Brooklyn Rider Music 'Tour' Brings The Midwest Premiere of Brooklesca

Brooklyn Rider, the chamber ensemble that NPR describes as “powerful”, will present a music tour at its July 16 Ravinia debut in the Martin Theatre. The ensemble—made up of members from The Knights, violinistsJohnny Gandelsman and Colin Jacobsen, violist Nicholas Cords and cellist Eric Jacobsen—will take listeners on a romp through culture, style and geography (much like Bartók’s explorations of folk music in Europe and the Far East), ending with the Midwest premiere of Jacobsen’s Brooklesca, an aurally colorful tour of the melting pot that is Brooklyn. The program also features Mozart’s String Quartet K. 421; Jacobsen’s Three Persian Miniatures, Ljova’s Budget Bulgar and Bartók’s String Quartet No. 2.

WFMT Rebroadcasts Studs Terkel Interview With Maxim Vengerov

Both a common touch interviewer and a Pulitzer-Prize winning author, Studs Terkel examined culture and Chicago from 1952 through 1997 on WFMT. At 10 p.m. Friday, July 5, Chicago’s only classical radio station will re-broadcast Terkel’s 1996 conversation with violin sensation Maxim Vengerov. Vengerov returns to the U.S. this summer, and his only stop will be Ravinia, where he’ll give a Martin Theatre recital on July 15 and a performance with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra on July 17.  For a clip of Vengerov in action, visit The Best of Studs Terkel.

Lang Lang Returns To The Gala Stage That Launched Him To Stardom

Ravinia welcomes back international megastar Lang Lang to the very event that launched his career in 1999, the annual Gala Benefit Evening. The 2013 affair, which takes place at 7 p.m. on Saturday, July 27, features the Chicago Symphony Orchestra led by James Conlon, Music Director of the orchestra's residency at Ravinia. A 17-year-old Lang Lang became an international superstar after playing a Ravinia gala in 1999 as a last-minute replacement for an ailing artist.

The special black-tie portion of the evening will begin with cocktails and hors d’oeuvres on the lawn at 5 p.m. At 7 p.m. benefit guests will be escorted to the Pavilion for the concert, which will have no intermission. Immediately following the concert, dinner will be served in the Gala Marquee on the north lawn. Hosted by the Ravinia Women’s Board, the annual gala is the only performance fundraiser benefiting the not-for-profit festival and its mission, especially its efforts to bring music back into schools through its REACH*TEACH*PLAY education programs. The décor for the evening will be designed by Event Creative, and the dinner will be catered by George Jewell Catering. To purchase tickets to the gala benefit, please call 847-266-5045.

Violist Samuel Rhodes Gives His Farewell Concert with Juilliard

Longtime Juilliard String Quartet violist Samuel Rhodes will give his farewell performance with the quartet on July 10 at Ravinia’s Martin Theatre. His replacement, Roger Tapping of the acclaimed Takács String Quartet, will also perform on the program. Takács also plays the Martin Theatre this summer, performing the complete Bartók Quartets over two evenings, Aug. 5 and 6.

Composer Max Richter’s Space Zombies Score Praised at Cannes

Composer Max Richter’s “eerily somber” score for the space-zombie film The Last Days on Mars won praise recently at the Cannes International Film Festival. The film opens this fall. Richter has scored 37 films and contributed to such soundtracks as Martin Scorsese’s Shutter Island. HisThe Four Seasons Recomposed offers a twist on the Vivaldi classic, and the CD topped the Billboard charts. The Four Seasons Recomposedreceives its Midwest premiere with violinist Daniel Hope and the Chicago Philharmonic on June 23.

Ravinia 2013 Artists Dominate Billboard’s Classical Chart

Upcoming Ravinia artists shook upBillboard’s Classical charts this week with the new CD Violin Lullabies by Rachel Barton Pine and Matthew Hole on the local Cedille label debuting in the number-one spot. The Brooklyn Rider CD A Walking Fire also entered the charts this week at number four. Pine performs the complete Paganini Caprices on Ravinia’s $10 BGH Classics series on Aug. 17 and repeats the feat on Aug. 18. Brooklyn Rider, featuring members of the acclaimed ensemble The Knights, makes its Ravinia debut on July 16. Also on the charts, Max Richter’s Four Seasons Recomposedfeaturing violinist Daniel Hope holds strong at number 14 after 27 weeks on the charts. Hope makes his Ravinia debut recreating this hit album with the Chicago Philharmonic on June 23.

Mormon Tabernacle Choir Releases Preview Video

A new video previewing the June 15 concert by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir accompanied by the Orchestra at Temple Square has just been released. The Ravinia stage will be expanded to accommodate the 360-voice ensemble—which Ronald Reagan once labeled “America’s choir”—and 70-piece orchestra. The group sold out its first Ravinia appearance in 2007.

Cognitive Benefits of Vivaldi's Four Seasons

Vivaldi's Four Seasons is among the most widely known work of classical music out there. It has been used in numerous television spots, films, and as background music at a local mall. Researchers from the University of Northumbria have decided to put Vivaldi's masterpiece to the test. They selected a group of 14 college-age adults, making them perform a challenging concentration test in silence, while listening to "Spring" or to "Autumn". The task; hitting the spacebar on a computer keyboard whenever a green square flashed on the screen. Other colored shapes occansionally popped up as well. How did Four Seasons hold up? As a baseline, the average response time was 408.1 milliseconds. The Vivaldi "Spring" concerto brought this average down to 393.8 milliseconds while the "Autumn" concerto rose the average to 413.3 milliseconds. Participants reported feeling more alert during the "Spring" concerto suggesting that the music may have impact their cognitive processes. What do you think?

via WQRX

In 2012, famous movie composer Max Richter recomposed Vivaldi's Four Seasons, revitalizing the piece and sending it straight to the top of the classical charts wordwide. On Sunday June 23, 2013 come see the Chicago Philharmonic Orchestra led by Tito Muñoz perform the full recomposition in the Pavilion. Tickets available April 25.

Kiri Te Kanawa To Guest Star On Downton Abbey

Just shortly after the airing of the third season finale in the United States, news is coming from the set that handful of new faces will be seen next season including frequent Ravinia performer, and Ravinia Steans Institute Faculty member, Kiri Te Kanawa. She is slated to play a house guest, and will sing during her visit. Season three has just ended giving plenty of time to catch up on the happenings in the abbey.

James Conlon on Van Cliburn

"Classical music has lost one of its great artists this week. Van Cliburn's immeasurable pianism was equaled by his humanity, which, taken together, earned him legendary status. He demonstrated the power of art to bind humans together across the opposing lines of the Cold War. He transformed the fruits of his monumental success to help generations of young pianists around the world. I have known him for almost 40 years since we first collaborated together. His return to Ravinia for the 2005 Gala was a moving experience. This iconic musician had returned for his valedictory festival performance with the Chicago Symphony and with me. His interpretation of Grieg’s Piano Concerto was distinguished by the maturity and thoughtful nuance that are the hallmarks of the great musician he was. I mourn the loss of a friend—the kindest, most generous, gentle, hospitable and courteous man who has ever graced the concert stage."

–James Conlon, Music Director of Ravinia

Just Talked To Princess Aurora, And It Was...

I just had the most marvelous phone call from soprano Mary Costa, about whom I blogged recently after discovering she had made her Chicago area debut at Ravinia the year after the release of Walt Disney’s The Sleeping Beauty, for which she provided the voice and figure model for the title character. After posting that blog, I Googled her and wrote to her in her native Knoxville, TN, where she had helped launch the Knoxville Opera in 1978 and starred in its inaugural production, Verdi’s La Traviata (the same role in which she had made a triumphant 1964 Metropolitan Opera debut). I was requesting a photo I’d like to frame along with a lovely thank-you note she had written to me for some archival research I did for her while I worked for San Francisco Opera many years ago. I had hoped merely that someone, perhaps a secretary, would send me a photo; instead, she called me direct at Ravinia, and we spent a delightful quarter-hour discussing everything from current styles of opera production and the future of opera to recent movies and my own harpsichord studies. Her interest in me was genuine and touching, and left me feeling positively ebullient for the rest of the day. How wonderful to be able to tell my friends: I just talked with Princess Aurora!

John Schauer
Associate Director of Communications, Publications

Ravinia’s Closing Knights Rooted In Outdoor Performance and RSMI

Just as in the legends of old—from Round Table to Templar—knights can withstand most any opposing force. So what’s a few cicadas or the clatter of a train? Nothing to America’s most headline-grabbing new orchestra, The Knights, according to Allan Kozinn in the New York Times. “The Knights have been the de facto house band of the free Naumburg Orchestral Concerts in Central Park for the last few summers, and they are clearly comfortable enough in that role to experiment with approaches to outdoor programming." Read the full article here. So they’ll be right at home when they close the 2012 Ravinia season with Yo-Yo Ma on Sept. 7, Itzhak Perlman on Sept. 8 and Dawn Upshaw on Sept. 9. In fact several past and present members are alumni of Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute, including the ensemble’s co-founders, Colin and Eric Jacobsen; and Kyle Armbrust; Nick Cords; and Max Mandel.

Violinist Joshua Bell Strings Ravinia’s Praises in Current Issue of Time Out Chicago

One of the biggest names in classical music today, violinist Joshua Bell, strings Ravinia’s praises in the current issue of Time Out Chicago. Bell performed Barber’s Violin Concerto and Ravel’s Tzigane with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra last night. “I love the outdoor festival feeling. When I’m on stage, it’s very gratifying to watch people on the lawns enjoying the music with a glass of wine. There’s less sense of people being there for status reasons, and the atmosphere is casual and fun. It reminds me that classical music is nowhere near being dead. That rumor had been going around for 200 years! It’s not going anywhere,” Bell told the magazine.

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.

To Clap or Not to Clap? Trib Weighs In With Applause-Worthy Results

The mores change with the times, but these days audiences tend not to clap between movements during a symphonic performance. That wasn’t always the case, and in Ravinia’s relaxed, family-friendly environment, audiences can go either way. The Chicago Tribune recently printed its entertaining analysis of the hand-wringing debate: Read here.

WFMT Will Air 8-Part Concert Series From Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute

Chicago’s only classical music station, WFMT 98.7 FM, will broadcast From Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute, an eight-part concert series hosted by Ravinia Festival President and CEO Welz Kauffman. The show will air at 4 p.m. Sundays from May 6 through June 10. Each hour-long episode will include performances captured live last year in Ravinia’s Bennett Gordon Hall along with brief interviews from participants in SMI, Ravinia’s summer music conservatory, which each year offers 60-70 fully paid fellowships to the most talented young professional musicians in the world.