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

February 09, 2024 in Steans Music Institute, The Artists, Ravinia Magazine

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.

The Steans Piano Trio Found and Renews Instant Kismet at Ravinia

November 15, 2023 in Classical, Ravinia Magazine, RaviniaNews, Steans Music Institute, The Artists

Kismet has a way of striking at unexpected times, and that is exactly what happened when three fellows at the Ravinia Festival’s Steans Music Institute (RSMI) happened to be put together with a violist to perform Gabriel Fauré’s Piano Quartet No. 2 in 2015.

Though previously acquainted at the Curtis Institute of Music, they had never played together and had no particular interest in being part of a piano trio. Or so they thought.

All that changed when they began rehearsing together, and the young artists immediately found themselves captivated by the collaboration. Four years later, they decided to make the happenstance assemblage into a permanent group.

Alexis Lombre Makes “Come Find Me” a Singular Musical Philosophy After Ravinia Successes

March 31, 2021 in Music Education, Artist News

South Side–native pianist and vocalist Alexis Lombre is the latest outstanding artist to have come up through both Ravinia programs, and Backstage caught up with the now sometime Detroiter in the midst of work on her second solo album, which she’s dubbed an amalgamation of everything that she listens to and everything that she is. She’s been prepping the first single, “Come Find Me,” from the new collection of original tracks with a fellow Chicagoan, Grammy-winning guitarist Isaiah Sharkey, as producer, and Lombre has recently released a mini-documentary series on her YouTube channel to give fans a sneak peek at the creative process.