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April 23, 2026
Big stage, bigger voice: Student scores lead role in Chicago
Molly Ann Hotek, soprano from Central Michigan University's School of Music, has been accepted into the Chicago Summer Opera 2026
Chicago Summer Opera 2026, a renowned non-profit organization that is specialized in intensive training program for emerging artists, is committed to offering exceptional training to talented performers while delivering accessible, high-quality productions to the community. The program focuses on role preparation, vocal technique, dramatic training, audition skills, and stage movement. Each participant is assigned a full role or a cover role, with productions presented alongside an orchestra. Additionally, cover artists have the unique chance to perform a fully staged cover run accompanied by piano. This well-rounded blend of training and performance fosters remarkable artistic development for singers in a brief time frame.
Throughout the last 13 seasons, CSO has been fortunate to collaborate with an exceptional lineup of globally acclaimed artists, educators, directors, and conductors who have contributed to our faculty or conducted guest master classes. This esteemed group of faculty and master class facilitators features talents such as Alexandra LoBianco, Allan Glassman, Elizabeth Byrne, Nicole Cabell, Norman Reinhardt, Soula Parassidis, Viktoria Vizin, Jeff Mattsey, John DeMain, Michael Ehrman, Julia Faulkner, Amy Hutchison, Codrut Birsan, Quinn Kelsey, Sunny Joy Langton, Mark Ross Clark, Adriano Spampanato, Cathy Dunn, Francesco Milioto, Andreas Mitisek, Steven Mosteller, Andrew Owens, Yasuko Oura, Matthew Ozawa, Philip Pierce, Susanna Phillips, W. Stephen Smith, Michael Sylvester, and Pedro Yanez. Their invaluable expertise and guidance have been instrumental in transforming CSO into a program that inspires, challenges, and equips the future generation of opera singers, making this all the more exciting for Molly!
CSO showcases a season featuring six fully staged and orchestrated operas over two sessions at Roosevelt University in Chicago, Illinois. Participants in the program are generally graduate, post-graduate, pre-professional, or international students. Running from June 19 to July 12, Molly will take on the leading role of Miles in Benjamin Britten's "The Turn of the Screw." Miles is one of two children placed under the care of a governess in a Gothic setting. He exudes a captivating charm while also displaying an unsettling manipulative nature, possibly due to being influenced by the spirit of the manor's former valet. The struggle for Miles' soul serves as the central conflict of the narrative, ultimately leading to the boy's demise as the opera reaches its conclusion.
"I am incredibly excited and extremely grateful to take on this fantastic role!" Molly stated when asked about the opportunity. "It's a challenge I am certainly looking forward to, navigating a ghostly English gothic world as a character who is simultaneously adorably charming while also eerily manipulative - and definitely possessed."
During her time at the School of Music, Molly Hotek has performed many roles, including: Cupid in Venus and Adonis/ Dido and Aeneas, Red Riding Hood in Into the Woods, Gangster in The Drowsy Chaperone, and Serpina in La Serva Padrona.
