Tessa Lark Explores the Formidable Flexibility of Fiddling

August 28, 2023 in Classical, Ravinia Magazine, The Artists, RSMI, Music Education, Artist News, RaviniaNews

There is a moment of sheer infectious joy on Ravinia Steans Music Institute alum Tessa Lark’s most recent album, The Stradgrass Sessions. There are several, actually, but one that stands out comes at the end of “Hysedelje,” a fiddle tune composed by Lark that is more (blue)grass than Strad(ivarius). At the end, she emits a “whoop” that evokes her Richmond, KY, roots as the daughter of a bluegrass musician. “It was a spur of the moment,” she told Ravinia. “Culturally, it is something you might do after playing a fiddle tune.” She added with a laugh, “You can take the girl out of Kentucky—”

Lark was born to the breed. Her father plays with the gospel-bluegrass ensemble Narrow Road. Her mother played piano for almost a decade when Lark was growing up. Classical music made an impression on her via radio and Performance Today, the American Public Radio series reputedly the most listened-to classical music program in the country. “I adored the music from a very young age,” she said. “My parents were amazing about having unique styles piping through the house. I would gravitate to what I thought was good music. It didn’t matter what the style or genre was. I quickly fell in love with classical because of the depth of emotion.”

Music & Mayhem: Karen Ouzounian Powerfully Shatters Pigeonholes with Her Artistic Partners

September 01, 2022 in Artist News, Classical, Ravinia Magazine, RaviniaNews, RSMI

American cellist Karen Ouzounian’s professional résumé has one unexpected entry.

Most of her achievements fall in the category of a gifted, classically trained musician forging a strong, creative career: Bachelor’s and master’s degrees from The Juilliard School. Co-founding the Aizuri Quartet, which has held a residency at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art and recently won the prestigious Cleveland Quartet Award for the 2022–24 seasons. Memberships in Yo-Yo Ma’s boundary-breaking Silkroad Ensemble as well as The Knights, the innovative New York City–based chamber orchestra.

Two of those highlights will bring her to Ravinia before 2022’s finale. On September 13, she will be the soloist with The Knights in Shorthand, a new work for cello and chamber ensemble commissioned from Anna Clyne. Then she returns December 10 with the Aizuri Quartet for “Song Emerging,” a concert centered on translating the incredible musical potential of the human voice.

The aforementioned outlier on Ouzounian’s résumé? The Aizuri Quartet’s five-night gig this past April as the opening act for Wilco, the fabled Chicago alt-rock band fronted by Jeff Tweedy, during its New York shows celebrating the 20th anniversary of its mega-hit debut album, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot.

Rewind: July 3, 1936

July 03, 2016 in Classical, Ravinia History

July 3, 1936: The CSO Residency Kicks Off

In 1936 Ravinia and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra began an enthusiastic partnership in presenting history’s greatest music in a uniquely lush and comfortable setting, and 80 years later that dedication is as strong as ever, forming the cornerstone of the festival’s classical mission, which also encompasses chamber music, recitals, kids concerts, Reach*Teach*Play, and Ravinia’s Stean’s Music Institute. Even before the relationship became official the CSO was a regular guest, dating back to 1905 as the Theodore Thomas Orchestra. Over the 17 concerts that compose its residency at Ravinia this summer, the CSO will play works that are just as powerful today as they were during that first season—from Beethoven’s Seventh, Brahms’s Second and Fourth, and Dvořák’s “New World” Symphonies to such orchestral delights as Respighi’s Pines of Rome and Strauss’s Don Juan to the playful swirl of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue.

Ravinia and Cuba exchange virtuosos

September 15, 2015 in Classical, Music Education

Nine months before Obama’s historic announcement last winter, Ravinia had already significantly connected with the government of Cuba. In March 2014 an ensemble of young chamber musicians, alumni of Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute (the festival’s summer conservatory), performed in Havana’s Festival de Música de Cámara.

“We got very lucky. We met the right people at the right time,” Plonsker elaborates. “I see Ravinia as a leader. We got there on an official basis before any other group, and we are operating at a very high level of cultural exchange.”

RSMI Alumni Grace Kelly Wins Prestigious Award

February 18, 2013

Ravinia Steans Music Institute alumni Grace Kelly, who was in our jazz program in 2007, has won a 2013 Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Award. Established by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers Foundation in 2002 to encourage gifted jazz composers under the age of 30, the program now carries the name of the great trumpeter and ASCAP member Herb Alpert in recognition of The Herb Alpert Found's multi-year financial commitment to support this unique program. The recipients, who receive cash awards, range in age from 10 to 30, and are selected through a juried national competition. Congratulations on this award Grace! This talented young woman is going places. You can follow her on Twitter at @GraceKellyJazz.

Ravinia Engages Pianist Kevin Murphy as Director of the Vocal Program at the Steans Music Institute

April 21, 2011

Ravinia Festival has named renowned pianist, music administrator and educator Kevin Murphy director of the festival’s summer music conservatory, the Steans Music Institute. He replaces Brian Zeger, who steps down in August after six years in the position. Murphy’s duties will include selecting 15 singers and five pianists from a worldwide pool of applicants to participate in the program each summer as well as securing faculty who will work with these artists over an intensive three-week residency. In consultation with the faculty, he will program four concerts of art song and three master classes each summer.

Murphy has been director of music administration at New York City Opera since September of 2008. Before that time, he was director of musical studies at the National Opera of Paris. In 1992 he was the first pianist invited by Maestro James Levine (former Ravinia music director) to participate in the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program and continued as an assistant conductor from 1993 through June 2006. In addition to his on- and off-stage partnership with his wife, soprano Heidi Grant Murphy, he has collaborated in concert and recital with many of today’s leading artists, including Steans Music Institute alumna Michelle DeYoung, Nathan Gunn, Bryn Terfel, Plácido Domingo, Renée Fleming and others. Additional credits include performances of Mozart operas with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at Ravinia.

“I can think of no better fit for Ravinia and the Steans Music Institute than Kevin, a truly respected and talented pedagogue who will spark and inspire the young professional musicians who will study with him,” said Ravinia Festival Music Director James Conlon. “Kevin is a friend, and I look forward to having him as a festival colleague.”