Wozzeck

From the Lyric Opera of Chicago website: 

Raw, powerful, and transformational in its emotional punch and musical form, Wozzeck is an opera that's meant to shake an audience to its core. Sir David McVicar makes his triumphant return to Lyric to deliver a heart-stopping new production of this 20th-century masterpiece.

Wozzeck, a poverty-stricken soldier, is working to support Marie and their young son, born out of wedlock. Mocked, discounted, and abused by his superiors, when he is cheated on by the only woman he loves, he finally snaps — driven to madness and murder. All that remains is a lonely little boy to remind the world that once there was a man named Wozzeck.

Sir Andrew Davis conducts a work he considers one of the most important pieces written in the 20th century, with a stellar cast that includes Tomasz Konieczny, a favored headliner all across Europe, and Angela Denoke, in one of her signature roles, "dramatically as well as vocally transcendent." Neue Zürcher Zeitung.