Happy Valentines Day

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Congratulations to social upgrade winner Sharon G. for her outstanding poem about Ravinia Festival. She has won a pair of tickets to tonights Chicago Tribune's Chicago Live recording featuring special guests Billy Corgan, Rebecca Skloot, Amy Dickinson, the Second City and more. Music guests Shoes to perform. Happy Valentines Day to all of our fans!

Ravinia
by: Sharon G.

Though so many miles stand between
Where I am now and Ravinia's overwhelming
beauty and understated refinement.
The memories on your picturesque terrace
Make more bearable my distance imposed confinement.

For fond memories, this venue is so much a part,
Ragtime romps, haunting arias and bittersweet melodies,
are keepsakes, impressions so dear to my heart

And no matter where the Winds of Fortune carry me
Or how far that I may roam.
As summer returns and overtures begin.
Like a moth to light I'm drawn.
My compass transfixed to Lake Michigan
Ravinia calls me home.

Photo: Joan's Bench by Richard Hunt

The Country Rock Band Alabama Rolls Through Ravinia in 2013

We are happy to announce the festival debut of country rock band Alabama on Friday, August 30, part of their Back to Bowery Tour. Tickets to this event and all Ravinia summer events will be on sale to the public on April 25. A full list of 2013 summer events will be announced on March 7.

Alabama, which celebrates its 40th anniversary in 2013, has an extensive career that has resulted in 21 gold, platinum and multiplatinum albums, 43 number-one singles and over 73 million records sold. The band has received over 150 industry awards from the Grammys, People’s Choice, Academy of Country Music, American Music and Country Music Association awards and was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2005.

And The 2013 Grammy Goes To...

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The Grammys is the biggest night in music, turning the Nate Ruess' (Fun.) of today into the Stings of tomorrow! This year was a spectacle to behold at the Grammys with artist after artist rocking the house, particularly Bruno Mars, Rhianna, and 2013 Ravinia artist Sting (featured below)!

The Grammys are a great way to start the year. Here at Ravinia, we enjoy the award ceremony aftermath where an artist like Miguel, who opened for Jennifer Hudson in 2011 at the festival, can now be referred to "Grammy award winner Miguel." It's an honor to recognize Ravinia artists new and old in their recent Grammy wins:

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Just Talked To Princess Aurora, And It Was...

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I just had the most marvelous phone call from soprano Mary Costa, about whom I blogged recently after discovering she had made her Chicago area debut at Ravinia the year after the release of Walt Disney’s The Sleeping Beauty, for which she provided the voice and figure model for the title character. After posting that blog, I Googled her and wrote to her in her native Knoxville, TN, where she had helped launch the Knoxville Opera in 1978 and starred in its inaugural production, Verdi’s La Traviata (the same role in which she had made a triumphant 1964 Metropolitan Opera debut). I was requesting a photo I’d like to frame along with a lovely thank-you note she had written to me for some archival research I did for her while I worked for San Francisco Opera many years ago. I had hoped merely that someone, perhaps a secretary, would send me a photo; instead, she called me direct at Ravinia, and we spent a delightful quarter-hour discussing everything from current styles of opera production and the future of opera to recent movies and my own harpsichord studies. Her interest in me was genuine and touching, and left me feeling positively ebullient for the rest of the day. How wonderful to be able to tell my friends: I just talked with Princess Aurora!

John Schauer
Associate Director of Communications, Publications

Classical's Unique Relationship with the Super Bowl

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The Super Bowl is the most watched single sporting event on television in the U.S. With that, any commercial aired during the TV breaks will get an unprecedented amount of exposure. That exposure will also cost an arm and a leg, to the tune of almost 4 million dollars per 30 seconds in 2013, but there is no bigger stage in commercial television advertising. Some of the biggest companies in the world shell out millions and then use some of the greatest symphonic works in the commercials! Here is a short list of some of our favorites over the years:

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Two (More) Reasons 2013 Will Be The Best Season Yet

We are very happy to unveil two additional artists that will be joining our 2013 season lineup. Sting will return to Ravinia for a two night engagement on June 7 and 8 performing his most celebrated hits with a 5-piece band. We will also see singer/songwriter and four-time Grammy nominee, Jewel, make her long-awaited Ravinia debut on June 16.

The full 2013 schedule will be announced on March 7, and tickets for these shows and all others will go on sale exclusively at Ravinia.org on April 25. Keep up-to-date with all your Ravinia news by following us on Facebook and Twitter, and subscribing to updates from our blog Backstage Ravinia.

The Beauty of Walt Disney's The Sleeping Beauty

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Recently I acquired the Blu-ray edition of Walt Disney’s The Sleeping Beauty, my favorite Disney movie of all time. I love it not only because I am old enough to have seen it in the theater when it was first released in 1959, but also—actually mainly—because the film soundtrack is based almost exclusively on the music of Tchaikovsky’s ballet. Like everyone, I was enchanted by the singing of the title character, which, I later learned, was dubbed by opera star Mary Costa. So out of curiosity I dug through Ravinia’s archive and learned that the lovely Ms. Costa—who not only provided the voice, but also was the model for the figure of Princess Aurora—made her Chicago area debut here at Ravinia the following year.
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Ravinia Seasonal Employee Corrects Conan

When you walk up to or call the box office, our amazing seasonal staff is always happy to be of assistance. Many of these young men and women return year after year, fostering lifelong friendships as part of the Ravinia family. Recently one of these familiar box office staffers, Joel Orhland, caught a mistake (or so he thought) on Conan’s late night show on TBS. He recorded a response pointing out the potential mistake which was then featured on the show! Joel has been part of our box office staff for seven summers now, and this video has been all the buzz around the festival! Congratulations Joel! I think Conan won this one, but you’ll get him next time!

 

Ravinia Associates Meet to Observe REACH*TEACH*PLAY Jazz Scholars

The Ravinia Associates board has set its winter meeting for the morning of Jan. 19 on the UIC campus so that they can watch a rehearsal of the Ravinia Jazz Scholars. Each year the Associates dedicate time and funding to Ravinia’s REACH*TEACH*PLAY education programs. The Jazz Scholars is a performance ensemble made up of the finest jazz musicians from Chicago’s high schools. They study in groups and one-on-one with the city’s top musicians. Learn more about the Ravinia Associates and its annual Music Matters dinner party and benefit to help support Ravinia’s mission to put music back into the schools. Save the date for Music Matters, Saturday, May 4, at the Radisson Blu in Chicago.

Chicago Tribune Selects Ravinia Jazz Mentors Programs as Season’s Must-See Attractions

Of the 25 must-see winter events selected by the Chicago Tribune are concerts that will be led by Jazz Mentors Pharez Whitted and Bobby Broom, with a third Jazz Mentor, Dennis Carroll, playing in Pharez’s band. The Jazz Mentors are the group of headlining Chicago jazz musicians who work with the high school students in Ravinia’s Jazz Scholars training program.

The larger-than-life trumpeter Whitted celebrates the release of his newest recording, For the People, which features a stellar lineup: guitarist Bobby Broom, saxophonist Eddie Bayard, pianist Ron Perrillo, bassist Dennis Carroll and drummer Greg Artry at 8 and 10 p.m. Jan. 17 through 19 and at 4, 8 and 10 p.m. Jan. 20. Then the inventive Chicago guitarist Broom, who tours the world with tenor saxophone colossus Sonny Rollins, returns to lead his own band at 8 and 10 p.m. Jan. 24 through 26 and 4, 8 and 10 p.m. Jan. 27. All performances are at the Jazz Showcase, 806 S. Plymouth Ct.; $20; 312-360-0234 or jazzshowcase.com

WFMT Will Broadcast Ravinia Premiere of Sold-out Anne Frank Oratorio

WFMT, Chicago’s only classical radio station, will tape the performance of the sold-out Feb. 24 premiere of James Whitbourn’s Annelies for later broadcast. Scored for clarinet, violin, cello, piano and soprano soloist, the work features clarinetist Bharat Chandra—making his Ravinia debut—and festival veterans Lincoln Trio, soprano Arianna Zukerman—who was soloist for the world premiere of the chamber version—and Chicago Children’s Choir. Ravinia President and CEO Welz Kauffman and composer Whitbourn will participate in a pre-concert discussion at 2:30 p.m. Feb. 24 in Bennett Gordon Hall.

Irish Ensemble Celtic Woman Makes Ravinia Debut This Summer

Mark your calendars for June 12 to experience the festival debut of enchanting Irish ensemble Celtic Woman. Recently named Billboard magazine’s number one world albums artists, Celtic Woman combines the sounds and sensibility of Irish traditional music with memorable original compositions and contemporary pop standards, including such enduring fan favorites as “You Raise Me Up” and “Orinoco Flow.” Their albums have sold more than seven million copies around the world and all have debuted at number one on Billboard’s world music chart. Tickets will be available in March.

Ravinia CYI Alumni Jonas Tarm Receives Outstanding Honors

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Jonas Tarm, founding member of Highland Park high school's student advisory board (now Ravinia Classical Youth Initiative) continues his success post graduation. In only his freshman year at New England Conservatory of Boston, Jonas is a National YouthArts Foundation Finalist in music competition. Chosen from approximately 10,000 applications from students in nine disciplines in the visual, literacy and performing arts, the former student at Highland Park High School and Music Institute of Chicago will participate in a life-changing experience provided by the National YoungArts Foundation. Congratulations Jonas! We are enjoying watching your professional career take off!