Chicago’s Haymarket Opera Company is mounting Claudio Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo from September 24 to 27, 2026, at the Sasha and Eugene Jarvis Opera Hall at DePaul University. According to general director Chase Hopkins and founder Craig Trompeter, the milestone production marks one of the most ambitious projects in the company’s 15-year history of staging rare baroque works with historically informed practices.
From Grassroots Viola da Gamba Roots to Baroque Staging
Founded in 2011 by gambiste Craig Trompeter, the Haymarket Opera Company emerged to fill a gap in Chicago’s classical music scene. According to Trompeter, the city’s major historic lyric institutions rarely explored baroque repertoire during the company’s formative years. Starting with a tiny budget and a nearly all-volunteer team, the company steadily built a reputation for pairing period-instrument execution with period-accurate staging. According to Chase Hopkins, the company operates on a fraction of the budget of larger surrounding institutions while maintaining a distinct footprint in Chicago’s cultural landscape.
Critical Acclaim and International Milestones
Over the past decade and a half, Haymarket has expanded its artistic scope and earned international recognition. Notable achievements include:
- 2012: The New York Times praised the company’s production of Marc-Antoine Charpentier’s La Descente d’Orphée aux Enfers as finely played, carefully sung, and worked with love.
- 2017: The ensemble made its European debut in Malta with Alessandro Stradella’s San Giovanni Battista.
- 2023: BBC Music Magazine awarded five stars and named it “opera of the month” for Haymarket’s world-premiere recording of Joseph Bologne’s L’Amant Anonyme.
- 2025: The company made its debut at the Ravinia Festival with George Frideric Handel’s Alcina featuring Nicole Cabell.
Historically Informed Aesthetic and North American Standing
According to Craig Trompeter, Haymarket maintains a strict adherence to historically informed performance practices across both music and staging. This approach includes period costumes, historically accurate sets, and stylized theatrical gestures matching the musical line. Trompeter notes that only two other North American institutions—the Boston Early Music Festival and Opera Atelier in Toronto—pursue a similarly comprehensive staging model. The company’s name honors both the 1886 Haymarket affair in Chicago and the historic London street where Handel premiered more than 25 operas at the King’s Theatre.
Production Details for L’Orfeo in 2026
The upcoming production of L’Orfeo fulfills a long-held ambition for Trompeter, who calls Monteverdi’s work the oldest work of the [ancient] repertoire. Performances will run from September 24 through September 27, 2026, at DePaul University’s Sasha and Eugene Jarvis Opera Hall. The company continues to draw prominent early music specialists to its casts, including Nicole Cabell and countertenors Kangmin Justin Kim and Bejun Mehta, solidifying its trajectory from a grassroots ensemble into a globally recognized baroque opera company.
