Administration
Haymarket Opera Company is delighted to welcome Philip Courington as the company’s first Director of Development. Get to know Philip and learn more about the experience, artistry, and enthusiasm he brings to Haymarket:
Philip Courington, Director of Development
Philip Courington serves as Haymarket Opera Company’s first Director of Development, bringing both a deep appreciation for the performing arts and a proven record of fundraising success. With nearly a decade of progressive leadership experience in arts nonprofit development, Philip has built a career centered on advancing mission-driven organizations through strategic fundraising, strong donor relationships, and data-informed decision-making.
Prior to joining Haymarket, Philip worked with one Haymarket’s closest collaborators, Cedille Records, a non-profit recording label dedicated to uplifting the artistry of Chicago’s finest classical musicians. While there, Philip advanced from Administrative Assistant to Senior Development Manager, playing an integral role in developing systems, building relationships, and achieving results at an organization that consistently met or exceeded its annual fundraising goals while maintaining donor retention rates well above national benchmarks.
As Director of Development, Philip leads all aspects of fundraising, including individual giving, and institutional support. He manages relationships with individual and institutional donors, develops annual fundraising plans, oversees development operations, and plans special events.
As a performer Philip is an active member of Chicago’s choral scene, having performed with Stare at the Sun, William Ferris Chorale, Bella Voce, and as a stipendiary singer at St. James Cathedral.
Philip is a graduate of Illinois Wesleyan University with a Bachelor of Arts in Music (Voice) and a member of the Association of Fundraising Professional’s Chicago Chapter.
Chase Hopkins, General Director
Chase Hopkins currently serves as General Director of Chicago’s acclaimed Haymarket Opera Company, whose “verve in historically informed performance is second to none” (Opera News). At Haymarket, Hopkins leads major artistic and institutional initiatives, including the company’s debut with the Ravinia Festival, three film productions during the COVID-19 pandemic, two commercial recordings with Chicago’s Grammy Award-winning classical label Cedille Records, and a partnership with Classical WFMT to broadcast Haymarket performances to a global audience reaching more than one million listeners. In 2024, Hopkins launched The Haymarket Review, a digital publication designed to build community around Haymarket and historically informed performance.
Under Hopkins’s leadership, Haymarket successfully navigated the COVID-19 pandemic and emerged with significant artistic and institutional momentum. In 2025, the company surpassed one million dollars in annual revenue, representing fourfold budget growth during his tenure as General Director. Hopkins has strengthened the company’s infrastructure by expanding staff, launching a successful production sponsorship program, broadening foundation support to include grants from the Illinois Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts, establishing Haymarket’s first cash reserve, and revitalizing the company’s Artistic Advisory Board with early opera scholar Louise K. Stein and Grammy-nominated harpsichordist and conductor Jory Vinikour.
Hopkins made his “skillful” (Chicago Classical Review) stage-directing debut with Haymarket in 2023, leading a critically acclaimed production of Hasse’s Marc’Antonio e Cleopatra featuring countertenor Kangmin Justin Kim as Cleopatra. In 2024, he semi-staged a concert of Handel's La Resurrezione conducted by Christian Curnyn and directed Haymarket’s fully staged production of Handel’s Tamerlano with tenor David Portillo, praised as “another impressive achievement” (Opera Magazine). In 2025, he semi-staged Stradella’s Ester and Handel’s Alcina for Haymarket’s Ravinia Festival debut, starring soprano Nicole Cabell and mezzo Elizabeth DeShong. In 2026, Hopkins led semi-staged concerts of Hasse’s La Semele, o sia La richiesta fatale and Charpentier’s David et Jonathas, and will direct a fully staged production of Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo with tenor Zachary Wilder in the title role.
Prior to his work as an arts leader, creative producer, and stage director, Hopkins’s singing career included a strong focus on Baroque opera, with performances at festivals and opera houses across Europe and the United States under distinguished conductors including René Jacobs, Jonathan Cohen, and Christian Curnyn. Hopkins serves as Artistic Director of Opera Edwardsville, a community-centered nonprofit arts organization dedicated to arts education and cultural enrichment in Southern Illinois, which he founded in 2018. He has also served as a judge for the Handel Aria Competition (2022, 2023, 2024, and 2026), Chicago LuminArts Foundation Competition (2025), and the Metropolitan Opera’s Laffont Competition (2026).
Hopkins graduated cum laude from Northwestern University with a Bachelor’s degree in music and minors in musicology and business. He received his Master’s degree in music from the Royal Northern College of Music in the United Kingdom, graduating with distinction. In 2024, Hopkins completed executive training through the Program for Leadership Development at Harvard Business School.
Craig Trompeter, Founder & Artistic Director
Craig Trompeter is the founder and Artistic Director of Chicago’s acclaimed Haymarket Opera Company. As cellist and violist da gamba he has performed with Second City Musick, the Chicago Symphony, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Chicago Opera Theater, Music of the Baroque, the Smithsonian Chamber Music Society, and the Oberlin Consort of Viols. He has performed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Glimmerglass Festival, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and the Valletta International Baroque Festival in Malta and has appeared as soloist at the Ravinia Festival, the annual conference of the American Bach Society, with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and with Music of the Baroque. Trompeter has recorded works of Mozart, Bologne, Biber, Boismortier, Marais, Vivaldi, Handel, Greene, Henry Eccles, and a potpourri of Elizabethan composers on the Harmonia Mundi, Cedille, and Centaur labels. As a modern cellist, he was a founding member of the Fry Street String Quartet and premiered several chamber operas by MacArthur Fellow John Eaton, performing as actor, singer and cellist. He has taught master classes at the Cleveland Institute of Music, Oberlin, Grinnell College, and the Chicago Musical College. In 2003 he founded the Feldenkrais® Center of Chicago where he teaches Awareness Through Movement® and Functional Integration®. He has given Feldenkrais workshops throughout the nation in universities, music conservatories, opera companies, and dance studios. Trompeter conducts the Early Music Ensemble at the University of Chicago and teaches Baroque Performance Practices at Northwestern University.
Jianghai Ho, Development Coordinator
Jianghai Ho is currently serving as the development coordinator at Haymarket Opera Company. As a performer he has performed with Haymarket Opera Company, Chicago Symphony, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Chicago Opera Theater, Music of the Baroque and Fargo Moorhead Opera.