Blind Ravinia Performer to Perform Anti-Bullying Concert for Sixth Graders

A blind singer who will headline Ravinia Festival at the Martin Theatre this week will first perform “Voices Against Bullying,” an anti-bullying concert, for 800 sixth graders in Highland Park.

Laurie Rubin and pianist-composer Jenny Taira will deliver the performance at 1 p.m. on Wednesday, September 9 as part of the city of Highland Park’s “We Stand Together” campaign against bullying, an effort spearheaded by Mayor Nancy Rotering.

As a partner in the campaign, Ravinia earlier produced an anti-bullying PSA starring Ramsey Lewis and a group of Highland Park students that ran thousands of times this summer on Comcast, WGN and WTTW.

Rubin will perform a special program of songs and plans to share stories “deeply connected to her own experiences with bullying,” according to a Ravinia news release. Rubin said this program is meant to inspire students while also bringing more awareness and discourse to the issue of bullying.

The following night, she will perform in her “official” Ravinia debut alongside opera star Frederica von Stade.