The Joffrey Ballet Reveals 2025-26 Season at Lyric Opera House
The season will feature the U.S. Premiere of Liam Scarlett’s Carmen and much more.
By: Chloe Rabinowitz Feb. 24, 2025
The Joffrey’s 2025-2026 season at Lyric Opera House has been revealed, featuring U.S. and Chicago premieres by Liam Scarlett and Yuri Possokhov, and a celebration of dance legends Martha Graham, Glen Tetley, and The Joffrey Ballet co-founders Robert Joffrey and Gerald Arpino. The 2025-2026 season marks three historic milestones: The Joffrey Ballet’s 70th anniversary as one of the world’s premier dance companies, 30 years of calling Chicago home, and 10 years of Christopher Wheeldon’s The Nutcracker.
The Joffrey Ballet begins its 70th season with the U.S. premiere of Liam Scarlett’s Carmen, September 18 – 28, 2025, a tale of love, betrayal, and defiance set within the gritty confines of a cigarette factory in 1930s Spain. From the choreographer of the critically acclaimed Frankenstein, Scarlett infuses new depth into the timeless story of a woman who dares to live on her own terms. Soon after, the Joffrey celebrates 10 magical years of Christopher Wheeldon's The Nutcracker, December 5 – 28, 2025, followed by American Icons, February 19 – March 1, 2026, a program of ballets by four trailblazing artists of the 20th century, including Martha Graham, Glen Tetley, and The Joffrey Ballet co-founders Robert Joffrey and Gerald Arpino, featuring iconic works that have shaped the history of American dance. Closing out the season is the Chicago premiere of Yuri Possokhov’s Eugene Onegin, a co-production with San Francisco Ballet. This new full-length ballet from the acclaimed creative team behind Anna Karenina will be a richly layered and deeply human exploration of love, loss, and redemption, June 4 – 14, 2026.
"Our 70th anniversary celebrates the Joffrey's extraordinary legacy, a place where past and future seamlessly intertwine," says The Mary B. Galvin Artistic Director Ashley Wheater MBE. "This milestone season commemorates 70 years of innovation, 30 years of calling Chicago home, and a decade of Christopher Wheeldon's reimagined Nutcracker. From the intensity of Liam Scarlett's Carmen to iconic works by Robert Joffrey, Gerald Arpino, Glen Tetley, and Martha Graham in American Icons, this season reflects our bold and revolutionary spirit." Wheater continues, "Bringing ambitious new works to the stage is at the heart of the company, and this year is no exception. We'll conclude the season with the Chicago premiere of Yuri Possokhov's Eugene Onegin, a performance sure to leave audiences breathless. It will be a season like no other — a defining moment to experience the Joffrey at its best, more electrifying than ever."
"Seventy years ago, Robert Joffrey and Gerald Arpino embarked on a bold journey, fueled by their belief in the positive, transformative power of dance," says President and CEO Greg Cameron. "Thirty years ago, thanks to dedicated advocates and supporters, the Joffrey found its permanent home in Chicago. Today, under the leadership of the Mary B. Galvin Artistic Director Ashley Wheater MBE, the third Artistic Director in the company's history, the Joffrey continues to shape the future of dance; from reimagining The Nutcracker within Chicago's 1893 World's Fair to commissioning world premieres. Our anniversary season honors our past while fearlessly embracing what's next."
All season performances take place at the Lyric Opera House in downtown Chicago at 20 North Upper Wacker Drive. All programs throughout the season feature live music performed by the Lyric Opera Orchestra, conducted by Scott Speck, Music Director of The Joffrey Ballet.
About the 2025-2026 Season
Carmen | September 18 – 28, 2025
Choreographer: Liam Scarlett | Music: Georges Bizet
From the choreographer of the critically acclaimed Frankenstein, the Joffrey presents Scarlett's Carmen, a tale of love, betrayal, and defiance set within the gritty confines of a cigarette factory in 1930s Spain. Amid the chaos of a nation on the brink of civil war, the uncompromising and seductive Carmen, who insists on loving whom she chooses, meets Don José, whose consuming devotion ignites a blaze of passion and peril.
In this adaptation of Bizet's opera, Scarlett brings new intensity to a performance that pulsates with life—and ends in tragedy. With striking designs by Jon Bausor and Scarlett's signature focus on evocative storytelling, Carmen commands the stage into a tempest of desire and destruction, revealing the timeless story of a woman who dares to live on her own terms.
The Nutcracker | December 5 – 28, 2025
Choreography: Christopher Wheeldon | Music: Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky
This holiday season, enter the spellbinding world where history and dreams intertwine. Join Marie and her Nutcracker prince on a fantastical adventure in Tony Award®-winning Christopher Wheeldon's kaleidoscopic reimagining of The Nutcracker, set amidst the spectacle of the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair.
On a magical Christmas Eve, after awakening to an epic battle between Toy Soldiers and the Rat King, a flurry of snowflakes sweeps Marie away on a whirlwind journey to the dreamlike fairgrounds of the World's Columbian Exposition. Set to Tchaikovsky's classic score, experience sprawling attractions representing countries from around the globe: the dazzling Golden Statue, the mystique of an Arabian enchantress, vibrant Venetian masked dancers, Chinese dragons, and Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show.
American Icons | February 19 – March 1, 2026
Witness the daring and enduring spirit that defines the Joffrey's maverick legacy. American Icons celebrates a program of dynamic works by four trailblazing artists of the 20th century: The Joffrey Ballet co-founders Robert Joffrey and Gerald Arpino, founding Joffrey Company member Glen Tetley, and prolific dance pioneer Martha Graham.
The full program is as follows:
Kettentanz
Choreography: Gerald Arpino | Music: Johann Strauss Sr., Johann Mayer
Inspired by classical Viennese balls and gardens, Kettentanz is highly regarded as one of Arpino's signature works. Described in the New York Post as a "youthful zest that belongs to all time" and as "his loveliest ballet…a suite of tender miniatures" by Dance Magazine, Kettentanz showcases the diversity of this Joffrey legend’s technique in nine sections.
Secular Games
Choreography: Martha Graham | Music: Robert Starer
Secular Games presents a playful exploration of human nature and the lengths to which we go to impress one another. Hailed as the "Dancer of the Century" by Time, Graham's choreography pushed the boundaries of technique, challenging dancers with bold, powerful movements. Premiered in 1962, Secular Games is a testament to Graham’s ingenuity, forever transforming the athleticism and endurance of the art form.
Remembrances
Choreography: Robert Joffrey | Music: Richard Wagner
In this intimate duet by Robert Joffrey, visionary founder of The Joffrey Ballet, a woman sings of past love, while another overlooks the memory in a dance re-enactment.
Inspired by love and loss, Remembrances reflects Joffrey’s childhood, his parents, and the women who shaped his life. Poignant and timeless, Joffrey's window into the past is a display of the founder's artistic genius for turning lived experiences into universal art.
Voluntaries
Choreography: Glen Tetley | Music: Francis Poulenc
Voluntaries invites audiences to experience dance that transcends the stage, embodying the beauty of flight, rebirth, freedom, and desire. A masterpiece of emotional depth and soaring movement set to Poulenc's Concerto in G Minor for Organ, Strings, and Timpani, Tetley's Voluntaries, created in 1973 as a heartfelt tribute to the late John Cranko, celebrates the resilience of the human spirit.
Eugene Onegin | June 4 – 14, 2026
Choreographer: Yuri Possokhov | Music: Ilya Demutsky
Following the incredibly favored Anna Karenina, choreographer Possokhov and composer Demutsky have teamed up again for the Chicago premiere of Eugene Onegin, a full-length production inspired by Alexander Pushkin's poetic novel.
A tragic duel, a devastating loss, and a chance reunion force Eugene Onegin to confront the weight of his choices. Set against the backdrop of 19th-century Russian society, this cautionary tale follows the enigmatic and aloof aristocrat after his fateful encounter with the earnest Tatiana. Richly layered and deeply human, Eugene Onegin explores the fragility of the human heart and how unspoken words can shape destinies.
Eugene Onegin is a co-production between The Joffrey Ballet and San Francisco Ballet.
Other Engagements
The Joffrey + Ballet in the U.S., Wrightwood 659 | October 3, 2025 – January 31, 2026
Opening October 3, 2025, The Joffrey + Ballet in the U.S. is a large-scale exhibition celebrating the rich history of The Joffrey Ballet. The exhibition first debuted at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center in 2024, marking the first major retrospective of the company. Drawing from the Joffrey archive, acquired by the Jerome Robbins Dance Division in 2017 as the library’s largest acquisition in a decade, the exhibition offers an in-depth look at the Joffrey’s contributions to American ballet. Now, in the city the Joffrey has called home for 30 years, Wrightwood 659 will host this landmark exhibition, further honoring the company’s cultural impact.
ART on THE MART | November 2 – December 28, 2025
ART on THE MART celebrates the 10th anniversary of The Joffrey Ballet's The Nutcracker. Figures from Christopher Wheeldon's re-imagined Chicago World’s Fair-themed production will dance across the imposing facade of THE MART.
The Grainger Academy of The Joffrey Ballet: Winning Works | March 2026
The Grainger Academy of The Joffrey Ballet presents five world premieres in the culmination of Joffrey's national call for ALAANA (African, Latinx, Asian, Arab, and Native American) artists. Winning Works will be presented at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago’s Edlis Neeson Theater.
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