For more than 50 years on PBS, Great Performances has provided an unparalleled showcase of the best in all genres of the performing arts, serving as America’s most prestigious and enduring broadcaster of cultural programming. On Monday, August 21, Great Performances will present Ravinia’s 2022 performance of legendary composer Leonard Bernstein’s Kaddish Symphony. The performance features the talent of Uniting Voices (formerly Chicago Children’s Choir), the Chicago Symphony Chorus, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
Led by Ravinia Chief Conductor and Bernstein protégée Marin Alsop, the work includes music and spoken narrative segments voiced by narrator Jaye Ladymore (Chicago Med) and sung by soprano soloist Janai Brugger (Great Performances at the Met: Medea). The symphony examines questions of humanity and faith, exploring the complicated nature of a higher power who governs mortality.
Great Performances: Leonard Bernstein’s Kaddish Symphony premieres Monday, August 21, at 8:00 p.m. CT on PBS (check local listings), pbs.org/gperf, and the PBS app.
Noteworthy Facts:
Originally composed in 1963, composer Leonard Bernstein made revisions to his Kaddish Symphony in 1977 that included some cuts, rewrites of both the music and spoken text, and allowed for the speaker to be either a man or woman.
In the Jewish religion, the Kaddish is the name of the prayer chanted at funerals and at synagogue services, yet there’s no mention of death in the prayer. Instead, it mentions “life” three times. In his symphony, Bernstein plays on the prayer’s dualism: Its reputation as a requiem and its celebration of life in both the music and spoken text.
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra has been a regular guest at the Ravinia Festival since 1905 and made it its summer residence in 1936. Each year, the orchestra headlines more than a dozen concerts over six weeks.