Week of Dec 5 In Classical Music History

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Another week and another update to Ravinia Festival: This Week in Classical Music, our celebration of milestone premiers of classical works. Click the Spotify logo or the link above to add our playlist to your library. This playlist will be updated every week (pending no computer issues!) with new works so there's no need to resubscribe! Below is a day-by-day listing of the track selections for this weeks edition of the playlist. We hope you enjoy
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Ravinia Festival Artists Invade @theGrammys

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The 54th annual Grammy nominations were announced this morning, and Ravinia Festival artists are distributed throughout. We are extraordinarily excited to have our beloved performers receiving the recognition they so aptly deserve.

We have a Ravinia showdown on our hands for the “Best Pop Duo of the Year” award with Tony Bennett and the late Amy Winehouse for “Body and Soul” off Tony Bennett’s album Duets II in contention against Maroon 5 and Christina Aguilera’s “Moves like Jagger”. Tony Bennett appears on the nomination list in two more categories, “Best Pop Vocal Album of the Year” for Duets II and “Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s)” for his duet with Queen Latifah “Who Can I Turn To (When Nobody Needs Me)” on Duets II. What a year for Tony Bennett! Tony’s nomination for “Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s)” will be challenged by The Tierney Sutton Band and Sting with the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra. It’s going to be a nail biter.

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Week of Nov 28 In Classical Music History

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Another week and another update to Ravinia Festival: This Week in Classical Music, our celebration of milestone premiers of classical works. Click the Spotify logo or the link above to add our playlist to your library.This playlist will be updated on Mondays (pending no computer issues!) with new work every week so there's no need to resubscribe! Below is a day-by-day listing of the track selections for this weeks edition of the playlist. We hope you enjoy!
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Week of Nov 21 in Classical Music History

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It is no secret that we love classical music. We are especially excited to see Spotify expanding their classical library everyday, because that allows us to bring playlists to you like 2011 Ravinia: Halloween. We are now bringing you Ravinia Festival: This Week in Classical Music, our celebration of milestone premiers of classical works, click the Spotify logo or the link above to add our playlist to your library. This playlist will be updated on Mondays (pending no computer issues!) with new work every week so there's no need to resubscribe! Below is a day-by-day listing of the track selections for this weeks edition of the playlist. We hope you enjoy!
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Farewell, Regis Philbin

Today is Regis Philbin's final day as a host of "Live! With Regis and Kelly." On a cool crisp October afternoon in 2003, Regis graced Ravinia Festival with his presence, bringing his New York based talk show to the Pavilion stage. His smile and charisma warmed our hearts and lit up an otherwise quiet off-season day, leaving us with a lifetime of memories. From all of us here at Ravinia Festival, we wish you the best of luck in all your future endeavors, and you will always have a home at Ravinia.
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Ravinia Gifts visits the Magnificient Mile

Give the gift of summer this holiday season. Ravinia makes it easier than ever as it opens its first Michigan Avenue kiosk, just outside of Nordstrom’s at Northbridge Mall, open from Friday, November 18 through Friday, December 16. Summer-themed gift items, including the popular stiletto shoe wine-holder (as featured in Chicago magazine) and souvenirs will be on sale along with gift certificates and the Classical Grass 10-admission lawn pass. Don't miss out on your chance to get your hands on one of a kind merchandise and deals only available at the downtown kiosk. Follow the new @RaviniaGifts for updates, prizes, and other exclusive deals.
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This Week in Classical Music on Spotify

in ,
It is no secret that we love classical music. We are especially excited to see Spotify expanding their classical library everyday, because that allows us to bring playlists to you like 2011 Ravinia: Halloween. We are now bringing you Ravinia Festival: This Week in Classical Music, our celebration of milestone premiers of classical works. This playlist will be updated on Mondays with new work every week so there's no need to resubscribe! Below is a day-by-day listing of the track selections for the playlist. We hope you enjoy!
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Ravinia Receives Grant from the Academy of Country Music Towards School Programs

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ACM Lifting Lives is the philanthropic arm of the Academy of Country Music dedicated to improving lives through the power of music. Each year, ACM Lifting Lives provides grants to music therapy and music education programs. 

This year Ravinia is honored to be a recipient of this generosity, receiving a grant towards the festival’s REACH*TEACH*PLAY education programs. This generous grant will be put towards Ravinia’s Music Discovery program, which focuses on children from kindergarten to third grade, at the Edward Beasley Elementary School in Chicago.

Thank you ACM Lifting Lives for this gift which will help continue Ravinia’s mission of bringing music education back into the schools!

The Return of Bella Hristova

Just a few years ago Bella Hristova was a student of the Steans Music Institute. Her devotion and hard work over the years has paid off tremendously when she returned as a headlining artist of the Rising Stars 2011/2012 season. We contacted Bella after her performance to share her feelings about her return to the Bennett Gordon Hall and this is what she had to say...
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Rising Star Spotlight: Bella Hristova

Violinist Bella Hristova takes the stage at Ravinia's Bennett-Gordon Hall Saturday, October 15 at 8 P.M. as part of the 2011/2012 Season of Rising Stars. Tickets are only $10 and space is limited! We recently got in touch with Bella to ask a few questions, and are happy to be able to share with you.

 

Q: What is your favorite movie of all time?

A: Pixar's Up

Q: What would be the most difficult thing for you to give up?

A: My hearing

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Ravinia President & CEO Receives Distinguished Musicians Award

Ravinia’s President and CEO, Welz Kauffman was one of two outstanding Chicago area musicians who were honored on Friday by the Union League Club of Chicago.  Kauffman, an accomplished pianist, and esteemed jazz vocalist and composer Kurt Elling received the club's Distinguished Musicians Award.  This award – which includes induction into the club—is given annually to two artists. Previous recepients include Josephine Lee, Ramsey Lewis, Rachel Barton Pine and Nicole Cabell, among others. 

The evening’s reception and dinner featured performances by the two inductees and guest performances by student musicians from many different organizations, including a string quartet from the Chicago Symphony Youth Orchestra that performed during the reception hour. 
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Steans Music Institute Alumni Earn Top International Awards

Cellist Narek Hakhnazaryan’s recent triumph at the XIV International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow leads a list of Steans Music Institute alumni who have added significant achievements to their resumes in the past few months. Originally from Armenia, Narek was a 2008 and 2009 fellow in the Program for Piano and Strings and also participated in the Steans alumni tour in 2011, including a performance on Ravinia’s Rising Stars series last March. Coincidentally, violinist Jehye Lee, who was also a Steans fellow in 2008 and 2009 and a tour participant in 2011, took the third prize among violinists.

The Primrose International Viola Competition also saw a strong showing from Steans alumni, with Ayane Kozasa (’10, ’11) taking first prize and Vicki Powell (’08, ’09) coming in third. Also this summer, the International Cello Festival of Canada awarded Se-Doo Park (’10) its first prize, with Karen Ouzounian (’10, ’11) a close second. Karen will appear on the Steans tour in 2013.
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James Conlon Discusses Tagore and Zemlinsky on Oct. 28

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Join Ravinia Music Director James Conlon as he explores composers Rabindranath Tagore and Alexander Zemlinsky in a lecture entitled “A Lyric Symphony: Tagore and Zemlinsky,” at 2 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 28, at the University of Chicago’s Fulton Hall. This lecture is part of a two-day conference titled The Many Worlds of Rabindranath Tagore, which brings together leading scholars from around the world to discuss the different aspects of this extraordinary writer’s life and works. Tagore was a writer of fiction, essays, poetry, plays, critical commentaries and music and is the only person whose songs are the national anthems of two countries, India and Bangladesh. Translated into many languages, his works received much adulation and criticism during his lifetime and across India and abroad, and he has been a critical figure in the history of education in South Asia. For more information, please click here.

Ravinia Throwback: STAR WARS

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It's a new week and a new edition of Ravinia Throwback. As this series expands we want your feedback; tell us what you want to see. Do you want to see more photo galleries of shows? Maybe you want me to climb down to our archives and find something that hasn't been seen in decades? Maybe you can send us your Ravinia memories, and we'll feature your unique Ravinia experience!
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Ravinia Associates Underwrite a $5,000 Grant Towards Teen Attendance Contest

The Ravinia Associates will contribute a $5,000 grant to be received by Highland Park High School, the winning school of Ravinia Festival’s first high school attendance contest for Chicago Symphony Orchestra concerts. The Ravinia Associates is a group of young professionals in the Chicago area who volunteer to support the festival by raising funds, increasing awareness of the festival’s programs and developing a younger audience for classical music through REACH*TEACH*PLAY education programs.

In an effort to bring awareness and opportunity of classical music performances to young people, Ravinia teamed with teens last year to create the Ravinia Student Advisory Board which collaborated on three main ideas to promote classical music to young listeners: free lawn attendance for high school students at all classical concerts; a summer-long CSO attendance contest in which students could gain points for their school to win a grant; and lastly a special high school night on July 31 entitled “Cannon Ball 2011,” which included a pre-concert tent event complete with free food, refreshments, games, prizes and the chance to gain double points for the attendance contest.

Pianist Joel Fan Joins the Rising Stars Concert Lineup

American pianist Joel Fan joins the 2011-2012 Rising Stars series with a concert on Saturday, Nov. 19. Fan has embraced traditional literature as well as an eclectic range of repertoire, including new music commissioned especially for him, world music and his own transcriptions. As a recording artist, he earned two consecutive Billboard top-10 debuts with his solo CDs, World Keys and West of the Sun. In collaboration with Yo-Yo Ma as a member of the Silk Road Ensemble, Fan has appeared in numerous venues such as Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, and on television programs Good Morning America and Late Night with David Letterman. As a soloist he has appeared with the New York Philharmonic, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, London Sinfonietta, Singapore Symphony, and Odessa Philharmonic, among others. Fan’s program includes works by Scriabin, Rachmaninoff, Gershwin, Kirchner (composed for Fan), Bolcom, Bonds and Succari. This Nov. 19 concert replaces the previously announced performance featuring pianist Daria Rabotkina.

Steinway Piano Sale at Ravinia

Each Year Steinway & Sons provides Ravinia with dozens of Steinway and Steinway Designed pianos for use throughout the year. Now that the 2011 season has closed, Steinway Piano Gallery of Northbrook and Ravinia Festival have partnered to provide you with a unique opportunity to purchase a piano from a large selection of Steinway, Boston, and Essex pianos while providing support for Ravinia Festival.  Most of the instruments available for sale were used at Ravinia and are now available to you at substantially reduced prices.

For three days only, October 7-9, Steinway Piano Gallery is offering an opportunity to choose from an impressive selection of new and used grand and upright pianos of all sizes.  Steinway-designed pianos are rarely discounted. However, through this special arrangement, they will be sold at prices far below retail value. Please click here to learn more about this event and make an appointment. The sale is open to the public on Sunday, October 9 from 12:00-5:00 p.m.