The Chicago City Opera ( Chicago Civic Opera ) is an opera house operating in Chicago from 1922 to 1931 and the direct successor to the Chicago Opera Association , which has existed since 1915.
The Chicago Opera Association opened in 1915 at the Theater, and , son-in-law of John D. Rockefeller, became general manager of the opera company. The musical directors of the theater were first Cleofonte Campanini , and since 1919 - Gino Marinuzzi .
In January 1921, McCormick, for commercial reasons, decided to close the theater, invited the opera diva Mary Garden as the artistic director for the shock finale in the history of the troupe. Under the eccentric management of Garden, the theater spent a fantastic amount over a season - over a million dollars. The final chord in its history was the world premiere of Sergei Prokofiev ’s opera Love for Three Oranges on December 14, 1921 . After that, the Chicago Opera Association was declared bankrupt, and on its basis the Chicago City Opera arose, preserving the same scene - the Auditorium Theater, the same costumes and props, the same Mary Garden as the artistic director and 16 of 18 council members directors; the general manager was the prominent businessman Samuel Insall .
Under the new name, the theater opened on November 13, 1922 with the production of Verdi 's Aida . Throughout its existence, the Chicago City Opera was characterized by an equal combination of Italian and French repertoire with a small proportion of other opera products (primarily German), which was associated with French preferences for Garden and Italian tastes of Insall. In 1929 , a new season opened in a new building built specifically for the opera; construction costs were supposed to be reimbursed in the future by leasing office space located above the theater itself. The Great Depression prevented the implementation of these plans, and in 1932 the Chicago City Opera, like its predecessor, was declared bankrupt.
Subsequently, the opera company in the building of the Chicago City Opera was recreated three more times, until in 1946 after another bankruptcy it was finally abolished. Eight years later, the current Lyric Opera of Chicago was re-established in the same building.