THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

COT will open its season March 28 with Monteverdi's The Return of Ulysses ( Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria ) , featuring the Australian mezzo-soprano Catherine Carby as Ulysses's long-suffering wife Penelope and British tenor Mark LeBrocq as Ulysses. Famed architect Rafael Viñoly will help create Ulysses' native Ithaca. COT completes the Monteverdi cycle with this production under the direction of Jane Glover and Diane Paulus, the same team responsible for the critically acclaimed productions of L'Orfeo and L'incoronazione di Poppea.

A double bill of 20th-century works will comprise the company's second production of 2007—the works being Bartók's Duke Bluebeard's Castle and Schönberg's Erwartung. Bluebeard will be sung by Samuel Ramey, who performed the role in the PBS production with the Metropolitan Opera. The two operas will be Chicago premieres under the direction of Andrei Serban, who staged the acclaimed 2005 COT production of Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream. Also featured is soprano Nancy Gustafson, whose credentials include starring roles at the Metropolitan Opera, Vienna State Opera, La Scala and Covent Garden.

The 2007 season ends on a comic note with Berlioz's Béatrice et Bénédict, based on Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing. Performing the role of Bénédict is tenor Joseph Kaiser, the star of Kenneth Branagh's upcoming film version of Mozart's The Magic Flute. In the role of Béatrice will be charismatic mezzo-soprano Sandra Piques Eddy, who was Cherubino in the 2005 production of The Marriage of Figaro. Leading the production is English conductor Jan Latham-Koenig, music director of both the Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg and Opera du Rhin, and German director Nicola Raab, who came to prominence this season with her critical success at Vienna Kammeroper.

Season subscriptions for the 2007 season are currently on sale and range from $90-$345 for all four operas. COT also offers student subscriptions at a 50 percent rate in most sections. Subscriptions may be purchased by calling ( 312 ) 704-8414 or at www.ChicagoOperaTheater.org . Individual tickets will go on sale in the fall. Chicago Opera Theater performs at The Harris Theater for Music and Dance, 205 E. Randolph.