Ravinia Festival

Ravinia Park is a private park in Highland Park, Illinois with a variety of outdoor and indoor performing arts facilities, and it is best known as the site of the Ravinia Festival, the oldest outdoor music festival in the United States^[1], with a series of outdoor concerts and performances held every summer from June to September. It has been the summer home of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra since 1936.

The park takes its name from the ravines found nearby along the shoreline of Lake Michigan.

Performance and other venues

The Pavilion, a 3,200-seat venue where the park's major music events and concerts, including Chicago Symphony Orchestra performances, are held. Patrons can see the shows in a traditional concert setting in an open-air theater with state-of-the-art sound, video and lighting equipment or choose to sit in the lawn area and listen to the music while picnicking.

The Martin Theatre, an 850-seat indoor hall often used for chamber music, semi-staged opera performances, Martinis at the Martin cabaret series, and other intimate shows.

Bennett Gordon Hall, the 450-seat home of the Steans Institute for Young Artists, Rising Stars series, also used for pre-concert discussions and preview concerts. The Steans Institute for Young Artists is the Ravinia Festival's professional studies program for young musicians. Three programs comprise the Institute's summer season: the program for jazz; the classical programs for piano and strings and for singers. In each of the programs, young artists study with an internationally renowned faculty of artist/teachers, participate in concerts given as part of Ravinia's summer programming and attend Ravinia concerts. Musicians from Ravinia’s Steans Institute is a chamber ensemble whose members are selected each year from the most promising musicians to attend the Institute’s summer session at Ravinia. They perform on tour with program director Miriam Fried. The repertoire for each tour varies but always includes three or four works for piano and strings. The tour, designed to bring the musical richness of Ravinia to a wider audience, presents formal concerts as well as educational outreach programs for schools and community organizations. Musicians from Ravinia’s Steans Institute have appeared at such prestigious venues as Boston’s Gardner Museum, the Library of Congress, Miami’s Friends of Chamber Music series and New York’s Town Hall, in addition to performances each year on the Ravinia Festival’s Rising Stars series.

Overview

In 1904, the A.C. Frost Company created Ravinia as an amusement park intended to lure riders to the fledgling Chicago and Milwaukee Electric Railroad. The amusement park boasted a baseball diamond, electric fountain and refectory or casino building with dining rooms and a dance floor. The prairie-style Martin Theatre (then called Ravinia Theatre) is the only building on the grounds that dates back to that original construction. When the park's existence became jeopardized following the railroad's bankruptcy, local residents (for the most part Chicago businessmen) formed a corporation in 1911 to purchase and operate the park. Music was a confirmed summer activity from then on, except for a brief hiatus during the Depression.

Over 100 years later, Ravinia Festival is the oldest outdoor music festival in North America and is lauded for presenting world-class music. The festival attracts about 600,000 listeners to some 120 to 150 events that span all genres from classical music to jazz to music theater over each three-month summer season. Over the years, the festival has hosted such luminaries as Louis Armstrong, The Ballet Russe, The Beach Boys, Tony Bennett, Luciano Berio, Leonard Bernstein, Lucrezia Bori, Dave Brubeck, Montserrat Caballé, Pablo Casals, Van Cliburn, Joe Cocker, Aaron Copland, Crosby, Stills, & Nash, Dorothy Dandridge, Bob Dylan, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, George Gershwin, JosZÿ Greco, Herbie Hancock, Jascha Heifetz, John Houseman, Janis Joplin, Yo-Yo Ma, Luciano Pavarotti, Itzhak Perlman, Peter, Paul & Mary, Oscar Peterson, Stephen Sondheim, Isaac Stern, Sting, Donna Summer, Sarah Vaughan, Orson Welles, and Frank Zappa.

The Festival includes symphony concerts, often with guest soloists, as well as opera, jazz, blues, folk, and rock performances, plus ballet, drama, and educational programs which take place year-round.

Grounds

For most attendees Ravinia is experienced on the 36 acre (150,000 m²) parkland and lawn. The unique setting allows for open seating and picnicking, where families and attendees can choose to use as much (or little) space as they need, with a powerful sound system broadcasting the live performance throughout the park. Most attendees choose to bring complete picnics and dinners to shows, with various lawn chairs, coolers full of food, blankets, candles, and lawn accessories in tow. Ravinia is one of the few concert venues in the country to allow full meals to be brought in and consumed at concerts, even allowing alcoholic beverages and bottles of wine. Accordingly, most grocery stores and specialty restaurants in and around the Highland Park area offer ready-to-eat "Ravinia picnics" for purchase.

The park is served by the Metra commuter railroad with special stops before and after concerts. Visitors get dropped off and picked up right at the front gate. Attendance often tops 600,000 annually.

Education and Community Partnerships

Ravinia’s education and community partnership programs connect music to thousands of families around Chicago through multi-tiered initiatives including teaming working musicians with teachers to integrate music into the public schools, running a community music conservatory in Lawndale, the Opportunity Lawn Pass Program and the One Score, One Chicago program. The Music Performance initiative allows professional musicians to work as mentors within the classroom, focusing on specific instruments to demonstrate standards for playing classical and jazz music. These role models strive to develop students’ self-esteem and increase their access to the cultural riches of the music world. This program is currently offered in 10 Chicago Public High Schools. The Music Discovery program targets children in kindergarten through third grade. This arts-integrated program sends accomplished teaching artists into classrooms for a 15-week period during which they introduce students to the magic of music, again complementing classroom curriculum. At the end of the school year, children from the Music Illumination and Music Discovery programs are brought to Ravinia to perform for each other and picnic together during “Ravinia Days.”

While reaching out through the schools, Ravinia is also active in Chicago’s under-served communities, particularly Lawndale, a neighborhood on Chicago’s West Side. The Ravinia Festival Lawndale Partnership helps community leaders and residents reinvest in the cultural health of their community through town meetings, conservatory classes and concerts. Currently in its 10th year partnership, the Ravinia Lawndale Community Music Conservatory currently offers free private lessons to more than 150 students in piano, violin, classical guitar and voice.

Stressing the importance of access, Ravinia’s Opportunity Lawn Pass Program is offered to organizations all across Chicago that serve those in need. Last year nearly 4,500 people attended jazz, pop, classical and kids concerts with free lawn passes provided through this program. In 2007 the Classical Invitations program allowed over 1,000 music students to attend classical concerts. Additionally, last year Ravinia donated over 50,000 lawn tickets to Chicago area libraries through the Words & Music Program with the Chicago Public Library,^[2] which in turn distributed them free to their patrons. One of the most widespread community projects is Four Score, For Chicago, (Originally One Score, One Chicago.) Every year four different musical masterpieces are selected for this project designed to initiate a community-wide discussion among music aficionados and neophytes alike. Concerts are performed at Ravinia, lectures are given at public libraries, and related programs are performed in the public schools. Ravinia also creates and distributes a resource guide that further illuminates the topic.

Artistic Leadership

James Conlon, Ravinia Festival Music Director (2005-)
Ramsey Lewis, Artistic Director, Jazz at Ravinia
Welz Kauffman, President and CEO

Past Music directors

Christoph Eschenbach (1994-2005)
James Levine (1971-1994)
Seiji Ozawa (1964-1971)

Ravinia neighborhood

The neighborhood, once an incorporated village before annexation, is variously known as Ravinia or Ravinia Park, and retains its own post office. The business district on Roger Williams Ave., within walking distance from the Park itself, includes neighborhood service businesses and restaurants.

List of 2010 Shows

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June 3 Nobuyuki Tsujii doing Beethoven Sonata No. 11 in B-flat Major, Op. 22; Sonata No. 23 in F-Minor, Op. 57 ("Apassionata"); Sonata No. 29 in B-Flat Major, Op. 106 ("Hammerklavier")
June 4 Chicago Children's Choir
June 5 Vince Gill with guest James Otto
June 6 Earth, Wind and Fire
June 10 "El Salon Mexico" Concert Dance Inc./Adam Marks/Welz Kauffman
June 11 "El Salon Mexico" Concert Dance Inc./Adam Marks/Welz Kauffman
June 12 Milkshake (kids concert)
June 12 Steve Martin with the Steep Canyon Rangers: "An Evening of Bluegrass & Banjo"
June 13 Sheryl Crow with guest Colbie Caillat
June 17 "Jazz in June Showcase"
June 17 Backstreet Boys
June 18 The Dave Brubeck Quartet/Nancy Wilson and the Ramsey Lewis Trio/All-Star Steans Jazz Band Quintet
June 19 Synergy Brass Quintet (kids concert)
June 19 "Ravinia: Jazz Mentors and Scholars" preview concert
June 19 Buddy Guy/JJ Grey/Mofro
June 20 Jethro Tull with guest Procol Harum
June 23 Golden Dragon Acrobats from China (kids concert)
June 24 "Frederic Chopin 200" Garrick Ohlsson doing Chopin
June 25 The Moody Blues
June 26 Ralph's World (kids concert)
June 26 Orquestra Buena Vista Social Club featuring Omara Portuondo
June 27 "Vocabularies" with Bobby McFerrin/Chicago Children's Choir
June 28 Artists from Ravinia's Steans Institute
June 28 "Frederic Chopin 200" Chicago Symphony Orchestra, James Conlon, conductor/Garrick Ohlsson
June 29 Juilliard String Quartet, "Robert Schumann 200"
June 30 Artists from Ravinia's Steans Institute
June 30 All-Wagner program: Chicago Symphony Orchestra, James Conlon, conductor/Christine Brewer/John Treleaven
July 1 John Hiatt & The Combo/The Levon Helm Band
July 2 "Master Class" Kim Kashkashian, viola
July 2 Emerson String Quartet/David Shifrin, clarinet, perform Bach and Mozart
July 3 A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor (live national broadcast)
July 3 Vladimir Feltsman, piano
July 6 The Cat Empire/Soulive/Raul Midon
July 7 "Leon Fleisher and Friends": Leon Fleisher, piano; Miriam Fried, violin; Ida Kavafian, violin; Kim Kashkashian, viola; Paul Biss, viola; Laurence Lesser, cello. Works include Barber, Mozart and Brahms
July 8 "Master Class" Leon Fleisher, piano
July 8 "One Score, One Chicago": Chicago Symphony Orchestra, James Conlon, conductor/Pinchas Zukerman, violin/Amanda Forsyth, cello. Works include Saint Saens, Bruch and Mussorgsky/Ravel
July 9 Artists from Ravinia's Steans Institute
July 9 All-Mozart Program Chicago Symphony Orchestra/Pinchas Zukerman, conductor/Arianna Zukerman, soprano
July 10 Ko-Thi Dance Company (kids concert)
July 10 Cheap Trick with Squeeze
July 11 "Chamber Music Concert" Artists from Ravinia's Steans Institute
July 11 Bernstein, Copland, Gershwin discussion by Robert Greenberg, musicologist
July 11 Bernstein, Copland and Gershwin with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, James Conlon, conductor/Joyce Yang, piano/Orion Weiss, piano
July 11 Artists from Ravinia's Steans Institute
July 13 Artists from Ravinia's Steans Institute
July 13 Chicago Symphony Orchestra, James Conlon, conductor/Joshua Bell, violin. Works include Barber, Mahler and Mendelssohn
July 14 The Swell Season
July 15 "Master Class" Pamela Frank, violin
July 15 "Complete Beethoven Concertos I" Chicago Symphony Orchestra, James Conlon, conductor/Jorge Federico Osorio, piano
July 16 Artists from Ravinia's Steans Institute
July 16 "Complete Beethoven Concertos II" Chicago Symphony Orchestra, James Conlon, conductor/Jorge Federico Osorio, piano
July 17 Sting with the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra, Steven Mercurio, conductor
July 18 Chamber Music Concert with Artists from Ravinia's Steans Institute
July 18 Sting with the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra, Steven Mercurio, conductor
July 19 Midori, vioin/Ozgur Aydin, piano
July 20 Chamber Music Concert with Artists from Ravinia's Steans Institute
July 20 Peter and Paul in a tribute to Mary Travers
July 21 The B-52s
July 22 Christoph Eschenbach, piano/Matthias Goerne, baritone. Works include Schumann and Brahms.
July 23 Artists from Ravinia's Steans Institute
July 23 Mozart Piano Concerto No. 12 in A Major, K. 414 and Vocal suite from Candide (Bernstein/Mauceri) with Chicago Symphony Orchestra, John Axelrod, conductor/Christoph Eschenbach, piano/Lakeside Singers/Anna Christy, Cunegonde/Kim Criswell, old lady/Nicholas Phan, Candide/John Aler, Governor-Vanderdendur/Kathryn Leemhuis, Paquette/Jonathan Beyer, Maximillian
July 24 Millennium Orchestra/Francesco Milioto, conductor (kids concert)
July 24 Artists from Ravinia's Steans Institute
July 24 Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Christoph Eschenbach, conductor/Renee Fleming, soprano/Horns of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra/Tzimon Barto, Piano. Works include Strauss and Schumann.
July 24 Artists from Ravinia's Steans Institute
July 25 Edward Gordon Memorial Cocnert with Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Christoph Eschenbach, conductor/Erik Schumann, violin/Leonard Elschenbroich, cello. Works include Berlioz, Saint-Saens and Ravel.
July 26 All-Rachmaninoff program piano program with Mischa Dichter, Cipa Dichter, Edisher Savitski, Vakhtang Kodanashvil, Marta Aznavoorian, Welz Kauffman
July 27 "James Conlon Showcase"/T. Daniel Productions
July 28 Rachmaninoff with Chicago Symphony Orchestra, James Conlon, conductor/Denis Matsuev, piano
July 29 Denis Matsuev, piano. Works include Schumann, Chopin and Prokofiev
July 30 The Music of ABBA as performed by Arrival from Sweden
July 31 All-Sondheim program "Gala Benefit Evening" with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Paul Gemignani, conductor/Vocalists Patti LuPone, Michael Cerveris, Audra McDonald, George Hearn/Lonny Price, director
August 1 "Vocal Concert" Artists from Ravinia's Steans Institute
August 1 "Uematsu: Distant Worlds/Final Fantasy." Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Arnie Roth, conductor
August 2 Chanticleer
August 3 Pacifica Quartet/Orion Weiss, piano
August 4 "Master Class" James Conlon
August 4 Kelli O'Hara, vocalist
August 5 Mozart's "Cosi fan Tutte" Chicago Symphony Orchestra, James Conlon, conductor/Chicago Symphony Chorus. Cast includes Ana Maria Martinez, Ruxandra Donose, Rodion Pogossov, Saimir Pirgu, Frederica von Stade, John Del Carlo.
August 6 Artists from Ravinia's Steans Institute
August 6 Mozart's "The Marriage of Figaro" Chicago Symphony Orchestra, James Conlon, conductor/Chicago Symphony Chorus. Cast includes Nathan Gunn, Rebecca Evans, Lisette Oropesa, Ildebrando D'Arcangelo, Lauren McNeese, John Aler, Jane Bunnell, John Del Carlo, Lei Xu, Paul Corona.
August 7 "Cosi fan Tutte" Chicago Symphony Orchestra/Chicago Symphony Chorus
August 7 "Master Class" with Nathan Gunn, baritone/Julie Gunn, piano
August 7 The BoDeans/Big Head Todd & the Monsters
August 8 "The Marriage of Figaro" Chicago Symphony Orchestra/Chicago Symphony Chorus
August 8 The Temptations/The Four Tops
August 10 Jeffrey Kahane, piano. Works include Schumann and Chopin.
August 11 "Voices of the Future" Steans Vocal Showcase
August 13 "Annie Get Your Gun" Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Paul Gemignani, musical director/Patti LuPone as Annie Oakley/Brian Stokes Mitchell as Frank Butler/Lonny Price, director
August 14 "Annie Get Your Gun" Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Paul Gemignani, musical director/Patti LuPone as Annie Oakley/Brian Stokes Mitchell as Frank Butler/Lonny Price, director
August 15 Vocal Concert by Artists from Ravinia's Steans Institute
August 15 "Annie Get Your Gun" Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Paul Gemignani, musical director/Patti LuPone as Annie Oakley/Brian Stokes Mitchell as Frank Butler/Lonny Price, director
August 17 "Master Class" Kiri Te Kanawa, soprano
August 17 Baroque Band. Program to include Bach, Telemann and Biber.
August 18 Kiri Te Kanawa, soprano/Brian Zeger, piano
August 19 National Chopin Competition Winner
August 19 George Benson/Lee Ritenour & Dave Grusin
August 20 Tianwa Yang, violin. Program includes Ysaye, Prokofiev, Hindemith, Bach.
August 20 Yo-Yo Ma/Silk Road Ensemble
August 22 Crosby, Stills and Nash
August 24 "Robert Schumann 200" Claremont Trio. Program includes Schumann, Castelnuovo-Tedesco, and Ravel.
August 25 Leila Josefowicz, violin/John Novacek, piano
August 25 Tony Andriacchi
August 27 Delfos Danza Contemporanea
August 27 Poi Dog Pondering
August 28 Delfos Danza Contemporanea (kids concert)
August 28 Delfos Danza Contemporanea
August 28 Rodrigo y Gabriela
August 29 Delfos Danza Contemporanea
August 29 Andreas Klein, piano. Program includes Mozart, Ravel, Prokofiev and Brahms.
August 29 Carrie Underwood
September 1 "Robert Schumann 200" Alon Goldstein, piano. Program includes Robert Schumann, Brahms, and Clara Schumann.
September 1 An Evening with the Beach Boys
September 2 "Leonard Bernstein 20 Years Later," "Aaron Copland 20 Years Later" The Knights
September 3 Nelly Furtado
September 4 Train
September 5 Tom Chapin & Friends (kids concert)
September 6 "Labor Day Spectacular Tribute to Erich Kunzel" Illinois Symphony Orchestra/Karen Lynne Deal, music director/Alexander Kobrin, piano. All Tchaikovsky program.
September 7 Hershey Felder in "Maestro: The Art and Music of Leonard Bernstein"

List of 2009 Shows

June 5 Camelot/George Hearn/Sylvia McNair/Ravinia Festival Orchestra
June 6 Gipsy Kings
June 7 Emmylou Harris/Patty Griffin/Shawn Colvin/Buddy Miller
June 12 Ramsey Lewis/Lincoln Bicentennial Celebration
June 13 Bodeans
June 14 Goran Bregovic & His Wedding And Funeral Orchestra
June 17 Chicago Children's Choir
June 18 Baroque Band/All-Handel Program
June 19 "The Future Of Jazz"
June 20 A Prairie Home Companion With Garrison Keillor
June 20 Pianists Misha Dichter And Cipa Dichter
June 21 Pink Martini/Michael Feinstein
June 22 Juilliard String Quartet/Haydn's "Sun" Quartets
June 26 Indigo Girls
June 27 Diana Krall
June 28 Joe Cocker
June 30 The Music Of Abba As Performed By Arrival From Sweden

July 1 Femi Kuti & The Positive Force/King Sunny Ade & His African Beats
July 2 Leon Fleisher & Friends
July 5 Zukerman Chamber Players/Pianist Yefim Bronfman
July 6 Pianist Conrad Tao
July 7 Bronfman Plays Brahms/James Conlon/Chicago Symphony Orchestra
July 8 Juilliard String Quartet
July 9 Cellist Gary Hoffman
July 10 Mahler's Song Of The Earth/James Conlon/CSO
July 11 Tom Jones
July 12 All-Tchaikovsky Program/James Conlon/CSO
July 13 Susan Graham/Pianist Brian Zeger
July 14 The Beach Boys
July 15 Garrick Ohlsson Plays Schumann/James Conlon/CSO
July 16 Thomas Hampson/Craig Rutenberg/"250 Years Of American Song"
July 17 Steve Miller Band
July 18 Beethoven 9/Copland's Lincoln Portrait/James Conlon/CSO
July 19 Mahler 9/James Conlon/CSO
July 20 John Legend (NEW DATE!)
July 21 John Legend
July 22 Lyle Lovett
July 23 Pianist Marc-Andre Hamelin
July 24 "Symphonic Dances" From West Side Story/Barto Plays Gershwin/CSO
July 25 Dvorak's "New World" Symphony/Peter Serkin/CSO
July 26 Lang Lang Plays Prokofiev/Christoph Eschenbach/CSO
July 27 Eschenbach & Goerne/Complete Schubert Song-Cycles I
July 28 Lang Lang/Herbie Hancock/Rhapsody In Blue/CSO
July 29 Eschenbach & Goerne/Complete Schubert Song-Cycles II
July 30 Jackson Browne
July 31 Eschenbach & Goerne/Complete Schubert Song-Cycles III

August 1 Violinist Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg Plays Shostakovich/CSO
August 2 Viennese Holiday/Matthias Goerne/Christoph Eschenbach/CSO
August 3 Doobie Brothers
August 4 Weill's Mahagonny-Songspiel/Stravinsky's A Soldier's Story/James Conlon
August 5 3 Russian Piano Concertos/James Conlon/CSO
August 6 Pianist Jonathan Biss
August 7 The Temptations/The Four Tops
August 8 Patti Lupone/All-Kurt Weill Program/James Conlon/CSO
August 9 Sir James Galway/Lady Jeanne Galway/James Conlon/CSO
August 10 Peter, Paul & Mary - CANCELLED DUE TO ILLNESS!!
August 11 Sir James Galway/Tiempo Libre
August 12 All-American Song Showcase
August 13 Tokyo String Quartet
August 14 Yo-Yo Ma Plays Dvorak/James Conlon/CSO
August 15 Verdi's Rigoletto In Concert/James Conlon/CSO
August 16 David Hyde Pierce/Victoria Clark/Night And Day: A Cole Porter Evening
August 17 Pat Benatar/Blondie
August 18 Baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky/Pianist Ivari Ilja
August 19 Pianist Gabriela Montero
August 20 George Thorogood & The Destroyers/Jonny Lang
August 21 Bonnie Raitt/Taj Mahal
August 22 Bonnie Raitt/Taj Mahal
August 24 Eroica Trio
August 25 Pianist Simone Dinnerstein/Cellist Zuill Bailey
August 26 Elvis Costello And The Sugarcanes Featuring Jerry Douglas
August 28 Tony Bennett
August 29 Tony Bennett
August 30 Carrie Underwood
August 31 Carrie Underwood (Added show!)

September 2 Patti Austin/Ramsey Lewis Trio/Kurt Elling/Ernie Watts/Ethel
September 3 Loggins & Messina
September 4 Hershey Felder (NEW DATE!)
September 5 Hershey Felder (NEW DATE!)
September 6 A Tribute To Rodgers & Hammerstein/Ted Sperling/Kelli O'Hara/Paulo Szot
September 7 Mendelssohn String Quartet Farewell Concert
September 10 Concert Dance, Inc./Lincoln Bicentennial Celebration
September 11 Concert Dance, Inc./Lincoln Bicentennial Celebration
September 17 Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company/Fondly Do We Hope ... Fervently Do We Pray
September 19 Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company/Fondly Do We Hope ... Fervently Do We Pray

References

^ "Ravinia - History" (Press release). Ravinia Festival. Retrieved 2010-01-28.
^ "Words and Music". Chicago Public Library website. Retrieved 2009-05-08.

External links

42°9′27.44″N 87°46′34.53″W / 42.1576222°N 87.7762583°W / 42.1576222; -87.7762583

[RaviniaHistory-1] "Ravinia - History" (Press release). Ravinia Festival. Retrieved 2010-01-28.

[2] "Words and Music". Chicago Public Library website. Retrieved 2009-05-08.

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