Ravinia Trustee Marcus Lemonis to Star on TV’s Secret Millionaire

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Ravinia Festival Trustee Marcus Lemonis, the CEO of Camping World and Good Sam LLC, will appear later this summer on an episode of the ABC reality series Secret Millionaire. In each episode, one of the country’s wealthiest people has to navigate an impoverished area without the help of the resources he or she is accustomed to. Lemonis recently made it possible for the Women’s Board of Ravinia to launch a new chair-and-table rental business opening on the festival grounds this summer.

Great Start to A Morning on WCIU's 'You And Me'

We had a great morning on the WCIU 'You and Me' This Morning set! Ravinia Festival's Executive Chef Tim Radack of Levy Restaurants (pictured above with the lovely Melissa Forman) wowed the audience with a couple simple, delicious, recipies to make your Ravinia picnic the best yet! Thank you to WCIU, Levy Restaurants, and the wonderful ladies of Ravinia Gifts for making this mornings takeover a rousing success!

Ravinia Associates’ Music Matters Grosses $378K for REACH*TEACH*PLAY

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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.
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Wheelchair Service Will Help Those in Need Cross Underpass

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Ravinia Festival will test a free wheelchair service that will help those with disabilities navigate the park's new grand entrance and pedestrian underpass on concert nights. The acclaimed new entrance allows people to enter Ravinia's grounds without having to cross the at-grade railroad tracks or be delayed in the parking lot waiting for trains to pass.

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Let their Voices Ring

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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. 

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Three Women’s Board Members Program WFMT on Mother’s Day

Continuing the year-long celebration of the 50th anniversary of Ravinia Festival’s Women’s Board, three members of the volunteer group will join forces as guest programmers from 9 to 11 a.m. on Mother’s Day, Sunday, May 13, on Chicago’s only classical station, WFMT 98.7 FM. Chairman Jeanne Denison, Susan Spears and Elizabeth Bergmann will reminisce about their favorite Ravinia moments with host Dennis Moore and play musical selections. Since forming in 1962, the active and innovative group has become the single biggest donor to the not-for-profit Ravinia, contributing more than $25 million and starting the festival’s REACH*TEACH*PLAY education programs.

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

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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.

Development visits Catalyst Circle Rock

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On Friday, April 13, our development department made a changing impact for Catalyst-Circle Rock Charter School on Chicago’s west side. Circle Rock has participated in Ravinia’s Music Discovery Program since 2008, which offers enhancement to students’ musical skills by providing resident teaching artists, interactive music learning activities and professional development for teachers, as part of the festival’s ongoing REACH*TEACH*PLAY education programs. As a team, these staff members painted a inspirational mural in the school’s multi-purpose room.

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Ravinia Goes Social: Pinterest

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As a few of you have managed to find, Ravinia Festival is now on Pinterest. Some of you might already be thinking, what's Pinterest? As defined by the booming social network themselves:

Pinterest is an online and mobile service that allows you to create online pinboards and organize and share beautiful things you find on the web. Pinterest lets you create your own visual collections or “boards,” and view and follow other boards, on pinterest.com (the "Site"), on our application for mobile devices (the “Mobile Software”), and through third party applications.

So, why follow Ravinia Festival?

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“El Sistema” Programs Like Ravinia’s Are Sweeping Nation for Good Reason

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A recent report in the Huffington Post detailed a bit of the history and success of the Venezuelan music-education system that has taken an exciting foothold around the world, including over 50 U.S. cities. Ravinia Festival is planning its third “El Sistema” orchestra in a Chicago elementary school shortly.

"El Sistema," according to Gustavo Dudamel, music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and a graduate of the program, is a "visionary global movement that transforms the lives of children through music."

Read the Huffington Post story.

Lord of the Loud, Jim Marshall, Dies at 88

Over the past 50 years Marshal Amplification has become synonymous with the big sound of live music everywhere, and today we were saddened by the news that the legend himself, Jim Marshall, has passed at 88 after battling with poor health for years. While artists like Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton have redefined rock and roll, it would be impossible to say where rock might have landed in the history books without the "Marshall Sound." You would be hard-pressed to find a rock band today that doesn't have at least one Marshall amp as part of their set up. The man may be gone, but the legend of the "Lord of the Loud" has a permanent place in music history.

Motörhead (above) photo courtesy of Lost In Concert

Ravinia Festival Ranked as a Top Alternative Music Festival

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Ravinia 2011 – Go Gos and the B52s

Fox News has ranked Ravinia Festival as one of the Top Alternative Music Festivals in the country. Being not only the oldest music festival in the country, but the oldest on the continent, it is very flattering to still be considered as one of the best! None of this would be possible without you. Thank you for all your patronage and support over the past 107 years (6 months, and 26 days), making Ravinia Festival the greatest music venue ever. (Yes, ever)

“What truly defines us is that music-lovers can really create their own vision of what Ravinia is to them--an intimate dinner date for two followed by a performance by the great Chicago Symphony Orchestra, or a group of friends on the lawn partying with the Blues Brothers.” – Welz Kauffman, Ravinia President and CEO.      

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