Although a story about selfish desire for information and pleasure might sound like it could involve politics, this week’s Sunday Opera (9/2 3:00 p.m.) explores those themes in “Faust” by Charles Gounod from the Lyric Opera of Chicago. Most people know a bit about the story of the bored Faust selling his soul to the Devil (Mephistopheles) in order to gain unlimited information/knowledge and unbridled hedonism resulting in the death of four innocent people and, depending upon the version, the damnation or salvation of Faust.
The Lyric Opera cast features Benjamin Bernheim as Faust, Christian Van Horn as Mephistopheles, and Ailyn Perez as Margueritte. The rest of the cast includes Edward Park as her brother Valentin, Emmett O’Hanlon as his comrade-in-arms Wagner, Annie Rosen as Siebel, the young man who is in love with Margueritte, and Jill Grove as Margueritte’s guardian and unwitting accomplice to Mephistopheles, Marthe with Emmanuel Villaume conducting. Michael Kownacky will join you after the opera with more music of Gounod including his Symphony No. 2 and Fantasie sur l’Hymne National Russe.
