Displaying items by tag: Jay Pritzker Pavilion

Celebrate the start of Chicago's cultural season with a melodic evening under the stars. Lyric's annual free concert, Sunday in the Park with Lyric, takes place on August 25, 2024 at 7:00 p.m. at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park and promises an opportunity to embrace the end of summer with a fun-filled night of music. The event will be hosted by Lyric's Chief Artistic Administration Officer Matthew Ozawa, NBC5's Arts and Entertainment Reporter LeeAnn Trotter, and the City of Chicago's Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events Commissioner Clinée Hedspeth.

Visitors can take in the city skyline as they enjoy this highly anticipated favorite annual event. The evening will showcase performances by members of The Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center and the Lyric Opera Orchestra in selections from Lyric's upcoming 2024/25 Season, conducted by Music Director Enrique Mazzola and Ryan Opera Center Conductor Chi-Yuan Lin. As a special feature, Lyric Unlimited's Artist-in-Residence Karen Slack will make her inaugural appearance. All selections will feature projected English titles.

In his fourth season with Lyric as Music Director, Mazzola will conduct Rigoletto, Fidelio, and The Listeners, in addition to a collaboration with Sondra Radvanovsky for her world premiere trio of concerts, The Puccini Heroines. The upcoming season also marks the 50th anniversary of the Ryan Opera Center — Lyric's acclaimed artist-development program.

Lyric's upcoming season, opening on Saturday September 14, is an enchanting mix of new, contemporary works and familiar, classic productions. The season begins with Verdi's Rigoletto (September 14 - October 6) and will be celebrated through the season opening gala: Patti LuPone: A Life in Notes (October 4). Beethoven's only opera, Fidelio, comes next, with performances from September 26 to October 10. Next is Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro (November 9 - 30), followed by Jeanine Tesori's Blue (November 16 to December 1), Puccini's La Bohème (March 15 - April 12), and Missy Mazzoli's The Listeners (March 30 - April 11).

As part of the Sunday in the Park with Lyric festivities, children and their adults can enjoy a new Lyric offering, Art-See Jamboree, from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

Highlights include:

• Ongoing creative performances by storyteller Jasmin Cardenas of Frida Kahlo and the Bravest Girl in the World, with sessions starting every half hour from 11:30 a.m., will provide a preview of the upcoming Opera in the Neighborhoods performance tour based on the story.
• Art creation activities with William Estrada from the Mobile Street Art Cart Project.
• Live music featuring DJ Jawon Mayberry.
• Photo opportunities, Lyric goodies, and a giveaway raffle for attendees.

Attendance is first-come, first-served for this free event and no tickets are required. For more information and to view program notes for Sunday in the Park with Lyric, visit lyricopera.org/millennium.

Lyric's performances in the 2024/25 Season will take place at the Lyric Opera House, 20 N. Wacker Drive, and will feature easy-to-follow English translations projected above the stage. Subscriptions and single tickets are available now. For detailed information on specific performance dates and ticket availability, please visit lyricopera.org or call 312.827.5600.

To learn more about the 2024/25 Season, visit lyricopera.org/newseason.

The 9^th annual Chicago Dancing Festival came to a close on a rainy Sunday last week with the Dancing Under The Stars performance at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion.  Despite the less than ideal weather for an outdoor performance, there was a good crowd to catch the closing show of the festival, even a few folks camping out on the grass under makeshift tents crafted out of umbrellas.  Overall the show made it worth sitting through a little rain!

The show opened with a fantastic mash up of flamenco, Irish Step and tap brought to us by the Chicago Rhythm Project.  With only 6 dancers, sometimes performing 2 at a time, they created a show that sounded and felt as big as a full troupe production. The stage was mic’d perfectly to echo the rhythms throughout the pavilion enabling 6 dancers to create a large and loud performance.

I was most excited to see the Pittsburgh Ballet Theater perform Sandpaper Ballet but was left a little disappointed. After a very long overture of Christmas music, 25 or so dancers, clad in one piece costumes that gave the illusion of a clear sky with a few puffy clouds over a luscious green landscape, finally filed onto the stage. There were great moments with intricate and interesting formations but overall it felt flat and a little unrehearsed. Timing was off and the swingy jazz movements that could have really brought the ballet to a fun and whimsical place, seemed like they were being thrown away.

The show got back on track with Torrent from the Brian Brooks Moving Company.  The staging was amazing with the movements of the dancers and their formations flowing along with the music brilliantly. Between the score backing up the piece and the constant motion of the dancers, I was absorbed as I watch movements transfer from person to person and flow across the stage.  They were introduced as a returning favorite and they certainly lived up to the title.

As a great contrast to the large group pieces, Sarah Lane and Joseph Gorak of the American Ballet Theater wowed the audience with a picture perfect pas de deux performance from The Sleeping Beauty. I watched the entire piece with a smile on my face, thinking that it is performances like this that make little girls everywhere want to grow up to be ballerinas!

The Miami City Ballet took a turn from their traditional Balanchine style ballet to perform Sweet Fields, choreographed by Twyla Tharp. Set to a series of Shaker hymns, and performed in simple white costumes, it was a moving piece. At times the bounce and flow of the costumes became distracting but overall this piece was elegant, alternating between powerful and serene moments.  And with a lift that elicited a collective gasp from the audience, it certainly captured everyone’s attention.

The show ended with a true showstopper and my favorite piece of the night.  The Joffrey Ballet performed In Creases choreographed by Justin Peck. Performed to Philip Glass Four Movements for Two Pianos, which were situated on the stage with the dancers, it was an intricate ballet demonstrating perfect technique combined with movements I have never seen before. It had a breathy quality for a ballet piece and was a great blend of modern and traditional ballet.  This piece alone was worth sitting outside in the rain for and a great end to an overall wonderful performance.

With another year under their belt, the Chicago Dancing Festival has wrapped up for this year. Having attending two of the performances, I am already looking forward to next years 10^th anniversary season. The Dancing Under the Stars performance stood up to the test of Chicago weather, combining traditional ballet, modern ballet, tap, and modern into an eclectic and captivating show. If you missed it this summer, keep your eyes out for shows next summer!