Meryl Streep triumphs and nauseates as Florence Foster Jenkins!

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As a classical musician, there is nothing I hate more than people ridiculing my art. When the only representations of opera singers in the media are fat, sweaty tenors and sopranos the size of battle cruisers, you tend to be pessimistic as to whether or not it is possible to portray a passion for classical music in a way that a modern audience would find inspiring.

In the most unorthodox way, Florence Foster Jenkins proves that classical music, though often seen as stuffy and alienating, stems from a burning adoration for the art of bringing music to life.

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A Keyboard by any Name Sounds as Sweet

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closeup of piano keys

Because I was a still very young, I chafed at the appropriation of harpsichord music by pianists—especially since I was studying harpsichord—and it seemed rather obvious to me that one ought to perform music on the instrument for which it was composed. This was the bedrock assumption of the “original instrument” school of “authentic” performance practice, which was just beginning to go mainstream at the time and which today dominates the field of Baroque music performance. What I’ve learned since then, however, is that the whole subject is far more complex than it first seemed to me.

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He's Good: Andy Grammer Has Become More Than A Guy With A Guitar

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Before Andy Grammer made his national debut in 2011, the singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist was at turns getting a crash course on entertaining a crowd from his father, Red Grammer (a Grammy-nominated children’s recording artist), or busking on the streets of Santa Monica, hoping to be discovered. And once he was, the floodgates of fame flew wide open, from the platinum-selling smash “Keep Your Head Up” and its equally contagious follow-up “Fine by Me,” to tour dates alongside Train, Gavin DeGraw, Colbie Caillat, Plain White T’s, Natasha Bedingfield, Mat Kearney, and Parachute, among others.

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Squeezing Out Of The Box: Ksenija Sidorova Adds To The Classical Tradition Of The Accordion

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An hour’s conversation with Ksenija Sidorova flies right on by. The comely, Latvian-born accordion virtuoso may be a darling of the contemporary classical music industry, with appearances in A-list concert halls and, as of this year, a lucrative recording contract with Deutsche Grammophon to her credit, but she is also a refreshingly down-to-earth charmer.

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The Management Regrets... but is sometimes witness to history in the making

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It happens all the time. A famous, beloved artist falls ill (or, as is sometimes the unpleasant case, gets what may be regarded as a better offer). It even happens at Ravinia. A famous, beloved artist cancels, and management scrambles for an appropriate replacement.

Some cases become memorable, star-making events. Other cases are quickly, even mercifully, forgotten.

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A Hero Returns to Literally Thunderous Applause

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If you couldn’t be there in person, which is always Plan A, by now you have heard about the night of July 23, 2016 at Ravinia. And if I have my say, you will hear about it again. James Levine returned to Ravinia for the first time since 1993. And the gods seemed to herald his triumph with the thunder and lightning of a torrential storm for the record books. But you didn’t need a Doppler to detect that something historic was going down in Highland Park.

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The 2016 Season So Far: Through Social Media (Pt. 3)

 

We’ve had yet another wonderful couple of weeks brimming with awe-inspiring concerts, including the long-awaited return of James Levine, the Ravinia debut of Diana Ross, Kenny Rogers’s final tour, Titanic Live, and a pairing of Buddy Guy and Jeff Beck that left no one blue. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s 80th anniversary summer residency is still on key with incredible performances of The Firebird, Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, and so much more. In Part 3 of our “Season So Far” blog series, we’ll show you a sampling of what’s been happening in our gorgeous park this month.

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Lucky Maya Lily Lubelfeld has free Ravinia Festival pass for life

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Young Maya Lily Lubelfeld of Deerfield will be going to the Ravinia Festival for decades—totally for free. Thanks to being the first local baby born on Aug. 15, 2004—the date Ravinia celebrated the centennial of its 1904 founding—Maya received quite the special baby present.

The day she was born, conductor James Conlon visited Maya and her mother that morning at Rush North Shore Skokie to award the infant the one-and-only lifetime lawn pass ever issued at Ravinia.

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Rewind: July 25, 1936

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July 25, 1936: George Gershwin's Sole Ravinia Performance

After the Chicago Symphony Orchestra took residence at Ravinia on July 3, 1936, perhaps the next great highlight of that summer came just a few weeks later. Thousands descended upon the freshly reinaugurated festival in hopes of seeing—but most certainly for the chance to hear—the inimitable pianist, composer, and songwriter George Gershwin.

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On the Fly: Jorge Federico Osorio Made Highland Park the Home of His International Career

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Jorge Federico Osorio is a classical artist with an international career. Born in Mexico, he could make his home anywhere. Yet after living in New York City for seven years, followed by London for another 11, he chose Highland Park, IL, to be the place where he and his wife, Sylvana, put down their roots and raised their two sons, Dario and Santiago.

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The 2016 Season So Far: Through Social Media (Pt. 2)

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The past few weeks have been marked by some terrific performances here at Ravinia! On our lawn, we’ve seen some impressive picnic spreads, great 4th of July themed parties, life celebrations, plenty of Cornell-heads, Durannies, and so many more! We also welcomed the Chicago Symphony Orchestra back as part of its 80th summer residency anniversary. In Part 2 of our “Season So Far” blog series, we’ll show you a sampling of what’s been happening in our gorgeous park this month.

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Something In The Way He Blues: Buddy Guy Keeps Chicago's Blues Electrifying

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The first time Buddy Guy came to Ravinia, it was as an audience member to see George Benson. “I got there and they looked at me and said, ‘Buddy, we’ve been trying to get you for years!’” Guy recalled in a recent exchange for Ravinia magazine.

In 1999, the festival got him. “It took me a long time to get to a venue like that,” Guy reflected. “I’d play with Junior [Wells] in the early days at Navy Pier, or over by the lake with Stevie [Ray Vaughan], and I imagined those were the biggest places I’d ever play. But they finally got me and I’ve done quite a few shows there since then. I love playing Ravinia, man.”

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How Diana Ross Stole My Heart

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Diana Ross is so iconic a performer, I still remember the first time I saw her on television. I was in high school at the time, and as I’ve mentioned in previous blogs, I was a classical music geek who was slow in coming to appreciate the popular music of the time. The breakthrough song that turned me around was Petula Clark’s recording of “Downtown.” For some reason, that song grabbed me, and I started listening to the top-10 countdown every day on a local radio station. “Downtown” quickly climbed the charts, but seemed to be stuck at the number-two position. The song that kept it from reach the top spot was “You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling” by The Righteous Brothers, admittedly a phenomenal song, but I was impatient for “Downtown” to overtake it.

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