Lyric Opera 2021-2022 Issue 4 Florencia en el Amazonas

Lyric Opera of Chicago | 12 Lyric welcomes The Joffrey Ballet to its new home In 2017, Lyric Opera of Chicago announced that The Joffrey Ballet would become the Lyric Opera House’s resident ballet company at the start of the 2020/21 season. Season plans changed dramatically, however, and Lyric is thrilled to finally welcome Joffrey—and its passionate audiences—to Lyric for its first performances on our shared stage. Excited to see their world-class hometown ballet company in its new venue, enthusiastic crowds attended the aptly titled Home: a Celebration , an October production that ran for ten performances. Perhaps in a nod to its new home, Joffrey’s inaugural program included co-founder Gerald Arpino’s Birthday Variation s, set to the music of one of Lyric’s most performed composers, Giuseppe Verdi. The piece was originally commissioned in 1986 by Becky D’Angelo as a birthday gift to her husband Dino, who once owned the opera house and loved Verdi’s music. Anthony Freud, Lyric’s general director, president, and CEO, sees the arrangement with Joffrey as terrific news for Chicago; it further solidifies the company’s position Swing Low with Stefan Goncalvez and Fernando Duarte Che ryl Mann