A scene from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (Photo: Daniel Boud, courtesy of the Australian Ballet)
The Joffrey Ballet has announced its 2024-25 season at the Lyric Opera House in Chicago, with programming marked by elements of fantasy, world premieres, and the return of a Chicago holiday staple.
The dance company’s 69th season will open with a US premiere of Cathy Marston’s Atonement from October 17-27, 2024. The dramatic narrative ballet, adapted from the novel by Ian McEwan, explores the struggle for redemption.
Not long after, two-time Tony Award-winner Christopher Wheeldon returns with his bespoke, Joffrey-commissioned Nutcracker, spreading Chicago-themed holiday magic and cheer from December 6 to December 28, 2024.
The transition of winter into spring will be accompanied by the mixed repertoire program Golden Hour from February 20 to March 5, 2025. The program explores feelings of warmth, nature, and human connection, and features the world premiere of Princess and the Pea by Dani Rowe, a piece choreographed by Yuri Possokhov, plus pieces by frequent Joffrey collaborators Cathy Marston and Nicolas Blanc.
Other Season Announcements
Harris Theater Shares ’24-25 Season
April 25, 2024
Dance Acts Star in Auditorium 2024-25 Season
April 16, 2024
Opera Fest of Chicago Returns for Summertime Italian Opera
April 15, 2024
Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra 2024-25: John Williams, American Symphonies, Messiah, More
April 10, 2024
CSO Names Klaus Mäkelä as Music Director
April 2, 2024Finally, the Joffrey Ballet closes its 2025 season with a trip down the rabbit hole in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. The ballet — in its Chicago premiere — is choreographed by Wheeldon to music by Joby Talbot, with sets by Tony Award-winning designer Bob Crowley, and runs from June 5 to 15, 2025.
The Joffrey Ballet also announced two collaborations with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago this upcoming season.
Photo from a Joffrey Ballet performance of Under the Tree's Voices by Stefan Goncalvez. Photo by Cheryl Mann.
First, five world premieres will be given at the MCA's Edlis Neeson Theater from March 14 to March 23, 2024. The selections will be winners of Joffrey’s national call for works by artists of African, Latinx, Asian, Arab, and Native American descent.
In September, Joffrey will appear first at Ravinia (September 13 & 14) and then visit Germany for a Baden-Baden Festival Tour (September 23 to 27).
April 10 to 13, 2025 will see the premiere of two newly commissioned ballets in a collaboration with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. One is the setting of Amy Hall Garner’s ballet to Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson’s Sinfonietta No. 1; the other is Le Bœuf sur le toit by Darius Milhaud, with choreography by Nicolas Blanc.
Tickets for individual performances go on sale in the summer of 2024. Subscription packages start at $129 and are available for purchase now at www.joffrey.org.
