Commissioning Partners
Harris Theater
Production date: September 2009
with the Chicago Sinfonietta
Stefan Asbury, conductor
The Harris Theater for Music and Dance is located in the internationally acclaimed Millennium Park in Chicago, IL. It opened in November 2003, creating a superlative performance home for emerging and mid-size music and dance companies in the Chicago area. Since its opening, the Harris Theater has garnered considerable media and public attention as a superior, contemporary venue for music and dance, with the Wall Street Journal noting "…the Harris puts Chicago ahead [of New York] as a venue for dance."
The mission of the Harris Theater is to provide a nurturing environment that allows for artistic growth, the development of new audiences and the institutional stability of its partners. Additionally, the Theater presents artistically significant national and international artists and ensembles, including the New York City Ballet and Mikhail Baryshnikov's Hell's Kitchen Dance.
The Harris Theater is the home of a myriad of Chicago's most exciting music and dance companies, including Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Chicago Opera Theater, Music of the Baroque, MusicNOW with members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago. The Theater allows these remarkable organizations to focus on what they do best|bringing the finest music and dance to the public and serves as a national model of collaboration between the philanthropic community and performing arts organizations. As a result of these partnerships more than 56 diverse companies have presented more than 400 performances on the Harris Theater's stage since the theater opened.
The Harris Theater's Presenting Series, which was launched in the 2006-2007 season, was created with the purpose of bringing to Chicago extraordinary artists, ensembles and performances that would otherwise not be seen here. Additionally, the Presenting Series serves to complement the works of the Theater's resident companies and further build audiences. To date, the Harris Theater's Presenting Series has succeeded in attracting some of the world's most acclaimed artists and ensembles including Joan Baez, Daniel Barenboim and his West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, Les Ballets Africans, Mariza, the Merce Cunningham Dance Company and the UBS Verbier Festival Orchestra with legendary pianist Martha Argerich.
"Chicago has seen a dance renaissance over the last four years and the Harris Theater for Music and Dance is honored to partner with the Mark Morris Dance Group to bring the world premiere of Sergey Prokofiev's original Romeo and Juliet to audiences in Chicago and around the world," said Harris Theater President and Managing Director Michael Tiknis. "Creating and supporting new work of all kinds is an integral part of the Harris Theater mission and we are pleased to collaborate with our esteemed co-commissioners on such an important, landmark program."
—Michael Tiknis, President and Managing Director
The Harris Theater hosted the Mark Morris Dance Group with the Ravinia Festival in the summers of 2005 and 2007. In conjunction with the San Francisco Ballet's 75th Anniversary New Works Festival, the Theater eagerly anticipates the Chicago premiere of a new work by Mark Morris in September 2008. The New Works Festival premieres in San Francisco in April 2008 and the Harris Theater engagement will mark its first stop on a four-city national tour.
Website: http://www.harristheaterchicago.org
