"WEIRD AL" REFLECTS ON FIVE-DECADE MUSICAL CAREER

July 11, 2019 in Artist News

Yankovic quickly became one of the biggest-selling comedy recording artists in history. Since his self-titled debut release, the singer has released 13 more studio albums, several of which have gone platinum, and has won five Grammy Awards, accepting the latest earlier this year for Squeeze Box, an anthology bringing together his original songs and signature parodies of such hits as “Eye of the Tiger” by Survivor, “Happy” by Pharrell Williams, “Smells Like Teen Spirit” by Nirvana, “Piano Man” by Billy Joel, and more.

RAVINIA'S COMMAND ENCORE OF BERNSTEIN'S MASS WILL BE TAPED AS NATIONAL TV SPECIAL

July 11, 2019

Securing its reputation as the definitive production of Leonard Bernstein’s massive musical Mass, Ravinia’s July 20 command encore presentation, with 200 artists on stage, will be taped for a national television special to air in 2020. The television production team is led by Emmy and Peabody Award-winning executive producer Samuel J. Paul (Live from the Met, The Kennedy Center Presents, American Style), producer Bernhard Fleischer, and director Michael Beyer. Broadcast details will be forthcoming.

How Bernstein shook up the status quo with ‘On the Waterfront’

July 05, 2019

“On the Waterfront” received 12 Academy Award nominations, including one for its score; it won eight Oscars, including best picture, director, screenplay, cinematography, and of course, actor. Bernstein lost to Hollywood veteran Dimitri Tiomkin for “The High and the Mighty” — a plane-in-peril drama with a popular soundtrack (John Wayne, as the movie’s hero, whistles the title theme throughout the film). With its tortured history, however, “On the Waterfront” was a surprising Oscar winner, and remains a polarizing film in some quarters to this day.

RAVINIA'S NEW HOT SPOT, BMO CLUB, NOW OPEN

June 29, 2019 in Park News

The BMO Club is now open to everyone at Ravinia Festival this season! The club accommodates more than 170 guests on the rooftop of Ravinia’s new Experience Center building. In addition to bar seating, there is a drink rail around the perimeter of the new space, which is connected by an observation bridge to Ravinia’s Dining Pavilion–a perfect space overlooking the Ravinia lawn!

Picnicking at Ravinia: There's No One Way To Do It Right

June 27, 2019 in Park News

To paraphrase Leonard Bernstein, picnicking at Ravinia offers the best of all possible worlds: you get to listen to world-class music while dining under the stars. Frequent concert goers are no stranger to the Ravinia picnic experience, but new comers may need some helpful assistance in preparing a night on the lawn. We recently spoke to some Ravinia picnickers and asked them what they were packing and what picnic tips they had for Ravinia-goers.

Schlemiel! Schlimazel! Leonard Bernstein Incorporated!

June 27, 2019 in Ravinia Magazine

At the end of the concert, I raced up the aisle to get a better look at the maestro, but as I got near the stage, Bernstein came back out to lead an encore, so I sat down on the ground and had my first up-close experience of an orchestra as Bernstein pulled out all the stops for a heart-pumping rendition of “The Stars and Stripes Forever.” Sousa, not Stravinsky, would be my true baptism by live symphonic music.

Piano Roles: Today’s pianists build no ivory towers over chamber music

June 27, 2019 in Ravinia Magazine, Artist News

An argument can be made that today’s leading pianists lead more complete careers. They still perform abundant solo recitals and orchestral concertos like their forbears, but many also place a regular emphasis on collaborative chamber music. As evidence, look no further than four of the pianists featured this year at Ravinia—Daniil Trifonov, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Jon Kimura Parker, and Marta Aznavoorian.

Best: Jennifer Hudson unstoppers her memory and shows she’s an idol voice

June 27, 2019 in Ravinia Magazine, Artist News

In just the years since her Ravinia debut in 2011—“One of my favorite experiences performing onstage,” she said—she became a coach/mentor on the American and British incarnations of The Voice and has landed two hotly anticipated projects, an Aretha Franklin biopic (“I’m literally sitting at the piano right now practicing for the role,” she quipped) and the screen adaptation of Cats in which she will portray Grizabella. The film is scheduled for release this December.

Inception in Session: Isaiah Sharkey embraces his inner artistic soul

June 27, 2019 in Ravinia Magazine, Artist News

What do neo-soul innovator D’Angelo, “Lady Marmalade” Patti LaBelle, guitar god John Mayer, “Shout” singer Ronald Isley, and gospel great Smokie Norful all have in common? Well, outside of being exceptional artists in their respective fields, they’ve all had the fingerprints of star session guitarist Isaiah Sharkey on their recent tours or albums (including a multiple Grammy winner) in the midst his steady ascent as an esteemed solo artist.

All the World’s His Stage: Regardless of Genre, Bernstein Put On a Show

June 27, 2019 in Classical, Artist News

America’s most important music figure was many things to many people: conductor, composer, pianist, educator, author, television personality, activist, international bon vivant. But if you asked Leonard Bernstein how he self-identified, he thought of himself as a composer.

Discovering/Dreaming: Fred Hersch is a mindful maestro

June 27, 2019 in Ravinia Magazine, Artist News

His public statement about living with HIV was particularly bold, given that Hersch talked openly about the virus during a time when contracting it was practically a death sentence. “A lot of people said, ‘Fred, you shouldn’t do this. It’ll kill your career. Nobody will want to book you. They’ll figure you’ll be dead by next year.’ Which was possible,” he recalls. “But as time went on, I’ve beaten all kinds of odds in terms of my health. My career is bigger and better than ever.

The Existential Question: Marin Alsop is here for more seriously popular Bernstein

June 20, 2019 in Classical, Ravinia Magazine, Artist News

The floodtide of events with which Ravinia celebrated Bernstein’s 100th birthday in 2018 was only the beginning. The grand celebration continues for a second festival summer with nearly a dozen Bernstein-themed programs curated by the American conductor Marin Alsop, Bernstein’s final (and only female) protégé and one of the world’s most prominent champions of his music.

More than 40 years on, Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours proves more than secondhand news

June 19, 2019 in Artist News

Fleetwood Mac’s seminal album remains rock’s ultimate vinyl soap opera. With more pillow talk, twists, turns, and trysts than Luke and Laura of General Hospital fame could ever have imagined, Rumours is more a “love pentagon” than triangle. During the album’s laborious, drug-infused writing and recording, the band’s five members all were breaking up, sleeping around, sleeping with each other, not speaking to one another, and, basically, going their own way.

Peter Yarrow on His Ravinia Return: Passionate as Folk

June 14, 2019 in Ravinia Magazine, Artist News

Peter Yarrow and Noel Paul Stookey—two-thirds of the iconic folk trio, Peter, Paul and Mary, return to Ravinia on Sun. June 16. The trio first appeared at Ravinia in 1963. This year marks Yarrow and Stookey’s 24th Ravinia appearance and the first since 2006. Mary Travers died three years later.

BRIDGES COMPETITION WINNER SHARES PREMIERE WORK

June 13, 2019 in RSMI, Music Education

During an action-packed jazz schedule in Bennett Gordon Hall this year, beginning with the Second Annual Bridges concert, Michael Orenstein’s winning composition, Staircase premiered to an enthusiastic crowd. The concert featured an ensemble of RSMI alumni performing Orenstein’s piece, and the three winning composers from the inaugural competition last year returned for encore performances of their winning works.

Ravinia Welcomes Home Asst. Conductor George Stelluto

June 13, 2019 in Classical, Music Education

George Stelluto, music director of the Peoria Symphony Orchestra, makes his summer home at Ravinia, where he serves as assistant conductor, understudying the repertoire to be performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and ready to leap to the podium at a moment’s notice should an emergency arise.

Tapping the Veins: The beating heart of Sugarland gives lifeblood to the moment

June 13, 2019 in Ravinia Magazine, Artist News

There is no doubt that the statistics surrounding Sugarland are quite impressive. Since the band’s inception in 2002, Sugarland has sold over 10 million albums domestically and have earned seven number-one singles to date, including “All I Want to Do,” “It Happens,” and the tear-inducing “Already Gone.” On top of all that, their music has accumulated well more than a quarter-billion streams, making them one of the most popular country music duos of all time.

Everything After: Counting Crows’ Adam Duritz favors freedom over fame

June 13, 2019 in Ravinia Magazine, Artist News

As ready and willing as Duritz is to come to Ravinia, he’s completely uncertain of what attendees should expect from the setlist outside of knowing the full catalogue is on the table with the “25 Years and Counting” aspect. “The set changes every night anyway, especially this summer because we’re not touring much,” he confirms. “I don’t know that there’s anything that I feel like we have to play. We tend to play ‘Long December’ most of the time. That’s never been boring to us, so that’s one we tend to play every night no matter what.

Being Green, Being Keen: Melissa Etheridge makes her life a lyric for the public ethic

June 13, 2019 in Ravinia Magazine, Artist News

Like millions of others listening to the radio in the mid-’60s, Melissa Etheridge remembers when she first heard The Beatles. But she wasn’t a lovestruck adolescent dreaming about dating John, Paul, George, or Ringo; she was a toddler experiencing an epiphany.

Lawn Clippings: A Heart Stolen by a Heart Left Behind

June 13, 2019

In recent years, the Decades cable channel has been showing highlights from the legendary Ed Sullivan Show, and I’ve been struck by how many of Tony Bennett’s performances have been selected for this “best of” series. Seeing him over multiple decades, I was impressed by the richness of his voice, his subtlety of phrasing, the playful virility he projects, the robust energy that propels each song, his versatility—there’s no doubt whatsoever in my mind that Tony Bennett is, in every respect, a better singer than Frank Sinatra ever was. There, I said it.