When Janese Pentico stepped onto the stage as Cinderella in North Park’s spring production of Cendrillon, it took her breath away. “I felt as though I was standing on the stage of a traditional old opera house,” says Pentico, a graduate student in music. “It was so exciting.”
North Park’s production of the French-language opera took place in April at the Athenaeum Theatre, one of Chicago’s oldest and grandest theatres.
“North Park was so generous in giving us this wonderful off-campus opportunity to perform on a proscenium stage,” says Nyela Basney, North Park’s artistic director of opera, referring to the Athenaeum’s stage, which features a dramatic overhead arch that essentially frames the performance.
What’s more, the theatre, located in the city’s Lakeview neighborhood, has excellent acoustics for not-yet-mature voices. “The venue is young-singer friendly and didn’t force us to push and misuse our instruments,” says Kelsey Welch, an opera major who played one of the mean stepsisters (known as “the ugly sisters” in this
production). More than 40 North Park musicians performed in this production.
Rehearsals for Cendrillon took place in the newly renovated Hanson Hall, where classrooms were outfitted with new acoustics and climate control, and a new elevator installed as part of a six-month refurbishment that wrapped up in November 2017. A celebration of the renovated Hanson Hall, originally opened in 1947, took place in mid-February.
Renovating Hanson was “a huge boost” for the music program at North Park, says School of Music, Art, and Theatre Dean Craig Johnson. “It’s a recognition of the historical importance of music and the arts in the North Park community.”
High-profile productions such as Cendrillon, along with the Hanson Hall facelift, will ensure North Park attracts top-tier talent.
“North Park is widely considered one of the top opera programs in Chicago,” Basney says. “We might not be as large as the other schools, but we provide a wonderful niche where our students receive high-level training with very personal attention from supertalented teachers.”