This month, Reach Teach Play’s Guest Artists in the Classroom brought the Clinard Dance Flamenco Quartet to Hitch Elementary School for two performances in celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month. The performances brought zapateado–a Spanish word referring to the shoe strikes flamenco dancers make–to over 100 students along with mesmerizing sounds from traditional Spanish guitar, a cantaora or cante singer, and a violin.
Read MoreReach Teach Play
In Ravinia’s Reach Teach Play programs, it’s never been clearer that music matters
Every year Ravinia sends hundreds of musicians into Chicago Public Schools as well as classrooms in Highland Park, Waukegan, and North Chicago. What began in 1965 with the Women’s Board’s program of making lawn passes available to low-income music lovers has grown into Reach Teach Play, a year-round operation that reaches 75,000 children annually through a dozen distinct programs.
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Thaddeus Tukes brings all the vibes to Ravinia
“The Ravinia jazz program is one of the reasons I was actually able to go to school for jazz and develop a career. The stuff we learned and were exposed to all year long, having that match with my school curriculum, and the support from teachers were the reasons I was able to visualize what a career as a professional musician would look like,”
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Ravinia’s Annual Teacher Institute sparks inspiration, creativity in participants
Approximately 100 Chicago Public Schools K–3rd grade classroom teachers and Ravinia Teaching Artists will participate in interactive music workshops at Ravinia and virtually on August 18, August 21, and September 11 as part of the festival’s annual Teacher Institute. Participants will learn various teaching methods to incorporate music into their classroom curriculum with sessions such as “Musical Creativity in the Classroom,” “Connections to Classical Music,” “Music and Literature,” and “Owning Social Emotional Learning and Music in your Classroom.”
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Jonathan Rush Shares His Artistic Mission With Sistema Ravinia's Young Musicians
Jonathan Rush is one of the world's most exciting young conductors and the students of Sistema Ravinia were instantly inspired and moved by his craft and dedication. They saw that being the best wasn’t far from their reach, which is exactly what Rush wanted to accomplish when meeting these students.
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Sistema Ravinia Students Take Major Step in Their Musical Journey
Read more about the three Sistema Ravinia students who were accepted into the Chicago Musical Pathways Initiative, a highly selective training and mentorship program for talented, passionate student musicians from traditionally underrepresented backgrounds.
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Magic of Music Golf Benefit Raises More than $235,800 for Reach Teach Play
This year’s successful Magic of Music Golf Benefit raises more than $235,800. With the Women’s Board Gala Benefit and the Ravinia Associates Board’s Music Matters, the Golf Benefit is one of three Ravinia fundraisers that support Reach Teach Play.
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Sistema Ravinia Joins El Sistema from Venezuela on a Virtual Tour
This spring, Sistema Ravinia became the first program in the world to connect virtually with El Sistema, spending a month, from April 12 to May 15, on a “virtual tour” together. The young musicians in Sistema Ravinia collaborated with students like themselves in Venezuela and rehearsed with Venezuelan coaches and teachers.
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A Two-Way Mirror of History Through Music: Guest Artists in the Classroom
As our country embraced the mantra “Yes, we can,” during the 2008–9 school year Ravinia’s Reach Teach Play education programs met the three-word mettle of the then newly adopted name by inaugurating Guest Artists in the Classroom, a program connecting Ravinia performers and local soloists and ensembles with students in their schools. Through live classical performances by renowned musicians, the program focuses on inspiring a love of music, introducing young students in Cook and Lake Counties to experiences they may never otherwise have had at their age.
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CATALYST CIRCLE ROCK CHARTER SCHOOL OPENS NEW SISTEMA RAVINIA AUDITORIUM
Fulfilling a 25-year dream of becoming the cultural cornerstone and social forum for the entire community of Austin on Chicago’s West Side, Catalyst Circle Rock Charter School will unveil both its new Kehrein Center for the Arts and the Sistema Ravinia Auditorium on Wednesday, May 22. “This unique music and fine arts space presents a critical area to engage our children in the field of the arts as well as continue to emphasize values of reverence and respect,” said Illinois Senator Kimberly A. Lightford, a member of the Education Committee.
Read MoreCongrats to Christine Taylor Conda!
Christine Taylor Conda, Director of the Reach*Teach*Play music education programs at Ravinia, has been named Chair of the El Sistema USA board of directors for a one-year term. The mission of El Sistema USA is to support and grow a nationwide movement of programs inspired by El Sistema—the immersive music education process originally developed in Venezuela that puts instruments into the hands of children to begin playing in orchestras immediately—to effect social change through music for children with the fewest resources and the greatest need. Taylor Conda has been a member of El Sistema USA’s board for two years.
Ravinia Makes A Difference
Ravinia President & CEO Welz Kauffman dropped by the NBC5 Chicago studios to discuss with Kye Martin the importance of the festival’s Reach*Teach*Play education programs to the development of young students. Over 85,000 community members are served through Ravinia’s RTP Programs each year, ensuring that music education remains accessible to all. The programs are designed to educate, foster diverse audience involvement, and provide the population with equitable access to live music experiences in their communities and at Ravinia.
Ravinia Receives Grants
Sistema Ravinia Student Plays in National Take a Stand Festival Orchestra
A hundred young people between the ages of 12 and 17, representing the diversity and inclusivity that we long to see in classical music, performed together in a festival orchestra at the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Walt Disney Hall on Saturday, July 22. The orchestra comprised students from El Sistema–inspired programs around the country who were selected by audition, including one of Ravinia’s own—13-year-old Michael Robinson! The French horn player’s only access to music education has been through the Sistema Ravinia program at Catalyst Circle Rock School on Chicago’s West Side.
Fiddling Around: Wynton Marsalis Trumpets Human Connections in His Violin Concerto for Nicola Benedetti
Legendary trumpeter and composer Wynton Marsalis has worn many musical hats across his remarkable career. Thus, the idea that Ravinia would co-commission a concerto from a guy who studied at Juilliard and performed Haydn’s Trumpet Concerto with his hometown New Orleans Philharmonic when he was a mere 14 years old is not so strange.
Ravinia's High Note: The Reach * Teach * Play Program
What many residents don’t know about, however, is Ravinia’s efforts throughout the year to bring music and music education to underprivileged students in Lake and Cook counties, as well as to provide music instruction to Highland Park students.
Gala Helps Ravinia Restore Music To Classrooms
So I am always happy to tackle the question posed to me this week at Back Yard Grill: Why does Ravinia even have a gala?
Ravinia Adds First “El Sistema” Conductor and Teacher to REACH*TEACH*PLAY Staff
Ravinia Festival has welcomed conductor/teacherJavier Payano to the staff of its acclaimed REACH*TEACH*PLAY education programs. Payano will help establish an “El Sistema” inspired student orchestra at the Catalyst Circle Rock Charter School in the Austin neighborhood of Chicago. Even though it’s summer vacation for them, over 30 students have already signed up to play in the new student ensemble, which will be called the Circle Rockets. Payano was instrumental in establishing an “El Sistema” program at Hibbard Elementary School, which Ravinia supports. Ravinia anticipates building student orchestras in other schools under the banner Sistema Ravinia.
Ravinia Associates’ Music Matters Grosses $378K for REACH*TEACH*PLAY
The Ravinia Associates grossed nearly $378,000 at its annual fundraiser “Music Matters” on Saturday, May 12. This black-tie event benefits the not-for-profit Ravinia Festival and its REACH*TEACH*PLAY education programs, which provide students throughout the Chicago region with free music education. This year the event also honored the 50th anniversary of the Ravinia Women’s Board. The benefit was held at the Radisson Blu Aqua Hotel, 221 North Columbus Drive in Chicago, and was co-chaired by Dave Gaspar and Michael Brooks. The Ravinia Associates' President is Kara Longo Korte. The event attracted a record 500 guests.Let their Voices Ring
More than 200 students at all three North Shore District 112 middle schools had the unique opportunity of participating in a choral celebration with renowned choral artist, Shanka Falls, through a partnership between the 112 Education Foundation and Ravinia Festival’s Reach*Teach*Play Education Programs. On Friday, May 4, this musical experience culminated with a performance at Ravinia’s beautiful Bennett Gordon Hall.
Ms. Falls, a Ravinia Teaching Artist, spent time with each grade level at Edgewood, Elm Place and Northwood schools to introduce the students to the rich tradition of gospel music, which spans from spirituals sung by African American slaves to today’s uplifting and joyful popular songs. A classical vocalist and teacher, Ms. Falls is the director of the choral program at the Ravinia Lawndale Family Music School.