Ravinia Backstage | The Official Blog of Ravinia Festival

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Don't Blink: Unintimidated, Lila Downs Casts Danger to the Wind


Lila Downs sings in many languages, but her listeners need only be fluent in the language of the heart to understand her.

You can hear it throughout her new release, Salón Lágrimas y Deseo (Room of Tears and Desire), just released at the end of May. “It’s also the most emotional album we’ve ever done,” Downs observes. “It’s not from the brain; it’s from the heart. And”—she adds with a modest chuckle—“from below.”

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Pixel Perfect: Become virtually part of the music in The Virtual Orchestra

In today’s high-tech world of digital sampling and music streaming, the symphony orchestra is a wonderful if curious anachronism, with many of its instruments and much of its repertoire dating back centuries. Even for regular attendees of symphony concerts, the alchemy of how 80 to 100 or more diverse musicians come together under a conductor to produce one coordinated body of sound remains something of a mystery.

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Ravinia To Host Two-Season Celebration of Bernstein Centennial With Music, Mementos, and Marin Alsop


To borrow the name of one of his popular tunes: Something’s coming! In 2018 Ravinia will launch a two-season centennial tribute to one of the all-time legends of American music, conductor/composer Leonard Bernstein, and in 2019 will open the Ravinia Music Box experience center with an exhibit of important mementos from Bernstein’s life and storied career, including his personal piano.

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Ravinia Announces 2017 Season


On March 15, Ravinia President and CEO Welz Kauffman announced the not-for-profit festival’s complete 2017 summer lineup—more than 140 events from June 3 through Sept. 17—including the 82nd annual residency of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra as well as visits by the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra and the National Youth Orchestra of Venezuela with conductor Gustavo Dudamel in his Ravinia debut. In addition to Dudamel, 58 artists make their Ravinia debuts, including Stevie NicksJohn MellencampPentatonixCommonHamilton star Leslie Odom Jr., and Ryan Speedo Green. Tickets are available to donors beginning March 22 and go on sale to the general public on May 9, exclusively at Ravinia.orgSee the complete 2017 lineup at Ravinia.org.

Ravinia Park Depicted Beautifully In These Vintage Program Ads From The '50s And '60s

There is something magical in viewing vintage advertisements, especially from the ’50s and ’60s. From the photographic/illustrative choices to the verbal style of the copy, it’s possible to get a small sense of what culture was like back then. Ravinia’s old program books contain a wealth of these vintage advertisements, with companies pitching such varied products as stereos, records, fashion, pianos, jewelry, and more. Some make overt references to Ravinia, many containing photographs or illustrations of the park itself to make the Ravinia connection that much stronger. The selections in this post focus on these very ads.

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Happy International Women's Day 2013

On this International Women’s Day, we would like to highlight our celebrated Ravinia Women’s Board. Made up of over 130 of Chicago’s most prominent women, the Women’s Board membership includes a diverse range of working women and philanthropic greats.

After just completing their milestone 50th year, the Women’s Board continues to host some of Chicago’s most elite events that support the Ravinia Festival on a whole new level. This year’s annual Women’s Board Gala on Saturday, July 27 will bring renowned pianist Lang Lang back to the stage that made him famous!

Beyond fundraising events, the Women’s Board created and helps administer Ravinia’s education program, Reach*Teach*Play. Reach*Teach*Play follows the "El Sistema model" of returning music back to budget-strapped schools, and serves over 75,000 people in the Chicagoland Area, ensuring that great music remains accessible to all.

Happy International Women’s Day!

RSMI Alumni Grace Kelly Wins Prestigious Award

Ravinia Steans Music Institute alumni Grace Kelly, who was in our jazz program in 2007, has won a 2013 Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Award. Established by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers Foundation in 2002 to encourage gifted jazz composers under the age of 30, the program now carries the name of the great trumpeter and ASCAP member Herb Alpert in recognition of The Herb Alpert Found's multi-year financial commitment to support this unique program. The recipients, who receive cash awards, range in age from 10 to 30, and are selected through a juried national competition. Congratulations on this award Grace! This talented young woman is going places. You can follow her on Twitter at @GraceKellyJazz.

Mix A Little Midori Into Your Summer

If you take a look at a print copy of Ravinia’s 2012 Calendar, you will notice that only one solo performer has the honor of having her photo appear on it not once but twice. Indeed, Ravinia Park will open for just her on two nights—Tuesday, July 3, and Thursday, July 5. “She,” of course, is Midori, one of a number of exciting violin soloists Ravinia will host this summer, a group that includes as Miriam Fried, Joshua Bell, Itzhak Perlman and Steans Music Institute’s alumnus Erik Schumann.

Even a superficial review of her career reveals that Midori's musical path has been adventurous and extraordinary. When she made the front page of the New York Times, it was with the headline “Girl, 14, Conquers Tanglewood with 3 Violins.” Midori began playing the violin when she was three, after her mother, the violinist Setsu Goto, heard her humming a Bach concerto, a piece Setsu had been practicing two days earlier. Midori would then go on to astound the Juilliard Pre-College audition panel with another piece of Bach’s—the famously difficult Chaconne.

It would seem fitting, then, that Midori will perform the complete Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin by J.S. Bach here. There can be no doubt that the winning duo of Midori and Bach will conquer Ravinia. Make sure you’re there to see it, because this performer carries excitement wherever she goes.

Ravinia Engages Pianist Kevin Murphy as Director of the Vocal Program at the Steans Music Institute

Ravinia Festival has named renowned pianist, music administrator and educator Kevin Murphy director of the festival’s summer music conservatory, the Steans Music Institute. He replaces Brian Zeger, who steps down in August after six years in the position. Murphy’s duties will include selecting 15 singers and five pianists from a worldwide pool of applicants to participate in the program each summer as well as securing faculty who will work with these artists over an intensive three-week residency. In consultation with the faculty, he will program four concerts of art song and three master classes each summer. 

Murphy has been director of music administration at New York City Opera since September of 2008. Before that time, he was director of musical studies at the National Opera of Paris. In 1992 he was the first pianist invited by Maestro James Levine (former Ravinia music director) to participate in the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program and continued as an assistant conductor from 1993 through June 2006. In addition to his on- and off-stage partnership with his wife, soprano Heidi Grant Murphy, he has collaborated in concert and recital with many of today’s leading artists, including Steans Music Institute alumna Michelle DeYoung, Nathan Gunn, Bryn Terfel, Plácido Domingo, Renée Fleming and others. Additional credits include performances of Mozart operas with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at Ravinia.

“I can think of no better fit for Ravinia and the Steans Music Institute than Kevin, a truly respected and talented pedagogue who will spark and inspire the young professional musicians who will study with him,” said Ravinia Festival Music Director James Conlon. “Kevin is a friend, and I look forward to having him as a festival colleague.”