Classical music may have a centuries-old history, but among today’s top conductors, Marin Alsop is exceptionally open to trying new approaches. In both her choice of soloists and the programs she designed for her three weeks of Chicago Symphony Orchestra concerts July 12-26, Ravinia’s Chief Conductor is showcasing fresh faces and interesting ideas.
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Ben Platt savors the grounded sweetness of a honeyed sense of self
Performing is Ben Platt’s greatest joy.
So, when the creative master of just about everything began work on his current album, Honeymind, Platt constantly envisioned what the music would look like, while performing it.
“I think the album is designed for live performance,” Platt tells Ravinia Magazine during a Zoom interview from outside his home in New York City, his backdrop a growing curtain of summer rain. “As soon as I started writing in this more emotionally intimate, Americana folk type of space, I was really excited to get back to rooms where I could have a more direct connection to the crowd. I think being somewhere beautiful and outside and in some of the prosceniums that I’m playing, it will just give a certain sense of warmth that the music wants to have.”
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Stopping By After Steans
Ravinia’s long-running summer training program for young professional musicians, the Steans Music Institute, has nurtured many careers— over 1,600 individual artists since 1988—at impressionable moments, and those who go on to bigger things often return in later years as part of main- stage programming. Among others, this summer violinist Augustin Hadelich will solo with the Chicago Symphony on July 25, more than 20 years after he spent a summer at the Steans Institute playing chamber music. And on July 18, the Viano Quartet will appear in the Martin Theatre, only four years after their virtual Steans experience during the pandemic year of 2020.
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The Involving Bassist: Rufus Reid Has All the Pluck to Play, Teach, and Write
Bassist Rufus Reid has lit up the New York City jazz scene for nearly 50 years, working in all the major clubs, fronting more than a dozen albums and serving as a duet partner and sideman on scores more with such luminaries as Kenny Barron, Kenny Burrell, Art Farmer, J.J. Johnson, and Akira Tana. But as important as the Big Apple as has been to this ever-dependable jazz stalwart, none of his success there would have been possible without his early years in Chicago…
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Status Cymbal: Antonio Sánchez Comes Full Circle Performing Birdman Live
One of the Motion Picture Academy’s most grievous snubs was denying Antonio Sánchez even an Oscar nomination for his percussive score for Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Birdman, which went on to win Oscars in 2015 for Best Picture, Director, Screenplay, and Cinematography. The mostly drum score was the propulsive accompaniment to the film, which seemingly unfolded in one unbroken take.
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Dream Team: From Seminario to Space, Marin Alsop’s Soaring Summer Suite
Playing in an orchestra is, essentially, a team sport, one that many fledgling musicians dream about. But unlike baseball or soccer, it requires hours of solitary practice before “team play” begins. Sometimes trying to learn an instrument and performing only occasionally with local classmates can feel like a lonely slog. Budding athletes can plug into a vast network of local, regional, and national sports competitions, meets, and workshops that keep them excited about their sport. Little on that scale exists for young musicians. Marin Alsop, Ravinia’s Chief Conductor, is deeply invested…
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James Taylor: That's Why We're Here
One of my favorite James Taylor songs is one you may not instantly recognize or associate with pop music’s lanky illuminator. After almost two decades of writing, singing, and performing many of the rock era’s most beloved ballads and appealing pop songs, with his honest, post-rehab album—1985’s That’s Why I’m Here—James Taylor finally confronted in song his personal demons and accepted his artistic reality.
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Get Ready To Buy Tickets For Ravinia's 2024 Season
in RaviniaNews, Park News
All concerts for Ravinia’s 2024 season go on sale to the public on Wednesday, April 24, at 8:00 a.m. CDT, only on ravinia.org!
We want to ensure you have a quick, easy, and secure experience purchasing tickets to the performances you most want to attend. Here are four tips to make your buying experience better.
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Ravinia Festival Announces Programming for 2024 Season, June 7–September 15
HIGHLAND PARK, IL — RaviniaⓇ President and CEO Jeffrey P. Haydon announces Ravinia Festival’s complete 2024 summer lineup, offering 60 artist debuts and more than 100 concerts ranging from rock/pop, R&B, classical, jazz, and country, to movies with live orchestra, dance performances, Fiesta Ravinia, and more. Summer 2024 also features the annual six-week summer residency by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) with Chief Conductor Marin Alsop and a range of classical offerings from solo recitals and chamber music to semi-staged opera and dance.
“With an extraordinary range of concerts and artists, we are excited to offer an inspiring and captivating season for everyone who comes to Ravinia,” said Haydon, Ravinia’s President and CEO. “Whether in Bennett Gordon Hall, Martin Theatre, Pavilion, Lawn, or Carousel, concertgoers will surely experience the spirit of summer with incredible music under the stars.”
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Salutes to Wayne Shorter underscore springtime Ravinia concerts
When saxophonist Wayne Shorter died last year at 89, the jazz world lost one of the most innovative and influential voices of his generation. Given Shorter’s wide-ranging reach and impact, it is hardly surprising that two upcoming concerts as part of Ravinia’s Fall/Spring Series in Bennett Gordon Hall will pay tribute to the recently departed jazz legend. The eight-member Ravinia Jazz Mentors will raise their hats to Shorter on March 16, and vocalist Kurt Elling and Panamanian pianist Danilo Pérez, who played with the saxophonist for 20 years, will devote much of their May 3 program to his music.
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Long-Standing Love Stories Sparked at Ravinia
It is not hard to find someone who has experienced love at our park, whether with the music, the magical atmosphere, or our beautiful grounds. The love between some Ravinia guests has continued outside and within the festival and is heartily blooming for years to come. Thank you to those who shared their special stories of love with us. We feel so honored to have been included in their romantic milestones.
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The trumpet of Jason Palmer, 2003 RSMI Jazz alumnus and 2024 Ravinia on Tour ensemble member (photo: Jimmy Katz)
Ravinia Steans Music Institute Jazz Alumni hallmark the art of spontaneity
Although just 25 years old, pianist Luca Mendoza is one of only two all-time Monterey Next Generation Jazz Festival “triple crown winners.” Chicago-native bassist Harish Raghavan has become a fixture on the New York jazz scene, fronting two recordings since moving in 2007. Though based on opposite coasts, they have a common thread that brings them together at Ravinia’s Bennett Gordon Hall on February 27 with saxophonist Veronica Leahy, trumpeter Jason Palmer, and drummer Mark Whitfield Jr.—the quintet has alighted to that stage before, though not at the same time. They’re all alumni of the Ravinia Steans Music Institute (RSMI) Jazz Program from the past two decades.
Mendoza has never performed with any of the other artists on the lineup, but he is sure they will bond quickly. “We all know who each other is,” he said. “That’s sort of the beauty of jazz being a small world at a certain level. We all know each other’s music and playing, and there is a certain caliber of respect that we’re bringing to the table. So, there is no concern at all—just excitement.”
In keeping with the spontaneity that is a hallmark of the jazz genre, the musicians will arrive at Ravinia a day two or early to work out a program and run through it. “Everybody is submitting some music, and we’re going to see how it goes at rehearsal,” Raghavan said.
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