Approximately 100 Chicago Public Schools K–3rd grade classroom teachers and Ravinia Teaching Artists will participate in interactive music workshops at Ravinia and virtually on August 18, August 21, and September 11 as part of the festival’s annual Teacher Institute. Participants will learn various teaching methods to incorporate music into their classroom curriculum with sessions such as “Musical Creativity in the Classroom,” “Connections to Classical Music,” “Music and Literature,” and “Owning Social Emotional Learning and Music in your Classroom.”
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Two Top Picks, One Night: The Infamous Stringdusters and Leftover Salmon
in Artist News
If bluegrass music is as American as apple pie, then Leftover Salmon and The Infamous Stringdusters are definitely apple pie à la mode. Over their respective careers, the two wildly innovative groups have topped old musical traditions with sweet, modern flavors, delivering blistering live performances and amassing fervent followings around the world. And to top it all off, they’re both picking August 20 at Ravinia to dish up hearty helpings of their tasty twangs.
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Ravinia Music Box with theater experience celebrating the legacy of Leonard Bernstein now open to the public
in Park News
The Ravinia Music Box (RMB) and its immersive theater experience, titled Bernstein’s Answer, is now fully open to the public.
The RMB features an immersive, 65-seat, wraparound 4D theater with a museum gallery space, created by BRC Imagination Arts, the experience design and production company behind the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, and the Ryman Auditorium Backstage Tour in Nashville, among many other brand and cultural destinations.
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‘Mass’ Diversity: Davóne Tines is singing with and for inclusion
“My life in opera has been very nonstandard,” admits bass-baritone Davóne Tines in attempting to describe a unique and groundbreaking career. In his credits, there are leading roles in world premieres such as Matthew Aucoin’s Crossing, John Adams’s Girls of the Golden West, and Terence Blanchard’s Fire Shut Up In My Bones, as well as collaborations with director Peter Sellars, and then there’s a series of pioneering works-in-progress that Tines himself is helping bring into being.
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Making It Obvious: Lake Street Dive rings the changes with songs for feeling strong
One way to garner extra ears is to lure listeners with cover songs. So Lake Street Dive recorded Fun Machine, an EP featuring their takes on beloved pop tunes, including “Faith” by George Michael and “Rich Girl” by Daryl Hall and John Oates. The strategy proved to be their tipping point into much broader success, thanks in particular to their acoustic, bluesy cover of “I Want You Back.”
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Stolen Moments & Leftover Feelings: John Hiatt listens to old voices in his collaborative career’s new chapter
John Hiatt’s diversely rich, respected, and rowdy vocation has been a series of perfectly turned phrases with some perfectly good guitar. And now he’s adding some insightful, lingering “leftover feelings.”
Hiatt’s may not be a name you immediately recognize, but he’s always been there. “I like to sneak up from behind,” Hiatt says slyly. You’ve certainly heard many of the songs he’s written during an acclaimed career that includes nine Grammy nominations and the highest praise from peers and fans alike.
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Violinist Maria Ioudenitch Reminisces on Ravinia Steans Music Institute Fellowship
in RSMI, Music Education
Ravinia Steans Institute alum and violinist Maria Ioudenitch recounts her memorable experience being a fellow in the Program for Piano and Strings for two consecutive summers.
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Annual Women’s Board Gala Raises $750,000 For Ravinia’s Reach Teach Play Education Programs
in Park News
This year’s Ravinia Women’s Board fundraising gala raised a total of $750,000 to support and promote the festival’s Reach Teach Play education programs, which serve more than 75,000 community members each year.
Read MoreWhat Comes Natural: Brett Dennen sees the world for the trees
There’s a certain irony to the title of singer-songwriter Brett Dennen’s latest long player, See the World, considering that the bulk of it was penned when the entire globe was closed. However, upon closer examination of the project that brings him to Ravinia’s newly established and delightfully intimate Carousel Stage on Wednesday, August 4, not every moment is quite so literal in the nomadic or exploratory sense, starting with the classic-in-the-making title track.
Read MoreWelcome Returns: Stella Chen and Matthew Lipman enter a new Ravinia stage with Chicago Symphony debuts
What could be more exciting for rising stars violinist Stella Chen and violist Matthew Lipman than performing again in front of a live audience after more than a year of a pandemic-forced hiatus? How about making their Ravinia Pavilion stage debuts together, performing for the first time with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra?
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Gotta Have My Pops: Steven Reineke lights a broad way for favorites in orchestral music
It’s pops night, which means fun is on the menu! Even the word itself conjures up blissful thoughts of relaxed musical evenings with friends and lots of irrepressible toe-tapping.
Read MoreHigh-Water Mark: Yacht Rock Revue casts off on tour with a bright North Star
Yacht rock—it’s a term that has been used and reused, a term that has been somewhat understood but frequently confused, a term that brings with it a slew of different feelings from those who essentially find shelter within it from the reality of the present time. And it’s a form of music that Yacht Rock Revue has built an impressive career on.
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Between the notes, Midori shares living memories and honest music
Out of a constant need to renew and update itself, the classical-music world is always looking for the new, and, 35 years ago, no budding star burned brighter than Midori.
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What you need to know about Ravinia’s second half of ticket sales for 2021
in Park News
Get familiar with our new seating options for 2021 as well as new digital ticketing and other ticket buying tips. Plan ahead for your summer of live music.
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Jonathan Rush Shares His Artistic Mission With Sistema Ravinia's Young Musicians
Jonathan Rush is one of the world's most exciting young conductors and the students of Sistema Ravinia were instantly inspired and moved by his craft and dedication. They saw that being the best wasn’t far from their reach, which is exactly what Rush wanted to accomplish when meeting these students.
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Generational Voice: Julia Bullock puts passion to resonance with thoughtful singing
American soprano Julia Bullock is not your standard-issue, rising young operatic diva.
The sound of Bullock’s voice—rich and warm with a smoky undercurrent and glints of steel—is inimitable. She could easily spend her career traveling the world singing standard operatic repertoire. Since graduating from Juilliard in 2015, however, she has put her voice in service to programs that go far beyond the classical repertoire’s usual boundaries.
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Carousel Stage Offers New Ravinia Experience
in Park News
Inaugurated by the Chicago Jazz Orchestra Sextet on July 3, the brand-new Carousel Stage at Ravinia offers a series of casual evening performances of jazz, folk, and bluegrass music, hosted in the carousel-styled rotunda on the North Lawn with general admission Lawn seating only.
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Ravinia's Chicago Festival: Celebrating and Thanking our Community
Ravinia’s Reach Teach Play students, families, and partners attended Chicago Festival on July 3, a special event featuring Chicago-area artists to thank the invited audience of essential, frontline, and healthcare workers; first responders; neighborhood partners; and families who participate in RTP programs for their efforts and dedication over the past year.
Second City, First Home: Kurt Elling returns his Grammy-winning grooves to Chicago and Ravinia
For Grammy-winning, internationally renowned jazz impresario—and Chicago native—Kurt Elling, Ravinia Festival’s famed “music under the stars” have aligned into his lucky stars.
Elling (a former divinity student) baptizes Ravinia’s new, intimate, outdoor Carousel Stage on the North Lawn with jazz guitar virtuoso Charlie Hunter. The two will debut new music from their daring new album SuperBlue, which drops in September.
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WFMT to Broadcast Chicago Symphony Orchestra Opening Night Live
Ravinia is partnering with Chicago’s classical radio station WFMT to present a special live broadcast of the opening concert of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s residency at the festival on July 9 – a program led by Ravinia Chief Conductor and Curator Marin Alsop and featuring pianist Jorge Federico Osorio. This performance will mark the first major post-pandemic classical music event in the Chicago area presented before a large audience.
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