Ravinia proudly congratulates Isaac Sinnett, Senior Associate Director of the festival’s Reach Teach Play music education programs, on being elected as the newest board member of El Sistema USA! He has worked exceptionally with Reach Teach Play for more than a decade to serve over 75,000 Chicagoland community members each year through Ravinia’s education programs, ensuring music remains accessible to all.
Read MoreMusic Education
Meet Steve Wilson—RSMI's Newest Program Director
At the start of the 2021 Ravinia season, the Steans Music Institute was proud to announce that Steve Wilson joined the Program for Jazz directorate as the program’s third co-director. Wilson, a saxophonist and composer, has long been active in the New York jazz scene, playing, teaching, and recording, both with his own ensembles and with jazz stalwarts such as Christian McBride, Maria Schneider, and Chick Corea.
Read More’Tis the Season for Reach Teach Play Programs
Reach Teach Play programs are still in full swing this off-season, and our students have been busy showcasing their hard work. Just last week, our Sistema Ravinia Orchestra presented a winter concert at Gregory Elementary School located in Homan Square. Trumpet and clarinet students gave an auditorium performance to their fellow classmates.
Read MoreRavinia Steans Music Institute alumni and faculty receive Grammy nominations
It’s that time of year again! We are proud to announce alumni and faculty members of the Steans Music Institute who have received 2022 Grammy Award nominations. The 64th Annual Grammy Awards broadcast is scheduled for January 31, 2022.
Read MoreRavinia Jazz Scholars alumni jazz it up at Green Mill
Four alumni of Ravinia’s Jazz Mentor Program—known as Jazz Scholars when they were young musicians in the program—made their way to the Green Mill Jazz Club stage for much-anticipated performances that had lines out the door.
Read MoreRSMI Alumni Making Headlines in November 2021
Since 1988, the Ravinia Steans Music Institute has been an international destination for young professional musicians devoted to honing and advancing their musical talents. Over that time, RSMI has seen over 1,500 exceptional musicians enter its programs; many of whom have gone on to have very impressive accomplishments in their careers. Here are a few recent stories from November 2021:
Read MoreRavinia’s music education program paves 12-year-old singer’s opera career path
Daelyn Calloway, who is in the Ravinia Lawndale Family Music School choir program, has already been a part of a handful of opera productions at the young age of twelve. Her most recent singing appearance in The Magic Flute occurred this month at Chicago’s Lyric Opera. She has also performed in the Lyric’s production of The Queen of Spades, The Dead Man Walking, and in the spring, she will be performing in the Tosca production.
Read MoreSocially Behind the Scenes at Ravinia Steans Music Institute
A day in the life of a Steans Music Institute fellow is never all practice, all the time. To share glimpses of the experience with those on the outside, “Tuesday Takeovers” began in RSMI’s Instagram Stories, bringing viewers into the musicians’ jam-packed schedules and daily experiences.
Read MoreReach Teach Play Looks Back at Successful Summer
Not only did live music return to the park after a dark and quiet 2020 season, so did Ravinia’s Reach Teach Play (RTP) education program participants. Although RTP instructors and students were not able to perform or meet in person for over a year, this season brought with it numerous joyful reunions and inspiring moments.
Read MoreReach Teach Play Brings Flamenco to Elementary Classroom
This month, Reach Teach Play’s Guest Artists in the Classroom brought the Clinard Dance Flamenco Quartet to Hitch Elementary School for two performances in celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month. The performances brought zapateado–a Spanish word referring to the shoe strikes flamenco dancers make–to over 100 students along with mesmerizing sounds from traditional Spanish guitar, a cantaora or cante singer, and a violin.
Read MoreIn Ravinia’s Reach Teach Play programs, it’s never been clearer that music matters
Every year Ravinia sends hundreds of musicians into Chicago Public Schools as well as classrooms in Highland Park, Waukegan, and North Chicago. What began in 1965 with the Women’s Board’s program of making lawn passes available to low-income music lovers has grown into Reach Teach Play, a year-round operation that reaches 75,000 children annually through a dozen distinct programs.
Read MoreEmoting the Moment: Ben Folds waltzes to weird and normal
Ben Folds does not talk in what he calls “snack-sized” sound bites. He speaks expansively about creativity, a mercurial process. We spoke about why waltzes are incredible, the pitfalls of writing a song about Rudy Giuliani’s disastrous Four Seasons Landscaping press conference, and why arts education is essential to our post-pandemic restart.
Read MoreYour Support Goes Twice The Distance!
Our friends at The Negaunee Foundation know this, too, and have generously offered a “Pillars of Ravinia” challenge grant, matching dollar-for-dollar every $100–$500 donation to the festival’s 2021 Annual Fund, up to $100,000, from now until the summer season ends.
Read MoreThaddeus Tukes brings all the vibes to Ravinia
“The Ravinia jazz program is one of the reasons I was actually able to go to school for jazz and develop a career. The stuff we learned and were exposed to all year long, having that match with my school curriculum, and the support from teachers were the reasons I was able to visualize what a career as a professional musician would look like,”
Read MoreEverybody Wants to Play: In the key of Black Violin, every note is in the home chord
It seems implausible that a casual bet on a golf game could determine the trajectory of a young man’s life. But truth is stranger than fiction, as Wil Baptiste found out.
One half of the groundbreaking string duo Black Violin, 38-year-old Baptiste spent much of his life thinking a mix-up had determined his musical fate. Although he hadn’t played an instrument during his first decade of life, the adolescent started daydreaming about the saxophone. So he joined a summer music program, visions of John Coltrane bebopping in his head, but ended up in the string section. For years, he thought he’d just ended up in the wrong class by fate, but, as he told Ravinia Magazine during a recent phone chat, “Came to find out, it was orchestrated.”
Read MoreViolinist Maria Ioudenitch Reminisces on Ravinia Steans Music Institute Fellowship
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.
Read MoreGotta 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 MoreBetween 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.
Read MoreJonathan 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.
Read MoreRavinia'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.