Chicago Lyric Opera Premieres 'Bel Canto,' Echoes Paris Massacre Tragedy

The world today is often portrayed by the media as a battlefield--one in common with daily terrorism everywhere from Paris to San Bernardino. And premiering this week, the Lyric Opera of Chicago debuts Bel Canto, which opens with a scene depicting a musical performance interrupted by gunfire.

After the massacre in the Paris concert hall, the Bataclan, the media was a frenzy of reports about Islamic extremism and the terror that lurks across the globe. The Lyric Opera, in accordance with the news, decided the scene is resonate of the times at hand.

Gunfire isn't uncommon in opera, either--in fact it's standard in operas like Tosca from Puccini--but the notion that the Lyric Opera in Chicago is going to open with such a relevant scene means the theater is embracing the current global tide.

The company's general director, Anthony Freud, wrote a letter to patrons about the opera. In it he wrote:

"We are living in troubling and volatile times. On an almost daily basis, the news is dominated by reports of horrifying and indiscriminate violence. Through its years of planning, none of us could have known how shockingly topical Bel Canto would be at the time of its world premiere performances."

The letter concluded, "Those of us who care passionately about the arts dream that, in real life, works of art offer insight and maybe even some healing in our turbulent times."

Bel Canto is composed by Jimmy López with a libtretto by Nilo Cruz and is based on the 2001 best seller of the same name by Ann Patchett. The story was inspired by a real four-month hostage crisis in Lima, Peru, which took place in 1996.

The crisis dealt with Tupac Amaru rebels, who stormed the residence of the Japanese ambassador to the country.

A powerful story, to say the least, the opera is a painful reminder of the times we live in and how the volatile climate is easily captured in art from the past.

Here's a preview of Bel Canto below.