“I’m from the South Side, 99th and Throop. Went to school on the South Side, and then every day traveling downtown to go to ballet school. I’m really a Chicago boy, for sure.”
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association has announced its 2024–2025 season, a full year of concerts in its mainstage subscription series, as well as chamber, solo, family, and other programming.
The Chicago born and based Lewis was revered in jazz circles for hits like “The In Crowd” and “Hang on Sloopy.” He earned three Grammys and seven gold records.
Banner works by Schubert, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, and Prokofiev headline Muti’s three CSO residencies, ahead of the conclusion of his tenure with Beethoven’s Missa solemnis.
A Verdi and bel canto expert, Lyric’s new music director Enrique Mazzola will open the season with Verdi’s Macbeth and Donizetti’s The Elixir of Love, while also conducting contemporary opera Proving Up by Missy Mazzoli later in the season.
With this month’s Boléro, a digital-only world premiere set to the piece of the same name by Ravel, Joffrey dancers are finally back to performing together.
A year of milestones, the upcoming season marks Joffrey’s 65th season, its 25th in Chicago, the five-year anniversary of its reimagined Nutcracker, and its inaugural season at Lyric Opera House.
Culminating in “The Times Are Racing” by choreographer Justin Peck, Joffrey’s mixed-rep program features “ballet, contemporary, comic, and a ‘sneaker ballet,’” artistic director Ashley Wheater describes.
A North American premiere, a Midwest premiere, and a special opening night concert with Renée Fleming are among the highlights. The 2020-2021 season will also be Sir Andrew’s last as music director.
Conductor Scott Speck, who leads the Chicago Philharmonic for performances of The Nutcracker with Joffrey Ballet, explained what makes Tchaikovsky’s score as addictive as your favorite holiday treats.
Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker isn’t just a popular holiday ballet. The composer grouped eight pieces in his Nutcracker Suite, which is often performed in concert. But, which movement of the “Nutcracker Suite” are you? Are you the “Spanish Dance?” “The Waltz of the Flowers?” Take the quiz and find out!
To conceal that the book’s author was a woman, Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre was first published in 1847 under a pen name. Choreographer Cathy Marston feels the book was revolutionary: “It truly was groundbreaking for a woman to write about her emotions and station in life with such honesty.”
We’re getting ready to share our Summer Music Guide (keep an eye out for it next week), but here are three events happening this weekend, each of which combine or reimagine classical music and dance, that we wanted to be sure to tell you about. The Rosina Project It’s Rossini like you’ve never heard him before. Chicago Fringe Opera teams …
“I believe that Karenina is a magical moment of looking at our beautiful art form and taking it a step forward,” says Ashley Wheater, Joffrey Ballet’s artistic director. One of the cornerstones of the production is 35-year-old composer Ilya Demutsky’s brand new, full-length orchestral score, the first such commission in Joffrey’s 62-year history.
