Celebrating James Conlon In 2015

From the multiyear Mahler cycle, traversal of the complete Mozart Piano concertos, taking the Chicago Symphony into the Martin Theatre for a collection of Mozart operas and numerous other works, James Conlon has brought us many magical moments at Ravinia. James Conlon announced today that 2015 will be his final season as a music director of our CSO residency. Conlon and Ravinia President and CEO Welz Kauffman have shaped the 2015 season as a celebration of Conlon’s long association with Ravinia, where he has been a guest conductor since 1977.

Ravinia Presents Encore Screening Of Oscar-winning The Lady In Number 6

Ravinia will present an encore screening of this year’s Oscar winner for Best Documentary Short Subject, The Lady in Number 6, in Bennett Gordon Hall with free general admission to ticket holders for the Monday, Aug. 25, performance by Pedja Muzijevic featuring Chopin’s complete Op. 28 preludes. The film tells the riveting, true story of the world’s oldest pianist, who also happened to be the world’s oldest concentration camp survivor, Alice Herz-Sommer. Chopin was a particular favorite of the 101-year-old, who died just one week before the film won the Oscar. The 38 minute film begins at 4:45 p.m. with the concert starting at 6:00 p.m.

Last Chance to Win Cash for Your School by Attending Ravinia's CSO Concerts for Free

The 2014 Chicago Symphony Orchestra residency is winding down. That means there are only a handful of opportunities left to give your high school a chance to win cash for its music program. All high-school students are admitted free to the lawn for CSO concerts, but those students should sign in at the box office before entering the park to earn a point for their school. The school with the most points at the end of the season will win $5,000, awarded by the Ravinia Associates Board. For the first time in years, Highland Park High School is pressing its hometown advantage—here are the standings—but students can turn the tides by attending Don Giovanni on Aug. 14 and Aug. 16 or The Marriage of Figaro on Aug. 15 and Aug. 17.

Chicago Tribune Explores Latest Teaming of Dame Kiri Te Kanawa and Jake Heggie

One of the great living singers of all time, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, and one of the hottest classical composers working today, Jake Heggie, have been friends since the latter’s college years. The Chicago Tribune takes a look at some of the great art born of that relationship in a just-published interview. In the latest collaboration Heggie celebrates Kiri’s 70th birthday with a new song cycle commissioned by Ravinia and based on the poetry of Emily Dickinson. That world premiere, with Heggie accompanying the soprano, is part of a program featuring music by Richard Strauss and Mozart on Aug. 12 in the Martin Theatre.

Real Million-Dollar Quartet: CSO, Conlon, Bell and Women's Board

Ravinia congratulates its Women’s Board on a terrifically successful gala benefit, held Saturday, July 26. More than 700 guests attended the formal cocktail party, dinner and concert, grossing more than $1 million for the not-for-profit festival and its REACH*TEACH*PLAY education programs. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra was conducted by Residency Music Director James Conlon and joined by violinist Joshua Bell, both of whom attended the post-concert dinner. REACH*TEACH*PLAY serves about 75,000 people throughout Chicagoland each year, bringing music to underserved schools and communities.

Naked Singer? Cue The Television Crews!

Before working at Ravinia, I spent slightly more than 13 years in the public relations department at San Francisco Opera. During all that time, the various general directors under which I worked unceasingly complained about the lack of TV coverage the company’s productions received. For every opera that was produced there, a media alert would be sent to all of the local television stations, desperately trying to interest them in coming to the dress rehearsal to publicize the opening. But it was mostly to no avail; even in an arts-crazed town like San Francisco, opera was deemed too esoteric an activity to be of interest to the general public.

But during the summer of 1993, SFO mounted a production of Richard Strauss’s Salome with opera star Maria Ewing in the title role, one of her most celebrated portrayals. Part of the attention she attracted stemmed from the fact that not only did she do her own dancing for the famous “Dance of the Seven Veils” (many opera divas leave that duty to a dancing double), but she also followed Oscar Wilde’s original stage directions that Salome should conclude the dance stark naked. Even singers who did their own dancing in other productions wore at least a body stocking for modesty.

In advance of the dress rehearsal, I struggled to find a way to imply without explicitly stating that Ms. Ewing would be baring her all—after all, we were a major international opera house and didn’t want to sound sensationalistic or exploitative. So I used phrases like, “SFO ‘Unveils’ New Salome Production.”

I must have succeeded: no fewer than five TV news crews showed up.

It should be noted that since Ravinia’s Salome on August 2 is a concert performance, Metropolitan Opera star Patricia Racette (who is undertaking the title role for the first time in her career) will remain fully clothed. As will the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Conlon Takes Podium with Eisler's and Korngold's Chamber Works

James Conlon, music director of the CSO residency at Ravinia, settles in for the season with a program focusing on works by Hanns Eisler and Erich Korngold, two composers who found success after fleeing Nazi persecution, on July 22. The Martin Theatre concert with soloists from the CSO features the Ravinia premieres of Eisler’s Fourteen Ways of Describing Rain, accompanied by the silent film Regen (Rain), and Korngold’s String Sextet in D Major. The program also includes Wagner’sSiegfried Idyll.

Kiri Te Kanawa Program Released

When Kiri Te Kanawa celebrates her 70th birthday with a Martin Theatre recital on Aug. 12, she will sing the world premiere of Newer Every Day, a set of five songs based on the poetry of Emily Dickinson, composed by Jake Heggie, who will accompany her on piano. Heggie is best known as the composer of one of the most successful operas of recent times, Dead Man Walking. The rest of the program has now been released and includes nine pieces by R. Strauss and works by Mozart, the composers most associated with the singer. The singer, who recently appeared on Downton Abbey, will also sings works by Mozart, Granados, Obradors and Guastavino, accompanied by Kevin Murphy, director of the Program for Singers at Ravinia's Steans Music Institute (RSMI). Kiri herself will give a free master class for RSMI singers in Bennett Grodon Hall at 2:00 p.m. on Aug. 10 in preparation for their Aug. 11 "Richard Strauss and Friends" concert.

Madonna Mia, Ci Sono Molte Donne!

There’s a frequently repeated joke about the novice opera-goer who comes out of a performance and comments, “Wow, that Don Giovanni was a regular Don Juan!” The joke being, of course, that Don Giovanni IS Don Juan, translated into Italian.

But Don Juan gave his name to more than an opera and a legend; it also became a psychological diagnosis, the so-called “Don Juan complex.” Quite some time ago, TV talk-show host Sally Jessye Raphael devoted one of her shows to “Don Juans,” which she defined as “men who think they are God’s gift to women.” To qualify for participation on her panel, the men had to have slept with—or claim to have slept with—at least 200 women. One of her four guest subjects actually boasted of having had sexual relations with over 1,500 women, a claim that brought a gasp of astonishment from the studio audience.

What they probably didn’t realize is that Mozart’s Don Giovanni would have sneered at that paltry figure. In the first act, Giovanni’s henchman Leporello is explaining the reality of the situation to the scorned and furious Donna Elvira in the so-called “Catalogue aria,” in which he enumerates his master’s conquests: “In Italy, 640; in Germany, 231; 100 in France; in Turkey, 91; but in Spain, 1,003 and counting.” Mind you, the large number of Spanish conquests is not a moral judgment against Spanish women, but merely reflects the fact that Giovanni lived in Spain and, of course, did better on his home turf.

This brings his total to a whopping 2,065. And had Donna Anna not screamed for help in the first scene, it would have been 2,066. All of which makes Sally Jessye’s guests look like rank amateurs. Fortunately for them, at the end of the taping, they were allowed to simply leave the studio rather than being dragged into Hell by a living stone statue, a far more dramatically effective ending. You can see and hear baritone Christopher Maltman pay the ultimate price for his lecherous ways—all to the accompaniment of the glorious Chicago Symphony Orchestra—on August 14 and 16 in Ravinia’s Martin Theatre.

Theme From 2001 Expands Across Galaxy of More Unexpected Film

Carl Sagan might say that Richard Strauss’s heavenly Also sprach Zarathustra shows up in billions and billions of movies. Though most earthlings associate the bombastic piece with Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, it has crash-landed in some unexpected titles such asZoolander, Land of the Lost, Wall-E, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,Jackass Number Two, Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle, Magnolia andCasino. On July 11 conductor Robert Moody and the CSO prove pop culture and the classics are more intertwined than we think with the program “Classics Go the Movies,” which features timeless favorites made familiar through their use on film soundtracks.

Hobbit Resource Guide Available Now

Ravinia’s One Score, One Chicago initiative features a piece of symphonic music each year to be the focal point of a public conversation about the art and as a project to bring into schools through its REACH*TEACH*PLAY education programs.

This year’s One Score selection is Howard Shore’s Oscar-winning score to The Lord of the Rings—The Return of the King, and an original resource guide is available online now. With his Oscar-winning scores for the Lord of the Ringstrilogy, Howard Shore contributed the heartbeat if not the soul of those phenomenally successful films.

Ravinia concludes the trilogy this summer with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra performing the score to The Return of the King while the film is broadcast on video screens in the Pavilion and on the lawn on Aug. 7 and Aug. 8. Pavilion or lawn tickets are $25 each. Children and students will be admitted free to the lawn, but tickets must be reserved in advance.

RSMI Alumna Wins 'Bravas' For Singing Mozart Roles

It’s not easy to impress the critics at the Financial Times. Layla Claire just makes it look that way. In fact, the alumna from Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute (RSMI) is winning raves from publications around the world for her performances in two Mozart operas, the Canadian Opera Company’s Così fan tutte and the Glyndebourne Festival’s Don Giovanni (which runs through Aug. 1). The Financial Times said, “Layla Claire’s Donna Anna dominates through the size of her voice and the electric current that runs through it.” Ravinia presents two Mozart operas of its own, Don Giovanni on Aug. 14 and 16 and The Marriage of Figaro on Aug. 15 and Aug. 17, with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under James Conlon in the Martin Theatre.

Kevin Cole Steps In To Play With CSO On July 29

Due to scheduling difficulties beyond his control, Chucho Valdés will not perform with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra on July 29 at Ravinia as previously announced. Valdés will perform at Ravinia on July 30, as planned, for his “Latin Night” concert with co-headliner Bebel Gilberto. Ravinia is grateful to Kevin Cole for joining conductorJames Conlon and the CSO on July 29 to perform Rhapsody in Blue, which has become a signature piece for the Gershwin expert. Cole last playedRhapsody at Ravinia in 2011, leaving the Chicago Tribune saying, “When Kevin Cole sits down at the piano, you would swear Gershwin himself was at work ... Cole stands as the best Gershwin pianist in America today.”

Jonas Tarm Commissioned To Write Music For New York Youth Symphony

New England Conservatory student Jonas Tarm, 20, an alumnus of Highland Park High School and founding member of the Ravinia Student Marketing Board, has been commissioned to write a new orchestral work for the New York Youth Symphony, which will give the premiere in March 2015 at Carnegie Hall. Tarm was selected based in part on his work for string orchestra, Headline Hues, which had its world premiere in Estonia last year and received its American premiere last month with the NEC Symphony conducted by Paul Biss, a longtime faculty member of Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute.

RSMI in Havana Part II

A cool front arrived late yesterday along with the three lost suitcases. Last night we all attended the opening concert of the 20th Frank Fernandez Music Festival at the Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi in Habana Vieja. The first part of the  program consisted of songs for choir and short pieces for string quartets by Maestro  Fernandez. There was a brief ceremony honoring his 70th birthday followed by a vigorous rendering of "The Trout" with Maestro Fernandez at the piano. The concert was attended by a standing room only crowd of fervent fans. Two Liszt Hungarian Rhapsodies were played as encores.

A casually elegant reception followed in a charming open courtyard across the street from the Basilica. There Diane and Madeleine were introduced by Maestro Fernandez to Cuba's First Vice President Miguel Diaz-Canel.  In very understandable English he asked us for 2 favors: to bring the Chicago Symphony Orchestra with Ricardo Muti to Cuba, and to help our 2 countries find a path toward a normal relationship. We said we would try. What a thrill to meet the man standing next in line to Raul.

A late dinner was eaten at the charming new paladar "Ivan Justo"around the corner from Havana's Revolutionary Museum whose centerpiece is the "Grandma" — the boat that the Castro's and Che used to cross from Mexico to begin the Revolution in the mid fifties. More to follow...

Madeleine and Diane

RSMI in Havana Part I

Friends of Ravinia's Steans Music Institute, Diane Karzas and Madeleine Plonsker, joined the ensemble on their trip to Cuba and took time out of their busy schedule to send us this story about the beginning of their trip to Havana.

After a short delay while the plane was weighed we took off on our less than one hour flight down to Havana. Matt, Miriam and Madeleine suitcases had to be left behind, but at least we have all the instruments. We are hoping to see them today, but we are having issues with internet.

The weather is glorious and our first day began in the grand casino room of a pre-Revolutionary club for Spaniards. Miriam first worked with a piano trio playing the Haydn Piano Trio No. 4 in F Major. The students listened intently to Miriam's instructive comments and their playing soon began to reflect her words. The second group to perform was a piano and violin playing Beethoven"s Spring Sonata, Movements 1 & 3. The room rang clear with the interchange between the duo and Miriam. Each group received an hour's instruction.

Now for the social side: last night we were all invited for dinner at the newly restored mansion of one of Cuba's most important artists. Esterio Segura, known internationally for his sculpture, painting and photography, gave us a tour of his new studio and gallery space before sitting us down to a three course dinner prepared by his own private chef. The evening was spent in lively conversation about how the arts in Cuba relate to its politics.

This afternoon will be spent in practice by the quartet. Tonight the group will attend the opening concert of the Frank Fernandez Music Festival where the Steans Institute Quartet is on the program for Friday night.

Your Girls In Havana,  

Diane & Madeleine

(pictured above: Basílica Menor del Convento de San Francisco de Asís where RSMI will perform on March 28)

[UPDATE 11:00 AM: Everyone has arrived safe and sound in Cuba, luggage included.]

Steans Alumni Duo Release Album To N.Y. Times Rave

Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute (RSMI) alumni pianist Reiko Uchida and baritone Thomas Meglioranza released their third album together, The Good Song, a collection of French songs, to rave reviews. The New York Times says, “Sublime is the first word that comes to mind when confronted with this new recital disc by the skillful, intelligent baritone Thomas Meglioranza, whose knack for French songs by Fauré, Debussy, Poulenc and Ravel matches the distinction he has shown previously in recordings of canonical Schubert and contemporary music. Reiko Uchida, playing an 1890 Pleyel piano, supports his light, handsome voice with insight, subtlety and pearly luminosity.” 

Musicians From Ravinia's Conservatory Go To Havana

Musicians from Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute (RSMI) will become one of the first U.S. chamber ensembles to perform in Cuba at 6 p.m. Friday, March 28, at Basílica Menor del Convento de San Francisco de Asís in Havana as part of Festival de Música de Cámara. Ensemble members are selected annually from past participants in RSMI, which each year awards about 70 of the best young professionals from around the world full fellowships to study and perform with Ravinia’s headliners and top-notch educators. Violinist Miriam Fried, director of the RSMI Piano and Strings Program, will lead the ensemble that features violinist Alexi Kenney of San Francisco, CA; cellist SuJin Lee of Boston, MA; violist Matthew Lipman of Chicago, IL; and pianist Henry Kramer of Cape Elizabeth, ME. Along with David Ludwig’s Aria Fantasy, which was commissioned by Ravinia to celebrate the 25th anniversary of RSMI and was premiered at the festival last summer, the program will include Haydn’s Piano Trio in E-flat Major and Schubert’s String Quartet No. 15 in G Major.

The performance marks the first international appearance of the ensemble, which kicked off its annual spring tour on its home turf at this past Saturday in Bennett Gordon Hall.