The Chicago Tribune

A Tribune story about Nazi-looted artwork gets the operatic treatment
May 2024

By 2001, Howard Reich found himself in plenty of strange situations in his line of work. As an arts reporter for the Tribune, it came with the territory.

But this, even by his standards, was unusual. He’d been pounding on the door of a modest house in Lyons, Illinois, for 20 minutes, his knocks drowned out by heavy metal blasting inside. Through genealogy research and his own gumshoe reporting, Reich had reason to believe that, on the other side of the beat-up door — probably whoever was listening to that thrashing music— was the heir to an art fortune worth millions.

McDonald’s journey to Prague to glimpse the artwork, alongside Reich and then-Tribune photographer John Smierciak, became a two-part Tribune feature in 2002, “Mac’s Journey.” That journey reaches new audiences around the country this month — including in Chicago — through a one-act opera adaptation by composer Jake Heggie and librettist Gene Scheer, titled “Before It All Goes Dark.” The opera was commissioned and produced by the Seattle-based performing arts organization Music of Remembrance. Chicago Opera Theater is co-producing the local production.