrek's "The Listeners" will conclude Lyric's season when it opens in March of 2025. 4 SPOTLIGHTS