Joffrey Ballet 2024-2025 Season, Shows, Reviews

byCherilyn J. Lee

January 1, 2020 - Updated on September 1, 2024

Joffrey Ballet

♦ Location: Chicago, Illinois – United States

♦ Artistic Director: Ashley Wheater MBE

♦ Affiliated School: Joffrey Academy

♦ Founded in 1956 by Robert Joffrey and Gerald Arpino

♦ Official Website of Joffrey Ballet

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Joffrey Ballet 2024-2025 Season

The Joffrey Ballet 2024-2025 season at Lyric Opera House has just been announced, featuring new creations by Dani Rowe and Yuri Possokhov as well as United States and Chicago premieres of ballets by Cathy Marston and Christopher Wheeldon, respectively.

“It is always an honor to set premieres on the Joffrey, whether new to Chicago, the U.S., or the world.

Our 69th season is a special invitation for audiences to immerse themselves in an abundance of fresh, captivating narratives. We begin with the haunting echoes of redemption in Cathy Marston’s poignant adaptation of Ian McEwan’s novel Atonement, a co-production with Ballett Zürich making its North American premiere.

In our winter series, Golden Hour, we’ll infuse the Lyric with a touch of warmth through radiant interpretations, including Dani Rowe’s Princess and the Pea.

Lastly, we close the season on a celebratory note, as we are the first American company to stage Christopher Wheeldon’s unique realm of beauty, curiosity, and delight with Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

his year, Chicago will witness all that dance can offer.”

Ashley Wheater, Artistic Director of Joffrey Ballet

President and CEO Greg Cameron adds:

“The coming season provides the opportunity for continued growth, both artistically and on a business front. Ashley’s vision is grounded in Robert Joffrey’s founding principle to embrace the new, and in a city fostering creative growth and exploration, Chicago is the perfect home for a year as expansive and dynamic as this one.

Our 2024-2025 season invites audiences of all ages to experience the many worlds of dance.”

The season opens with Cathy Marston’s adaptation of Ian McEwan’s Atonement and is followed by Christopher Wheeldon’s production of The Nutcracker which is set during the Chicago’s 1893 World’s Fair.

Following is the only repertory program of the season – Golden Hour – which features the world premiere of Dani Rowe’s Princess and the Pea, a modern re-envisioning of the classic fairy tale with music by Jim Stephenson; Marston’s Heimat, a glorious symphonic poem transformed to dance and composed by Richard Wagner; the return of audience favorite, Nicolas Blanc’s Under the Trees’ Voices, set to Ezio Bosso’s Symphony No. 2.; and a world premiere by choreographer of the critically acclaimed Anna Karenina, Yuri Possokhov.

The season closes with the U.S. premiere of Wheeldon’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland© inspired by Lewis Carroll’s cast of surreal characters. The production features Joby Talbot’s hallucinatory soundworld of sweeping melodies and ticking clocks and Tony Award®-winning designer Bob Crowley’s vibrant stagecraft and puppetry.