OperaModa is the result of a combination of efforts over the last several years to highlight young artists in the Chicago community. The company came about through a series of two initiatives. One was the creation of Operatunities, a Northwestern University student opera initiative, and the other was the creation of the Chicago Society of Music and its Sears Tower Concert Series featuring young opera singers.
Operatunities Opera Theater got its start when a group of ambitious students decided to mount an independent production of Poulenc's The Dialogues of the Carmelites at Northwestern University. Involved in the show were Genevieve Thiers and Mary Lutz, OperaModa's founders. At the same time, Genevieve Thiers, Dan Ratner and Stacy Ratner, young Chicago entrepreneurs, created the Chicago Society of Music, sensing that there might be great support for young artists in the area. There was, and the Society's Sears Tower concert series, introduced by the amazing duo of Sherrill Milnes and Maria Zouves, began singing opera nights and pre-Lyric outreach shows.
While the Chicago Society of Music was gaining momentum as a go-to place for Chicago residents wanting to know about local artists, Carmelites was a hit, and a re-mounting of the show at the Cultural Center took place in fall of 2003 as part of their Sunday Salon Series, thanks to the innovative Peter McDowell. A house of 600 greeted it with a standing ovation. Genevieve, Mary, Dan and Stacy began to realize the reception that young Chicago artists received when greeted by an audience of locals -- and thus OperaModa was born.
