"Collaboration is the engine of change." - Philip Glass

Have you ever had one of those months where so many things were going on at once that you feel like you need a repeat button to go back and full appreciate / absorb everything that happened? For me, that kind of month was my time as a member of the Spoleto USA Festival Orchestra this summer in Charleston, SC. Not only did we maintain a full rehearsal schedule (up to 8.5 hours a day and almost 3 performances every week), but we had the opportunity to take advantage of all the other events of the festival such as dance, theater, jazz / bluegrass, chamber music and visual art. Some days I saw three different performances in addition to my own rehearsal schedule - arts mania! With so much going on, the time flew by and the entire experience feels a bit like a whirlwind. One week since the end of the festival, I sit here in peaceful Florida reflecting on all the wonderful performances and people I experienced.

Codrut Birsan, Music Director of Candid Concert Opera, is the latest artist to take part in our “Five Questions” feature. Candid Concert Opera will make their Chicago debut on May 4 with Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro (Le nozze de Figaro) at Edgebrook Lutheran on Friday, May 4 at 7:00 pm.

Who is Candid Concert Opera?

Fifty years in the opera business, thirteen of which have been spent as executive director of Chicago Opera Theater, Brian Dickie is hanging up his hat to spend some time with family and a few side projects.  Chicago Classical Music caught up with Dickie, who shepherded the young company into its new home in downtown Chicago and challenges opera goers to see themselves in the fresh, contemporary interpretations of classic works and characters.

What were some of the biggest challenges you faced when you took over Chicago Opera Theater?

It’s not exactly the first thing that comes to mind when listening to Mozart, but it’s also not easily forgotten: Mozart was just 14 when he was commissioned for his first opera.

While most of us were likely more focused on getting our drivers license or who we were taking to the senior prom as teenagers, the fact that Mozart at such a young age wrote so many enduring pieces was not lost on the St. Charles Singer’s director Jeffrey Hunt.