General/Artistic Director – Barbara Landis

Barbara has been the General and Artistic Director of Chamber Opera Chicago since 2005.  She received critical praise for her portrayal of Baba in Gian Carlo Menotti’s opera The Medium with COC in 2005, a role she also covered and studied with the composer at the 2002 Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto, Italy.

  Ms. Landis can be heard on Cedelle Records’ The Medium starring Joyce Castle with Chicago Opera Theater.  In 2003, she sang in recitals at the Spoleto Festival and then in 2004 in Modena, Italy.  She has sung roles with Komische Oper München (Munich Comic Opera) in Germany and while studying at the Britten-Pears School in England, she sang the role of Lucretia (The Rape of Lucretia), which was taped for broadcast by the BBC.  Barbara has also specialized in roles with a Spanish flair.  She has performed the role of Carmen with numerous opera companies including Opera North Theater, American Opera Group, in San Francisco with the Golden Gate Opera and the San Francisco Lyric, and in concert with the National Symphony Orchestra in the Dominican Republic.  She has portrayed the role of Aldonze in Man of La Mancha throughout the midwest and in the Colorado Lyric Theatre Festival.  Other roles for which she has received critical acclaim include Prince Orlofsky in Die Fledermaus and Mad Margaret in Ruddigore with Light Opera Works, Azucena in Il Trovatore with da Corneto Opera in Chicago, the Secretary in Chamber Opera Chicago’s production of The Consul, and the Mother in Chamber Opera Chicago’s 2006 production of Amahl and the Night Visitors.  In December 2006, she appeared as Katisha in The Mikado with Light Opera Works.