Auditorium Theatre – Page 2 – Clef Notes Chicagoland Journal for the Arts

Joffrey-Ballet-and-Lyric-Opera-Orphee-et-Eurydice

Joffery’s Big Move

August 18, 2020 Leslie Price Ashley Wheater, Auditorium Theatre, Joffrey Ballet, Lyric Opera of Chicago

Autumn 2020 brings a new and exciting partnership for Chicago audiences to enjoy when the Joffrey Ballet officially joins forces with the Lyric Opera to share the iconic Lyric Opera House on North Wacker Drive.

The partnership of these two pillars of the Chicago cultural scene has developed over time. First, as an artistic collaboration with 2017’s Orphée et Eurydice, a thrilling piece that blended the musical talents of the Lyric with ballet sequences performed by the Joffrey. During this laudable production, these cherished arts institutions discovered a kind of symbiosis that held the potential for extension beyond a single event.

Arts Summer 2020

Pandemic Pallor Sets In with Shutdowns Shutting Audiences Out of Area Arts Venues

June 1, 2020 Leslie Price Anthony Freud, Auditorium Theatre, Deeply Rooted Dance Theatre, Goodman Theatre, Lori Lightfoot, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Music Institute of Chicago

“It’s extraordinary that our world should have been turned upside down in such a short amount of time,” sighs Anthony Freud, Lyric Opera’s general director and CEO as he recounts the days before and after having to cancel the Lyric’s much anticipated Ring Cycle. “But we always have to remember that this is a national and a global tragedy in which we, Lyric Opera, are a tiny microcosm.”

Dance

Auditorium Theatre Awarded $425K Grant from the MacArthur Foundation

April 17, 2020 Vickie Moore Auditorium Theatre, MacArthur Foundation

The Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University has been awarded a $425,000 grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. The five-year grant will help strengthen the theater’s diverse programming, extend community outreach and education efforts, and support restoration and preservation initiatives.

Chicago Arts and Culture

COVID-19 Closures Pause Chicago’s 2019/20 Cultural Season

April 2, 2020 Oscar Peterson Auditorium Theatre, Chicago Symphony Orchestra

Virtually all of Chicago’s stages, concert halls and museums went dark almost simultaneously last week when Governor Jim Pritzker announced state-wide closures of non-essential businesses in an effort to stem the tide of COVID-19 infection rates in Illinois. Programming for the 2019-2020 cultural season came to a screeching halt and audiences typically accustomed to an ocean of wildly diverse performance opportunities found themselves in isolation with mandatory stay-at-home orders from the state.