Ravinia 2025 Issue 6

Alcina cast members sopranos Nicole Cabell and Erica Schuller and bass-baritone David Govertsen also appeared in L’Amant anonyme , respecively as Léontine (second from right), Jeannette (left), and Ophémon (fourth from left). Haymarket founder and artistic director Craig Trompeter conducts the ensemble of period instruments in Jarvis Opera Hall’s orchestra pit for L’Amant anonyme In addition to concert opera, Haymarket’s appearance also prolongs Ravinia’s long involvement with early music. That history began in 1957 when the New York Pro Musica made its first of many appearances in the Martin The- atre, which had then freshly reopened as a performance venue after being used primarily for storage for the previous four decades. Other early-music groups that have performed at Ravinia include Les Arts Florissants (1993), I Solisti Veneti (1998), and Boston Baroque (2004), as well multiple performances by the Chicago-based Music of the Baroque and Apollo’s Fire, a Cleveland group that presents a series around the Windy City annually to build on its strong ties across the area. “It’s easy to get focused on Mahler and Tchaikovsky and Mozart,” Haydon said, “but this [Haymarket appearance] was a good way to highlight some of the early music that is often overlooked at summer music festivals and connect our devoted opera audience with an earlier era. And the Martin Theatre is a perfect place to do early music.” Trompeter has attended concerts at Ravinia since he was a child, and he is thrilled to bring his company to the fes- tival. “It’s an exciting venue with a whole mystique around it,” he said. “I love that we’re going there, finally, and taking Alcina , one of Handel’s greatest pieces, for the first time.” When the Haymarket Opera un- veiled its first production, it became just the third company in North America to present 17th- and 18th-century operas with period music and staging, allowing these works be enjoyed in a manner as close as possible to how audiences expe- rienced them originally. The company has expanded from two presentations a year to five, including its annual gala concert, and the sophistication and scale of its offerings has steadily grown. Its June staging of Leonardo Vinci’s Ar- taserse at DePaul University, for exam- ple, featured a 21-member pit orchestra. In addition, the company has made two opera albums for the Cedille label: Artaserse , which is to be released next year, as well as the first-ever recording of L’amant anonyme in conjunction with the 2022 production that starred Cabell. The latter received many glowing reviews, including a five-star rating from BBC Music Magazine. The company’s annual budget re- mains far smaller than that of Chicago Opera Theater or Lyric Opera, but it has doubled since Chase Hopkins, a former opera singer, took over as Haymarket’s general director in 2020 and now stands at $750,000. And the company works hard to get a lot of bang for each buck. RAVINIAMAGAZINE • AUG. 18 – AUG. 31, 2025 12 ELLIOTMANDEL