The Artists
This summer, Ravinia is proud to present many of the Chicago area’s most promising and rising musicians on its Carousel Stage, located on the North Lawn as well as on the Pavilion stage.
Get to know some of this summer’s local acts before you see them live:
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Last month, all fourth and fifth grade students from District 112 enjoyed Journey Live, an original, interactive live performance of the Grammy-nominated score to the video game “Journey” performed by the Fifth House Ensemble at Ravinia Festival.
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The Ravinia Steans Music Institute kicks off Summer 2022 with the Bridges Composition Competition concert at Bennett Gordon Hall on June 3. Introduced in 2018 to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Steans Music Institute, the annual Bridges Composition Competition challenges young professional composers to write new works for string quartet and jazz trio, bridging the worlds of classical and jazz.
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We’re wanting for more warmth on the wind, but with the recent announcement of our 2022 season, you can start dreaming of those gorgeous summer days at Ravinia — smoothly soundracked by our Spotify playlists of 2022 highlights to come.
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It’s that time of year again! We are proud to announce alumni and faculty members of the Steans Music Institute who have received 2022 Grammy Award nominations. The 64th Annual Grammy Awards broadcast is scheduled for January 31, 2022.
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Four alumni of Ravinia’s Jazz Mentor Program—known as Jazz Scholars when they were young musicians in the program—made their way to the Green Mill Jazz Club stage for much-anticipated performances that had lines out the door.
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If anyone had a knack for defying convention with an astounding rate of success, it was Leonard Bernstein. When he became music director of the New York Philharmonic in 1958—15 years after his surprise debut with the same ensemble, then only months into his tenure as its assistant conductor—the tradition had been for those assistants to remain in the position for only one year. But then Seiji Ozawa caught his eye. The winner of the 1960 Koussevitsky Prize at Tanglewood, where Bernstein had been a close advisor for the conducting and orchestral programs since 1951, and subsequently the winner of a scholarship to study with the quintessential maestro Herbert von Karajan, Ozawa was quickly sought by Bernstein to become one of the NY Phil assistants in 1961. One of three conductors in the role, Ozawa was nonetheless a clear favorite, being chosen to lead a performance during the orchestra’s 1961 tour and retaining a close association with Bernstein, if unofficially, through the maestro’s 1965 sabbatical.
The program insert for Seiji Ozawa’s hastily arranged Ravinia and Chicago Symphony Orchestra debut
The especial attention from “America’s music teacher” of course drew the attention of other ensembles. Ozawa made debuts with the orchestras of San Francisco, Minneapolis, Detroit, and Montreal between 1962 and 1963. During the latter summer, he received a call similar to that which Bernstein received in 1943: the conductor for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s concerts at Ravinia has suddenly taken ill at the 11th hour, and could Ozawa come conduct his concerts. Even with a program inherited from Georges Prêtre, comprising Beethoven’s Third Leonore Overture, Grieg’s Piano Concerto, and Dvořák’s “New World” Symphony, Ozawa appointed himself well in his Ravinia and CSO debuts on July 16, with the Chicago Daily News readily recognizing the influence of “Leaping Lenny”: “While conducting, he [Ozawa] slides easily from waltz to rhumba to twist to a modified version of the Limbo … however, he remains in control of the situation. Ozawa can make an orchestra do almost anything he wants … it would be hard to name a conductor of his age more gifted, and it will be fascinating to see what becomes of him.”
Ozawa leads a rehearsal with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra during his first season as Ravinia’s Music Director, 1964
The second night, July 18, was opened up to Ozawa, which caused the Daily News to assert, “It is necessary to revise the glowing estimation that appeared in this space … because by evening’s end it was becoming hard to think of many more gifted conductors of any age. This time, Ozawa faced and passed the only worthwhile test of a conductor: he brought a new work [Takemitsu’s Requiem for Strings], rehearsed the orchestra in it thoroughly, and then secured a performance of polish and poetic imagination. Very little time should elapse before he shows up again at the head of the Chicago Symphony.” In very little time indeed—just a few days more than a month later—Ozawa was named the first music director of Ravinia, where he would bring the flair and passion for the music of his time (as well as music written specifically for his time) that he shared so similarly with his mentor, Bernstein, through the end of the decade. ■