Mar 14, 2018 James Currie Features, Music News, Reviews 0
The Ravinia Festival Association announced the complete 2018 summer lineup Wednesday. More than 140 events are scheduled between June and September, including 55 Ravinia premieres and 80 artist debuts, including Jill Scott, 50 Cent, Cake and Roger Daltrey performing Tommy. Returning acts include Buddy Guy, The B-52s, Diana Ross, Ben Folds, Tony Bennett and the 83rd annual residency of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
President and CEO Welz Kauffman announced the lineup, noting that this year’s season marks the 30th anniversary of the festivals on-campus conservatory, Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute, the 25 anniversary of Miriam Fried as its director of piano and strings and the 20th anniversary of a murder that led to the passage of federal hate crime legislation.
“Running Ravinia Festival comes with so many perks and opportunities—such as working with the best, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra—but a highlight must be announcing the season every spring and getting the rush of feedback from Chicago’s music-lovers looking forward to spending their summer with us,” Kauffman said.
The CSO will perform Beethoven’s Fifth, Seventh and Ninth Symphonies. Films with orchestral accompaniment will include “E.T.”, “Raiders of the Lost Ark”, “Vertigo” and “The Red Violin”.
“Important anniversaries inform this season, especially the centennial of the multi-dimensional Leonard Bernstein. We’re also trying out some new things, such as full-fledged comedy nights and new restaurant spaces that we think will get our guests to experience Ravinia for the first time all over again,” he said.
Tickets will be sold to donors starting March 20. For the general public, ticket sales will be split up over two days, so tickets for concerts in June and July will go on sale May 8 and tickets for concerts will go on sale on May 10.
Find the complete month-by-month schedule and more details below:
June 1
Los Lobos
Los Lonely Boys
Ozomatli
June 2
Diana Ross
June 3
Loverboy
Survivor
June 7
Steven Marley
Matisyahu
June 7-8
Concert Dance Inc. – Ruth Page Festival of Dance
June 8
Vladimir Feltsman
June 9
Live From Here with Chris Thile
June 9
Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute Program for Jazz Alumni
June 10
Anita Baker
June 12
John Fogerty
ZZ Top
June 13
Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute Program for Jazz
Flying Karamazov Brothers
June 15
Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute Program for Jazz
June 15
Jackson Browne
June 16
Lincoln Trio
June 16
Alison Krauss
June 19
Seal
June 20
Julliard String Quartet
June 21
Well-Strung
June 22
Jill Scott
June 23
Los Luzeros de Rioverde
June 23, June 25
Roger Daltrey, Ravinia Festival Orchestra and members of The Who perform Tommy
June 26
Apollo’s Fire
June 28-29
Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute Piano and Strings
June 29
Bryan Adams
June 30
Vy Higginsen’s Sing Harlem Choir
June 30
Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute Program for Piano and Strings
July 2
Snarky Puppy
Danien Escobar
Jacob Collier
July 3
Ksenija Sidorova
July 6-8
Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute Program for Piano and Strings
July 8
Buddy Guy
Jonny Lang
July 9-11
Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute Program for Piano and Strings
July 10
Evanescence
Lindsey Stirling
July 11
Zukerman Trio
July 12
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
July 13
Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute Program for Piano and Strings
July 13
Alan Cumming: Legal Immigrant
July 14
Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute Program for Piano and Strings
July 14
Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus
July 15
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
July 16-17
Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute Program for Piano and Strings
July 17
Emerson String Quartet
July 18
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
July 19-21
Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute Program for Piano and Strings
July 22
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
July 23
Leon Fleisher
July 24
Misha Dichter, Argus Quartet
July 24
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
July 25
Ray Chen, Julio Elizalde
July 26
Jorge Federico Osorio
July 27
Jamie Bernstein, Amy Burton, Michael Boriskin, John Musto
July 28
Peoria Symphony Orchestra
July 28
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
July 29
A Flock of Seagulls
Wang Chung
Naked Eyes
Men Without Hats
Farrington and Mann
Animotion
Dramarama
Nu Shooz
Gene Loves Jezebel
July 30
Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute Program for Singers
July 30
Takács String Quartet
July 31
Chanticleer
Aug. 1-2
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Aug. 3
Whoopi Goldberg
Aug. 4
Laurie Berkner
Aug. 4
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Aug. 5
David Foster
Aug. 6
Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute Program for Singers
Aug. 6
Angélique Kidjo, Femi Kuti & Te Positive Force
Aug. 7
Thomas Hampson, Luca Pisaroni, Kevin Murphy
Aug. 8
Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute Program for Singers
Aug. 8
Bonnie Koloc, Howard Levy
Aug. 9
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Aug. 10
Nadine Sierra, Michael Fabiano, Kevin Murphy
Aug. 11
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Aug. 12
Steven Martin and Martin Short with The Steep Canyon Rangers and Jeff Babko
Aug. 13
Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute Program for Singers
Aug. 14
Michael Feinstein and Kristin Chenoweth
Aug. 15
Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute Program for Singers
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Aug. 16
Frederica von Stade, Laurie Rubin, Jenny Taira
Aug. 17
Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute Program for Singers
Aug. 17
Earth, Wind & Fire
Aug. 18
Opera for the Young
Aug. 18
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Aug. 19
Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute Program for Singers
Aug. 19
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Aug. 20
Miloš Karadaglić with string quartet
Aug. 21
Jonathan Biss
Aug. 21
Chicago Philharmonic
Aug. 22
Jonathan Biss
Aug. 22
Cake
Ben Folds
Aug. 23
Dominic Cheli
Aug. 23
Sugerland
Frankie Ballard
Lindsay Ell
Aug. 24
Timo Andres
David Kaplan
Aug. 24
The Beach Boys
The Righteous Brothers
Aug. 25
Pacifica Quartet
Aug. 25
Jason Mraz
Brett Dennen
Aug. 26
Aaron Pilsan
Aug. 26
Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue
Galactic
Preservation Hall Jazz Band
New Breed Brass Band
Walter “Wolfman” Washington
Cyril Neville
Kermit Ruffins
Aug. 27
Dawn Upshaw, Gilbert Kalish, Sō Percussion
Aug. 28
Christopher Park
Aug. 28
Lyle Lovett & His Large Band
Aug. 30
John Hiatt & The Goners featuring Sonny Landreth
Aug. 31
Culture Club
The B-52s
Thompson Twins
Sept. 1
Lucy Schaufer, Huw Watkins
Sept. 1
Culture Club
The B-52s
Thompson Twins
Sept. 2
O.A.R.
Matt Nathanson
Sept. 3
Jethro Tull by Ian Anderson
Sept. 4
Federico Colli
Sept. 4
Sir James Galway
Sept. 5
Peter Serkin
Sept. 6
50 Cent
Sept. 7
Yes featuring Anderson, Rabin and Wakeman
Sept. 8
Melissa Errico
Sept. 8
Tony Bennett
Antonia Bennett
Sept. 11
Drew Peterson
Lara Downes
Theo Bleckmann
Sept. 12
Lara Downes
Sept. 12
Conspirare performs Chicago premier of Craig Hella Johnson’s “Considering Matthew Shepard”
Sept. 13
Los Angeles Master Chorale
Sept. 14
Gipsey Kings
Sept. 15
Johnny Rivers
Jimmy Webb
Sept. 15-16
The Performer’s School
Sept. 16
Los Tigres del Norte
Mariachi Flor de Toloache
BERNSTEIN CENTENNIAL
Winding throughout the season in each of the festival’s three performance spaces will be a multi-genre celebration of the most towering figure in American music, some of which was announced in January 2017 when Ravinia hosted more than 20 Chicago cultural institutions in a discussion on how to celebrate Leonard Bernstein’s 100th birthday. Ravinia’s multi-year celebration will be curated by Bernstein’s final (and only female) protégé, the critically acclaimed and charismatic conductor Marin Alsop. Music Director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and the São Paolo State Symphony, Alsop has earned myriad honors, including a MacArthur Fellowship and, presented just last month, the prestigious Association of British Orchestras Award. This is the first time in its 114-year history that Ravinia has appointed an artistic curator, a role Alsop will retain as the Bernstein celebration continues through the 2019 season and beyond.
“I was lucky enough to have worked with this genius, but you really didn’t need to know this man to know his mind and heart,” Alsop said. “He’s touched generations of music makers and music lovers at the cellular level and influenced the 20th century’s relationship with this universal art form in ways we still don’t completely comprehend and may never witness again. I’m so proud to be his surrogate for Ravinia’s exciting tribute.”
“When it comes to Bernstein, there’s no greater colleague than Marin, and though her schedule is jam-packed, I had to have her. We started dreaming together about this celebration five years ago,” said Kauffman, who at 16 served as Bernstein’s rehearsal pianist at Tanglewood. “We met often to a plan a comprehensive menu of Bernstein masterpieces and lesser-known works without causing Lenny burnout. So we also programmed the great composers who inspired Bernstein and wrote the music he loved to perform as a pianist and conductor. Mass was a must. It’s a giant, exhilarating work that was misunderstood in its day and Ravinia audiences need to hear it.”
Ravinia introduced Chicago audiences to Alsop between 2002 and 2005 when she led the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in works by Rachmaninoff, Shostakovich, and Corigliano, as well as excerpts from John Adams’s Nixon in China. Collaborating with Kauffman, she has programmed a collection of concerts that captures the many aspects of Bernstein’s outsized life as a composer of symphonies, Broadway shows, and film scores; conductor; father; activist; educator; and humanitarian. Bernstein’s own history with Ravinia began on July 4, 1944, with his CSO debut—just eight months after his astonishing New York Philharmonic debut at Carnegie Hall. He conducted 10 more CSO programs at the festival through July 28, 1956. He returned to Ravinia in 1985 to conduct the National Symphony Orchestra on tour and finally in 1986 as Laureate Conductor with his own New York Philharmonic on tour.
“There aren’t enough hyphens to string together all of Bernstein’s titles and accomplishments, and Ravinia is hoping to present a well-rounded remembrance of both the common man and the superstar artist who shaped so much of our musical tastes and understanding,” Kauffman said. “Of course, there’s the Laureate Conductor of the New York Philharmonic and the Israel Philharmonic and the genius behind West Side Story, but there’s also the iconoclast, the man who defended melody in era that was atonal in so many ways, and the charismatic leader at home at the glitziest parties and in the grittiest political movements. He lived life large, and his legacy merits global celebration. He was America’s music teacher.”
Ravinia’s Bernstein celebration will also include talks with Alsop, Bernstein producer/biographer Humphrey Burton, and others.
BERNSTEIN’S FINAL TOUR (July 12): Replicating Bernstein’s final tour with the New York Philharmonic, which played Ravinia in August 1986, Marin Alsop conducts the CSO in Bernstein’s Overture to Candide, his Serenade (after Plato’s Symposium)—with violin soloist Joshua Bell—and Tchaikovsky’s Sixth Symphony (“Pathétique”).
REUNION AND REUNIFICATION (July 14): On Christmas Day, 1989, Bernstein led a performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony to celebrate the reunification of Germany two weeks after the wall came down, rewording the “Ode to Joy” as the “Ode to Freedom.” Alsop leads the CSO and Chorus, which is celebrating its 60th anniversary in 2017/18, in this mammoth musical work. Soloists Michelle DeYoung and Paul Appleby are also enjoying a reunion of sorts, as both studied at Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute before becoming major opera stars. They are also joined by Tamara Wilson and Ryan Speedo Green. The program begins with Bernstein’s own Chichester Psalms.
BEETHOVEN’S SEVENTH (July 18): Conductor Gustavo Dudamel makes his long-awaited Ravinia debut with the work that gave Leonard Bernstein his high-note exit: Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony. Connecting across time to the conductor whose shoes he today fills, Dudamel included the Seventh on his debut recording for Deutsche Grammophon. One of the hottest conductors in the world also joins forces with the acclaimed pianist and RSMI alumna Yuja Wang for Beethoven’s First Piano Concerto.
MENTORS AND FRIENDS (July 24): Classical music did not die with Beethoven, and Bernstein’s passion was to bring audiences the music of his contemporaries—particularly Aaron Copland and Igor Stravinsky. A mentor and friend, Copland gave Bernstein composing opportunities. Stravinsky was a frequent focus of Bernstein’s work as a teacher. Marin Alsop conducts the CSO in Copland’s Appalachian Spring, Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue—one of Bernstein’s favorite “party” and recording pieces because of its jazz inflections, with pianist Makoto Ozone—and Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring.
LATE NIGHT WITH LENNY (July 27): Jamie Bernstein hosts a fun and heartfelt evening of music, anecdotes, and remembrances of her father along with soprano Amy Burton and pianists Michael Boriskin and John Musto in Bennett Gordon Hall.
A NEW YOUNG PEOPLE’S CONCERT (July 28): Bernstein’s unprecedented television series of concerts not only helped make him a household name, but it introduced children and parents to classical music. Jamie Bernstein developed and narrates this new generation of Young People’s Concert—”Leonard Bernstein: 100 Years Young”—for Ravinia’s Kids Concert Series. George Stelluto conducts the Peoria Symphony Orchestra and RSMI alumna soprano Michelle Areyzaga as well as student violin, clarinet, and piano soloists—the way Bernstein would have done it. Music includes the Overture to Candide, The Masque from Age of Anxiety, and excerpts from On the Town and Symphonic Dances from West Side Story.
MASS (July 28): Commissioned for the 1971 opening of the Kennedy Center, Bernstein’s theater piece Mass is one of the most opulent works of his career, uniting hundreds of artists on stage, in its Ravinia premiere including the CSO and the choruses Vocality and Chicago Children’s Choir, both led by Josephine Lee. Conductor Marin Alsop resurrected this overlooked work with performances around the world. This production reunites her with director Kevin Newbury (who recently won raves for directing the opera Fellow Travelers and the spectaculars as New York’s Park Avenue Armory) after earning a Grammy nomination for their recording of Mass, which the New York Times praised as “one of the best events of the year.”
BERNSTEIN AND FRIENDS (Aug. 10): Some of Bernstein’s individual songs are as famous and beloved as his long-form works. RSMI alumna soprano Nadine Sierra and tenor Michael Fabiano are accompanied by RSMI vocal director Kevin Murphy in the Martin Theatre for a melodic sampling of the songs we’re still humming today. Sierra just recorded some of these greats on her Deutsche Grammophon/Decca Gold debut recording.
RUSSIAN GLORY (Aug. 18): Longtime social activist and humanitarian Bernstein dedicated Slava! (A Political Overture) to cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, whose nickname was “Slava,” the Russian word for “glory.” Shortly after he became music director of the New York Philharmonic, Bernstein led the orchestra on a Russian tour featuring Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony. Shostakovich was also a friend of Rostropovich and, like Bernstein, created new music for him. Also on the program is one of Bernstein’s signature pieces, Ravel’s Piano Concerto, played here by Igor Levit. Marin Alsop conducts the CSO.
MORE BERNSTEIN AND FRIENDS (Aug. 19): Singers from Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute sing the songs of Bernstein and his mentors and contemporaries for the final concert of RSMI’s 2018 session.
VON STADE’S FIRST ‘JEREMIAH’ (Aug. 19): Bernstein made Mahler a vital part of the world’s classical experience, and glimmers of Mahler’s Jewish roots can be heard in his First Symphony. Jewish themes are also heard in Bernstein’s First Symphony (“Jeremiah”), which he premiered just months after becoming an overnight star with a surprise New York Philharmonic debut. Alsop and the CSO are joined by frequent Bernstein collaborator mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade, singing the solo part in his “Jeremiah” Symphony for the first time.
ACROSS GENERATIONS (Aug. 21): John Corigliano, who turns 80 this year, won an Oscar for his score for The Red Violin, the story of a violin across generations of owners. Corigliano’s father was the longtime concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic under Bernstein. The evening is conducted by Michael Stern (whose father, Isaac, premiered Bernstein’s Serenade), and Joshua Bell re-creates his soundtrack performance (he also performs Serenade on July 12) with the Chicago Philharmonic while the film is shown on screens in the Pavilion and on the Lawn.
IN OUR TIME (Sept. 11): Grammy-nominated jazz singer Theo Bleckmann, who consistently appears in among the top five male vocalists in DownBeat magazine’s annual critical polls, and genre-crashing pianist Lara Downes, whose playing has been called “luscious, moody, and dreamy” by the New York Times, join forces to explore the popular songs of the contemporaries Leonard Bernstein and Duke Ellington in the Martin Theatre.
FOR LENNY (Sept. 12): Pianist Lara Downes returns to perform songs from her Sony Music–debut CD, For Lenny: An Intimate Tribute to Leonard Bernstein and His American Legacy, which was awarded the 2017 Classical Recording Foundation Award.
CHICAGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA RESIDENCY
Ravinia has hosted the CSO in its summer residency since 1936. This summer, 15 diverse programs, from July 12 through Aug. 19, will be led by eight different conductors, including Gustavo Dudamel in his long-awaited Ravinia debut as well as Andy Einhorn, Ken-David Masur, and Joshua Gersen in their simultaneous Ravinia and CSO debuts. (Note: Several CSO programs are previewed in the Bernstein Centennial section above.)
SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH AUDRA (July 15): Singer/actress Audra McDonald headlines the annual gala benefit hosted by Ravinia’s Women’s Board. The only person to ever earn Tony Awards in all four actress categories, she won her record-breaking sixth Tony last year for Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill. Star of TV’s The Good Fight, McDonald has previously performed in concert at Ravinia and co-starred in the festival’s lauded Sondheim at 75 series in Passion, Anyone Can Whistle, and Sunday in the Park with George. The program will be conducted by Andy Einhorn, who recently conducted Broadway’s blockbuster revival of Hello, Dolly!, in his debuts with both the CSO and Ravinia.
GUSTAVO DUDAMEL/YUJA WANG (July 18): Perhaps the hottest conductor in the world, Los Angeles Philharmonic Music Director Gustavo Dudamel, makes his long-awaited Ravinia debut joined by pianist Yuja Wang, back from her acclaimed Ravinia debut last season. The all-Beethoven evening, featuring the First Piano Concerto and the Seventh Symphony, marks the first Chicago pairing of the superstars.
TCHAIKOVSKY SPECTACULAR (July 22): Miriam Fried, celebrating her 25th year as the director of Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute’s Program for Piano and Strings, joins the CSO for a performance of the Violin Concerto as part of the festival’s annual family-friendly All-Tchaikovsky “spectacular” that features the 1812 Overture with live cannons. Ken-David Masur, Assistant Conductor of the Boston Symphony and son of legendary conductor Kurt Masur, makes his concurrent Ravinia and CSO debuts, conducting the program that also features Capriccio Italien and excerpts from Eugene Onegin.
JOHN WILLIAMS MASTERWORKS E.T. (Aug. 1) AND RAIDERS (Aug. 2): The enduring symbiotic relationship between director Steven Spielberg and legendary composer John Williams has produced some of the most satisfying blockbusters in the history of cinema. Two of those cross-generational favorites will be presented in their entirety, with the CSO performing the Oscar-winning score to E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial on Aug. 1 and the rousing Raiders of the Lost Ark on Aug. 2 under the baton of Emil de Cou while the films are shown on screens in the Pavilion and on the Lawn.
BEETHOVEN’S FIFTH (Aug. 4): Vasily Petrenko conducts the most famous piece of classical repertoire, the Fifth Symphony of Beethoven, whose gargantuan Ninth and Seventh Symphonies will also be performed this summer. The program also features the Strauss tone poem Don Juan and pianist Simon Trpčeski, who made a stunning Ravinia Pavilion debut in 2017 with two different concertos, on Grieg’s Piano Concerto.
CONLON CONDUCTS (Aug. 9/11): Former Ravinia Music Director James Conlon returns with a program that brings Baroque into the 20th century with Suites from Pulcinella by Stravinsky and from Le Bourgeois gentilhomme by Strauss. Ravinia favorite Garrick Ohlsson performs Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, K. 466, the piece heard over the final scene of Amadeus, on Aug. 9. Celebrated as Los Angeles Opera Music Director and Principal Conductor of Turin’s RAI National Symphony Orchestra James Conlon leads CSO and Metropolitan Opera stars soprano Nadine Sierra and tenor Matthew Polenzani in an evening of popular works from Italian opera. The Aug. 11 program features Rossini’s Overtures to The Barber of Seville and Semiramide and his Overture and Passo a sei from William Tell, as well as “Lucia, perdona,” the Mad Scene, and the final scene from Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor.
BERNARD HERRMANN’S VERTIGO (Aug. 15): Like Spielberg and Williams, Hitchcock and Herrmann enjoyed a symbiotic partnership, with eight successful films—including Psycho!—beginning with 1955’s The Trouble with Harry through 1966’s Torn Curtain. But, but like many critics, Herrmann himself considered the score to Vertigo (which Conlon re-recorded in 1999) to be the pinnacle of his work. Using harps and strings instead of horns and percussion to drive the action sequences, Herrmann taps into motifs reminiscent of Wagner. In his concurrent Ravinia and CSO debuts, Joshua Gersen conducts the CSO as the entire film is shown on video screens in the Pavilion and on the Lawn.
WORDS AND MUSIC
In 2018, Ravinia presents the Chicago premieres of several major dramatic works combining elements of music theater and concert pieces.
“Along with the powerful Mass by Leonard Bernstein, we’re presenting a trio of fascinating and moving premieres, each a reflection on yearning and loss, that may stand as the concerts audiences talk about all year,” Kauffman said. “With today’s headlines, I’ve found this new take on the story of Matthew Shepard to be especially effective, and I’m working with the Center on Halsted to make sure the gay community is aware of this important work.”
SHOSTAKOVICH AND THE BLACK MONK: A RUSSIAN FANTASY (July 17): The Emerson String Quartet explores Shostakovich’s obsessive but failed 50-year quest to compose an opera based on Chekhov’s story The Black Monk in this music theater piece created by Emerson violinist Philip Setzer and writer/director James Glossman. Jay O. Sanders (JFK, The Day After Tomorrow, Revolutionary Road) stars as Stalin and David Strathairn (Billions, Good Night and Good Luck, Lincoln) as Shostakovich, heading a cast that also features Ali Breneman, Evelyn McGee-Colbert, Alex Glossman, Paul Murphy, and Linda Setzer. They are accompanied in the Martin Theater by the ESQ performing Shostakovich’s music, including a complete performance of his 14th Quartet. The Times-Union describes the 90-minute production as “an imaginative collage of music and drama … neither a straight play nor a concert, but something in between.”
CONSIDERING MATTHEW SHEPARD (Sept. 12): Composer Craig Hella Johnson, artistic director of Conspirare, leads that Grammy-winning group in the Chicago premiere of his oratorio Considering Matthew Shepard in the Martin Theatre to mark the 20th anniversary of the torture and lonely death of a young gay man in Laramie, WY. The infamous murder sparked Congress to enact the Hate Crimes Prevention Act and has been memorialized in several significant artistic works, including The Laramie Project. Johnson’s interpretation fuses several musical styles with texts from such poets as Hildegard of Bingen, Rumi, and Michael Dennis Browne, interspersed with passages from Shepard’s personal journal. The Washington Post said the piece “demonstrates music’s capacity to encompass, transform, and transcend tragedy. Powerfully cathartic, it leads us from horror and grief to a higher understanding of the human condition, enabling us to endure.” Johnson and members of the cast will give a “talk back” at the Center on Halsted at 6 p.m. Aug. 15.
LAGRIME DI SAN PIETRO (Sept. 13): The always-stunning 21 singers of the a cappella Los Angeles Master Chorale (The Gospel According to the Other Mary, Tan Dun’s Water Passion) returns to Ravinia’s Pavilion with the groundbreaking production of Orlando di Lasso’s Lagrime di San Pietro (The Tears of Saint Peter) conducted by Grant Gershon and directed by the irrepressible Peter Sellars. This is the first Sellars staging at Ravinia. The LA Times called the dramatic masterpiece—about personal responsibility as reflected through Peter’s denial of Jesus—”a major accomplishment for music history.”
BERNSTEIN CENTENNIAL: Several of the programs detailed in the Bernstein section above also combine storytelling through words and music, including Late Night with Lenny (July 27), Mass (July 28), and A New Young People’s Concert (July 28).
COMPLETE FILMS WITH ORCHESTRA
It’s often said that if the great classical composers were alive today they would be working in Hollywood. Certainly, movie scores count among many people’s initial contact with symphonic music, and Ravinia has successfully introduced new audiences to the orchestral sound by presenting complete films, shown on video screens in the Pavilion and on the Lawn, while live orchestras perform their scores, which have been digitally removed from the soundtracks. This summer, Ravinia presents four films whose personalities are driven by their scores.
E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL (Aug. 1): Despite its unprecedented domination of the box office for more than a year and out-of-this-world reviews in its initial 1982 release, the quintessential Steven Spielberg film E.T. phoned home with only four Oscars out of nine nominations. One of those went to John Williams, whose score is the very heart-light of the endearing family classic about a lonely suburban boy—a Spielberg surrogate—who befriends an equally lonely alien stranded on Earth and pursued by scary government scientists. Williams’s score alternates from sweet to exciting (especially in “Flying,” when E.T. and Elliott silhouette across the moon), ending with the 16-minute “Adventure on Earth,” the driving climax that stands as a mini-symphony on its own. Emil de Cou conducts the CSO. Dean Richards, entertainment critic for WGN morning news and 720AM WGN Radio, will lead a pre-concert discussion in front of the giant lawn screen.
RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (Aug. 2): A true Hollywood pantheon, director Steven Spielberg, producer George Lucas, screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan, and composer John Williams all bring their A-game to the B-movies with Raiders of the Lost Ark, 1981’s revolutionary homage to and send-up of the action serials of old. Actor-turned-movie-star Harrison Ford plays the now-iconic Indiana Jones, the wisecracking, whip-snapping archeologist who escapes a near-death “cliffhanger” every 15 minutes, accompanied by heroic march music that stands among Williams’s best scores. Emil de Cou conducts the CSO. Dean Richards, entertainment critic for WGN morning news and 720AM WGN Radio, will lead a pre-concert discussion in front of the big lawn screen.
VERTIGO (Aug. 15): Alfred Hitchcock’s 1958 psychological thriller Vertigo is widely admired as the best film ever made (even replacing Citizen Kane atop the British Film Institute’s critics’ poll). James Stewart stars as a cop forced from the force by an extreme fear of heights and sensation of vertigo. Hitchcock cleverly uses the swirling sense of vertigo to return to the same moments in memory and employing what is now known as the “Vertigo Shot,” the dolly zoom. This swirling sensation is matched by Herrmann’s kinetic score. Joshua Gersen conducts the CSO. Michael Phillips, film critic for the Chicago Tribune, will lead a pre-concert discussion in front of the big lawn screen.
THE RED VIOLIN (Aug. 21): Superstar violinist Joshua Bell re-creates the Oscar-winning music he recorded for the 1999 classic The Red Violin, which follows the “life” of an impeccably crafted violin across oceans and time. Michael Stern conducts the Chicago Philharmonic in celebration of the 80th birthday of the film’s composer, John Corigliano.
CHAMBER MUSIC/RECITALS
Although celebrated for providing one of the finest outdoor music experiences, Ravinia also presents one of the world’s most expansive chamber music series, hosting more than 50 indoor concerts and recitals in its two halls, the exquisite 850-seat Martin Theatre and the state-of-the-art 450-seat Bennett Gordon Hall, home to the $10 BGH Classics series. Martin Theatre concerts are broadcast to the lawn; Bennett Gordon Hall concerts are not. Highlights include:
“A NIGHT AT BACH’S COFFEEHOUSE” (June 26): Conductor/harpsichordist Jeanette Sorrell leads the Cleveland Baroque Orchestra Apollo’s Fire in a program of Bach and his contemporaries that includes the Brandenburg Concerto No. 5, Vivaldi’s Concerto for Four Violins in B minor, and excerpts from Bach’s Orchestral Suite No. 2. (Martin)
KSENIJA’S “RUSSIAN ACCORDION” (July 3): The classical accordionist Ksenija Sidorova blew away Ravinia audiences with her unique take on the classic opera Carmen (also her award-winning Deutsche Grammophon–debut recording) and is back to showcase music from Russia. The Latvian-born musician is considered the “accordion ambassador” of the world. (Martin)
ZUKERMAN TRIO (July 11): Pinchas Zukerman’s trio gives an all-Brahms concert featuring Cello Sonata No. 1, a viola transcription of Meine Liebe ist grün, and Viola Sonata No. 1. (Martin)
DICHTER’S 50th (July 23–24): Pianist Misha Dichter celebrates the 50th anniversary of his Ravinia debut on July 23 along with his wife, pianist Cipa Dichter. This is the couple’s 25th Ravinia concert together. He returns the next night with the Argus Quartet for piano quintets by Shostakovich and Dvořák. Misha has performed at Ravinia in all but five of the past 50 years, giving 71 concerts and 10 master classes. ($10 BGH)
RAY CHEN IN RECITAL (July 25): His CSO debut at Ravinia last summer earned a thunderous standing ovation and encore, and now the violinist that the Chicago Tribune described as “a superlative virtuoso” returns for his first appearance in the Martin Theatre, featuring Beethoven’s Violin Sonata No. 1, Saint-Saëns’s Violin Sonata No. 1, Ysaÿe’s Sonata No. 4 for Solo Violin, Falla/Kochański’s Suite populaire espagnole, and Vittorio Monti’s Csárdás. He will be accompanied by Julio Elizalde. (Martin)
TAKÁCS STRING QUARTET (July 30): The Takács Quartet’s new second violinist, Harumi Rhodes, makes her debut as a permanent member of the group at Ravinia with a program that features Mozart’s String Quartet K. 575, Dohnányi’s String Quartet No. 2, and Dvořák’s String Quartet No. 10. Rhodes, who teaches violin at Colorado University–Boulder, replaces retiring founding member Károly Schranz. (Martin)
MILOŠ—”VOICE OF THE GUITAR” (Aug. 20): The world’s most popular classical guitarist, Miloš Karadaglić wowed Ravinia audiences with his 2014 Ravinia debut, and he returns with Boccherini’s “Fandango” along with Spanish, Brazilian, and Argentine dances from Falla, Granados, Villa-Lobos, and Piazzolla. (Martin)
CHANTICLEER (July 31): In a program titled “Then and There, Here and Now,” the a cappella singers perform classic folk, pop, jazz, and gospel from their favorite arrangers. (Martin)
“NO TENORS ALLOWED” (Aug. 7): It’s all about the bass in this clever program dedicated to the more devilish voice types with baritone Thomas Hampson and bass-baritone Luca Pisaroni accompanied by Kevin Murphy. (Martin)
BISS CONCLUDES BEETHOVEN (Aug. 21–22): Pianist and Beethoven scholar Jonathan Biss concludes his three-year journey through the complete Beethoven piano sonatas with Sonatas Nos. 6, 10, and 18, along with the “Hammerklavier,” on Aug. 21; and Nos. 22, 26, and 32, along with the “Pathétique,” on Aug. 22. ($10 BGH)
MEZZO MEDLEY (Aug. 16): Mezzo-sopranos Frederica von Stade and Laurie Rubin reteam for a collection of favorite solos and duets with pianist Jenny Taira. (Martin)
SHAW AND UPSHAW (Aug. 27): Soprano Dawn Upshaw, pianist Gilbert Kalish, and Sō Percussion perform George Crumb’s The Winds of Destiny (American Songbook IV) and the Midwest premiere of Pulitzer Prize winner Caroline Shaw’s Narrow Sea. (Martin)
“CLASS OF 1938” (Sept. 1): Celebrating the 80th birthdays of John Corigliano, William Bolcom, Joan Tower, Frederic Rzewski, and their peers, mezzo-soprano Lucy Schaufer and pianist Huw Watkins perform their songs and piano pieces, including the US premiere of Corigliano’s The Passionate Shepherd to His Love. ($10 BGH).
COMEDY
Chris Thile and his supporting players and guest stars broadcast the Live from Here (formerly A Prairie Home Companion) national radio show live from Ravinia for the first time on June 9. The Martin Theatre wasn’t big enough to contain the wit and charisma of Broadway and cabaret headliner Alan Cumming (a regular on TV’s The Good Wife and star of the upcoming series Instinct), let alone his sold-out audience, so he’s in the Pavilion with new songs and stories in his current show Legal Immigrant on July 13. With her Ravinia debut, multimedia star Whoopi Goldberg re-engages her stand-up roots in an evening of unique observations on current events and a wide variety of topics on Aug. 3. It will be hard to separate the laughs from the music when Second City alum Martin Short makes his Ravinia debut by joining his big-screen amigo Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers, with Jeff Babko, on Aug. 12. Chicago South Sider Joey Villagomez, seen on HBO, Paul Rodriguez’s Latin Kings of Comedy, and the TBS Just for Laughs festivals, makes his Ravinia debut as part of the daylong Fiesta Ravinia celebration of Mexican music, food, and culture on Sept. 16.
RAVINIA’S STEANS MUSIC INSTITUTE 30th ANNIVERSARY
In 2018, Ravinia celebrates the 30th anniversary of its on-campus summer conservatory, Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute (RSMI), and the 25th year of world-renowned violinist Miriam Fried leading its acclaimed Piano and Strings program. To help celebrate, 30 established RSMI alumni and faculty will showcase their talents in concerts throughout the summer, including Yuja Wang, Michelle DeYoung, Nadine Sierra, Paul Appleby, and Gilbert Kalish.
Established in 1988, RSMI welcomes the best young musicians from around the world, who compete for about 60 coveted fellowships, to this immersive and highly regarded summer conservatory to work individually and in ensembles with the superb faculty of concert artists and to hone their onstage performance skills before Ravinia’s discerning audiences.
“By presenting a wide range of programming, from family treasures to inspiring premieres, Ravinia helps to develop new audiences for classical music, but we are equally responsible for helping to develop the emerging artists that will keep those listeners engaged, and that’s why RSMI is so vital to our mission,” Kauffman said. “To have someone of the talent and stature of Miriam Fried leading this charge, and remaining passionate about it for a quarter century, is beyond our wildest dreams. We cannot thank her enough.”
BRIDGES/THE DAVID BAKER PRIZE (June 9): Bridging its newest education program—jazz—to its first—piano and strings—Ravinia created Bridges, a competition to inspire composers to create new works combining jazz and classical chamber forms. The three winners of its David Baker Prize were selected by judges and RSMI directors and musicians Billy Childs, Rufus Reid, and Nathan Davis to receive $2,500 each and to have their world premieres at Ravinia in celebration of the 30th anniversary of RSMI. The June 9 concert will feature the winning works for string quartet and jazz trio—Slow Growth/New Growth by Sam Blakeslee (2010 RSMI alum), Haunted Lullaby of the Forgotten by Zachary Bornheimer (2017 RSMI alum), and Septet by Gene Knific—performed by the judges and an ensemble of RSMI alumni. The program will also feature works composed by Childs, Reid, and Davis. Ticketholders are invited to a free post-concert award presentation and party in Ravinia’s new Lawn Bar. The prize was named for the late composer/trombonist David Baker, the founding director of the RSMI Jazz program.
MIRIAM FRIED’S 25th YEAR (June 28/July 22): The 30th anniversary year of RSMI is also the 25th year of renowned violinist Miriam Fried at the helm of its Piano and Strings program. “In so many ways, it was Fried who developed the way the institute functions, and it’s because of her that Ravinia attracts the best students in the world,” Kauffman said. On June 28, Fried takes a bow with fellow RSMI faculty violinist Pamela Frank, violists Paul Biss and Kim Kashkashian, cellist Timothy Eddy, and pianist Robert Levin, as well as RSMI alumnus and CSO cellist and Kenneth Olsen, for a Martin Theatre program featuring Mozart’s Piano Quartet No. 1 and Schubert’s String Quintet. On July 22, she joins the CSO for what is typically the best-attended orchestral event of the summer, the annual Tchaikovsky Spectacular, on which she will perform the composer’s famed Violin Concerto.
TIMO ANDRES WORLD PREMIERE (July 16): In celebration of the RSMI milestones, Pulitzer Prize finalist Timo Andres has been commissioned to create a new work that will receive its world premiere on July 16 as part of the $10 BGH series. The New Yorker said Andres’s work “achieves an unhurried grandeur that has rarely been felt in American music since John Adams came on the scene.” The composer/pianist will also be joined by RSMI alumnus David Kaplan on Aug. 24 for two-piano works by Rachmaninoff and Stravinsky on the BGH series.
$10 BGH CLASSICS: Current RSMI participants will perform seven concerts on the $10 BGH Classics series. The mostly Chicago-based jazz musicians will showcase their ensemble, writing, and improvisational skills in the annual “Jazz Grandstand” on June 15; participants in the Program for Piano and Strings will perform works by Brahms along with a selection of other composers on July 9, 16, and 19; and participants in the Program for Singers explore classic song on Aug. 8 and Spanish canciónes on Aug. 13.
MASTER CLASSES: Among the most intriguing events Ravinia offers is the series of free master classes at which the young professionals of RSMI expose themselves to critique and instruction before a live audience. This summer the master classes will be led by jazz giants Billy Childs, Nathan Davis, and Rufus Reid on June 13; violinist Miriam Fried on June 29; cellist Paul Katz on July 6; violist Atar Arad on July 11; pianist and vocal coach Kevin Murphy on July 30; baritone Thomas Hampson on Aug. 6; and mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade on Aug. 17.
MATINEE CONCERTS: Participants in RSMI give free matinee concerts all summer long at 2 p.m. in Bennett Gordon Hall. Piano & Strings concerts are set for June 30 and July 7, 8, 10, 13, 14, 17, 20 and 21; and the Program for Singers will perform on Aug. 15 and 19.
FACULTY PERFORMANCES: Pianist Leon Fleisher will celebrate his 90th birthday with a recital in the Martin Theatre on July 23. Pianist Kevin Murphy, director of the RSMI Program for Singers, will perform with baritone Thomas Hampson and bass-baritone Luca Pisaroni on their “No Tenors Allowed” program on Aug. 7 in the Martin Theatre. Murphy also joins tenor Michael Fabiano and RSMI alumna soprano Nadine Sierra in a concert of Bernstein songs on Aug. 10 in the Martin Theatre. The soprano then joins tenor Matthew Polenzani and the CSO under James Conlon for a night of Italian opera favorites on Aug. 11. Beloved mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade will join conductor Marin Alsop and the CSO for the first symphonies of Mahler and Bernstein in the Pavilion on Aug. 19. Von Stade also reunites with mezzo-soprano Laurie Rubin for a Martin Theatre recital of songs and duets on Aug. 16. Jonathan Biss completes his three-year Beethoven piano sonata cycle on Aug. 21 and 22.
ALUMNI PERFORMANCES: World-class artists who have honed their craft at RSMI perform with the most accomplished ensembles—including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra—in the most illustrious halls around the world, and Ravinia is always thrilled to welcome them back. This summer 16 alumni return on a variety of concerts, including violinist Joseph Lin in his final performance as a regular member of the Juilliard String Quartet on June 20; cellist Paul Dwyer as a member of Apollo’s Fire for “A Night at Bach’s Coffeehouse,” June 26; and violinists Cornelius Chiu, Lei Hou, and Qing Hou, violist Wei-Ting Kuo, and cellist Kenneth Olsen appearing throughout the summer as members of the CSO. Mezzo-soprano Michelle DeYoung and tenor Paul Appleby will be featured soloists on the July 14 CSO performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. The Argus Quartet helps pianist Misha Dichter celebrate the 50th anniversary of his Ravinia debut on July 24. For the first time in Chicago, Yuja Wang, who has become one of the most important pianists of her generation, joins the world’s most popular conductor, Gustavo Dudamel, leading the CSO on July 18.
POP/ROCK/JAZZ/R&B AND MORE
The 2018 season is bookended by Latin artists. Summer begins June 1 with the favorite Ravinia pairing of Los Lobos and Los Lonely Boys, joined in its Ravinia debut by the Latin hip-hop and rock band Ozomatli, which is celebrating the 20th anniversary of its first recording. The season closes on Sept. 16 with the third annual Fiesta Ravinia, a daylong family festival of Mexican culture and arts in celebration of Mexican Independence Day. The immensely popular and influential norteño band Los Tigres del Norte headlines with Mariachi Flor de Toloache. Fiesta also features Galli Lucha Libre, comedian Joey Villagomez, Chicago Mariachi Project, and the Folkloric Dance Company of Chicago. Latin-themed concerts also include the Gipsy Kings featuring Nicolas Reyes and Tonino Baliardo on Sept. 14.
Ravinia is the diva domain this summer as Diana Ross returns on June 2 after her sold-out 2016 Ravinia debut, soul superstar Anita Baker makes her first Ravinia appearance since 2012 on June 10, singer/actress/poet/model Jill Scott makes her first festival appearance on June 22, three-time Grammy-winning Beninese diva Angélique Kidjo reinterprets the Talking Heads’ classic 1980 album Remain in Light on a bill with Femi Kuti & the Positive Force on Aug. 6, and stage and screen star Kristin Chenoweth makes her Ravinia debut on a bill with cabaret legend Michael Feinstein on Aug. 14.
Also making Ravinia debuts this summer will be Loverboy and Survivor on June 3; mash-up quartet Well-Strung on June 21; Roger Daltrey performing the Who’s Tommy with members of The Who Band and the Ravinia Festival Orchestra on two nights, June 23 and 25; Bryan Adams on June 29; jazz jam band Snarky Puppy with Damien Escobar and Jacob Collier on July 2; Evanescence and YouTube superstar Lindsey Stirling on July 10; one of the most successful producers in music history, David Foster (who’s worked with Barbra Streisand, Celine Dion, Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, Madonna, and other giants), on Aug. 5; Cake and Ben Folds on Aug. 22; Sugarland featuring Jennifer Nettles and Kristian Bush on their “Still the Same Tour” with Frankie Ballard and Lindsay Ell on Aug. 23; The Righteous Brothers on a bill with The Beach Boys on Aug. 24; Jason Mraz, the Grammy winner who just starred in Waitress on Broadway, brings his “Good Vibes” tour with Brett Dennen on Aug. 25; rapper 50 Cent on Sept. 6; progressive rock band YES featuring Jon Anderson, Trevor Rabin, and Rick Wakeman on Sept. 7; and Johnny Rivers and “America’s composer” Jimmy Webb on Sept. 15.
On July 29, “The Lost 80’s Live” brings a rollicking roster of hit-makers that include A Flock of Seagulls, Wang Chung, Naked Eyes, Men Without Hats, Farrington and Mann (the original vocalists from When in Rome UK), Animotion, Dramarama, Nu Shooz, and Gene Loves Jezebel, all making their Ravinia debuts. Culture Club featuring Boy George makes its Ravinia debut on a triple bill with The B-52s and Thompson Twins featuring Tom Bailey for two dates, Aug. 31 and Sept. 1.
Celebrating the 300th anniversary of New Orleans on Aug. 26, “Trombone Shorty’s Voodoo Threauxdown” features an electric and eclectic collection of Big Easy artists including Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue, Galactic, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, New Breed Brass Band, Walter “Wolfman” Washington, Cyrill Neville, and Kermit Ruffins.
Returning favorites include Matisyahu with Stephen Marley on June 7; John Fogerty and ZZ Top on June 12; Jackson Browne on June 15; Alison Krauss on June 16; Seal on June 19; Buddy Guy and Jonny Lang on July 8; Bonnie Koloc and Howard Levy on Aug. 8; Earth, Wind & Fire on Aug. 17; Lyle Lovett & His Large Band on Aug. 28; John Hiatt & The Goners, featuring Sonny Landreth, on Aug. 30; O.A.R. and the “Just Like Paradise” tour with special guest Matt Nathanson on Sept. 2; Jethro Tull’s 50th anniversary tour with Ian Anderson on Sept. 3; and the legendary Tony Bennett in his 39th Ravinia concert, with Antonia Bennett, on Sept. 8.
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