The Opera Festival of Chicago will open its fifth season on Friday, May 9 with a performance of The Love of Three Kings (L’Amore dei tre Re), bringing a long-lost Italian masterwork to the Chicago stage for the first time in 70 years. The season offers opera lovers a rich lineup of rarely performed works, bold storytelling, and thrilling music across a range of venues in the Chicagoland area.

The 2025 season launched at the Athenaeum Center with The Love of Three Kings, a darkly romantic tale of power, betrayal, and doomed love by Italian composer Italo Montemezzi. Directed by Sasha Gerritson and conducted by Uff. Emanuele Andrizzi, the production featured a cast of over 40 performers and an orchestra of 39 musicians.