Ravinia Announces Lineups For Fall, Winter And Spring Concerts

HIGHLAND PARK, IL — The Ravinia Festival has revealed the schedule for what it described as its most expensive lineup ever of post-summer concerts. The series of 20 concerts announced Tuesday will run from Oct. 6 to May 11 in the 450-seat Bennett Gordon Hall.

Programs include tributes to the 50th anniversary of the Apollo space missions, the 100th anniversary of the death of Claude Debussy and the centennial of the invention of the theremin, the festival said in a release.

Welz Kauffman, the festival's president and CEO, said the series provided remarkable value.

“Although Ravinia is most known for its music under the stars, Bennett Gordon Hall has developed quite a fan club over the past few years because audiences appreciate both the opportunity to experience an array of talented artists up and close and personal, and the enticing ticket price that lets them see an entire year’s worth of concerts for the cost of a single ticket at most other concert halls,” Kauffman said.

Tickets to a single show are $12, 10-concert passes can be purchased for $90, and packages including dining are available for $50 per person. Ticket sales begin at Ravinia.org on Sept. 18.

Complete Ravinia Post-Summer Lineup

Casals’ Cello, Oct. 6: One of the world’s all-time great cellists, Pablo Casals, caught the ear of Amit Peled when at 10 years old he first heard the legend playing Brahms’ Cello Sonatas Nos. 1 and 2. Now, 35 years later, the acclaimed Peled takes on the same program with "To Brahms with Love, from the Cello of Pablo Casals," on the very instrument Casals owned, played and recorded with for 60 years. He is joined by pianist Noreen Polera.

Ben Rosenblum Trio, Oct. 13: With a narrative vision, pianist Ben Rosenblum and his trio recall a world of styles, from the jazz canon through traditional music and tunes from the stage and screen. They will play selections from their latest disc, "River City," and songs they’ve developed while on tour.

Violinist Pamela Frank, Oct. 20: Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute faculty member Pamela Frank—praised by the New York Times for her “uncommonly sweet, rounded and varied tone and interpretations that are thoughtfully conceived, polished and rich in spirit”—performs a program of Bach’s Second and Third Violin Sonatas, the First Violin Sonata of Brahms, and Janáček’s Violin Sonata. She is joined by pianist Stephen Prutsman.

Rhythm Future Quartet, Nov. 17: The Rhythm Future Quartet brings dynamic, lyrical twists on Gypsy jazz standards and original works that draw on diverse musical idioms, including a swinging nod to Django Reinhardt, a funky take on The Beatles, and the Latin/classical fusion of their “Jaytude No. 1 in Em.” The Wall Street Journal called them “the worthiest current-day successors to the great Django.”

Claudio Honors Claude, Dec. 8 and 9: Recognized by the Chicago Tribune for his “wholly elegant playing on piano and bandoneon” and acclaimed the world over for his ongoing recordings of Claude Debussy’s piano works, Claudio Constantini will honor the centenary of the great composer’s death of with his characterful "Préludes" over two nights and evoke a Parisian café with music on the bandoneon. Ravinia audiences first encountered Constantini as a member Ksenija’s ensemble in the accordion version of Bizet’s "Carmen."

Holiday Premieres with the Chicago Chorale, Dec. 15: In back-to-back holiday programs at 5 and 7:30 p.m., the Chicago Chorale lifts up traditional hymns, Rachmaninoff’s “Vespers,” sacred songs by Spanish composers Javier Centeno and Javier Busto, winter favorites like “God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen” and “Ding Dong Merrily on High,” and nine works never before performed at Ravinia, including Bruckner’s Virga Jesse (“The Branch from Jesse”) and Bach’s "O Jesulein süss, o Jesulein mild."

CSO Concertmaster Robert Chen, Jan. 12: Chicago Symphony Orchestra concertmaster Robert Chen—whose playing has been called “haunting and ethereal, almost other-worldly” by the Chicago Classical Review—follows up his sold-out solo concert last winter with another program alongside pianist Benjamin Loeb, this time featuring the first Ravinia performance of Three Romances for violin by Clara Schumann and Richard Strauss’s Violin Sonata.

Spanish and Latin Classic Songs, Jan. 26: Fresh off their celebration of Bernstein’s centennial and the 30th anniversary of Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute, a quartet of RSMI Vocalists kick off their annual spring tour on their home turf with a collection of classic Spanish and Latin American songs alongside pianist and vocal program director Kevin Murphy.

WindSync Premiere Tribute to Apollo Missions, Feb. 16: The biggest hit of last season, the Houston-based wind ensemble WindSync returns to salute the 50th anniversary of the Apollo missions with the world premiere of a wind quintet commissioned from Chicago’s Marc Mellits, paired with other moon-inspired works plus Françaix’s jovial First Wind Quintet and Ginastera’s Three Argentine Dances.

Laurie Rubin’s “Color Portrait,” Feb. 23: Mezzo-soprano Laurie Rubin, who authored the best-selling memoir "Do You Dream in Color" about her blindness, demonstrates how she does indeed experience color in this moving evening of stories and performances of classic songs, heartful originals, and poignant musical theater pieces. Rubin and wife Jenny Taira on piano offer an evening of self-realization in “Color Portrait,” a program spanning Puccini, Sondheim, Yiddish theater star Molly Picon, and more.

Henhouse Prowlers, March 2: Having been official cultural ambassadors of bluegrass music for five years, Chicago’s own Henhouse Prowlers return to Ravinia by popular demand, having not only toured over 25 countries but transplanting seeds from Africa and Asia into their roots to grow a global sound across hundreds of shows and several albums.

Ethan Uslan, March 9: Ragtime and jazz pianist Ethan Uslan shares his deep love for America’s rich musical heritage with equal measures of passion, humor, and virtuosity—even applying that classic verve to Beethoven’s "Für Elise"—having been a three-time Old-Time Piano Playing Contest World Champion.

Ravinia Jazz Mentors, March 23: For more than 20 years, Chicago’s connection to jazz has been solidified for future decades by the Ravinia Jazz Mentors, eight top players in the city who not only lead a band of the finest high-school musicians but also gig together with the standards as they’re meant to be heard. Although each of the players in this ensemble are top-tier jazz soloists they team up as teachers of the Ravinia Jazz Scholars, one of the festival’s Reach*Teach*Play programs serving 85,000 people each year.

Guitarist Reentko Dirks, March 30: A versatile virtuoso of the guitar, Reentko Dirks blends such classics as the “Love Theme” from "Cinema Paradiso" and Ariel Ramírez’s “Alfonsina y el mar” with rock and funk from the likes of The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, and Queen as well as flamenco and other traditional music. Ravinia audiences were introduced to him last year as part of Ksenija Sidorova’s accordion version of Bizet’s "Carmen." The Chicago Tribune said, “Dirks emphasizes the nobility of the form via taut rhythms and dramatic gestures.”

Musicians from RSMI, April 6: Piano and string Musicians from RSMI—led by violinist Miriam Fried in her 25th year as director of the program—kick off their national tour featuring the Ravinia-commissioned piano trio by Timo Andres that they premiered this summer along with Schubert’s “Rosamunde” Quartet and Franck’s Piano Quintet. The ensemble features violinist Grace Clifford, violist Haeji Kim, cellist Gabriel Martins, and pianist Janice Carissa.

Callisto Quartet, April 13: The Cleveland Institute of Music’s two-year-old Callisto Quartet, which earlier this year won the grand prize at the prestigious Fischoff Competition, highlights the harmony of time with the celestial expanse of Beethoven’s Second “Razumovsky” Quartet and Thomas Adès’s "Four Quarters," a prismatic revelation of the rhythms of a day lived to its fullest, in its Ravinia debut.

The Four Bs with Einav Yarden, May 4: A pianist with “a sense of purpose in every note [and] of immense majesty, tempered by gentleness and grace” (Washington Post), Einav Yarden frees the spirits of Beethoven, Brahms, and Bartók in a fantasy program that also beams with Bach at his most ebullient, in his Keyboard Partita No. 4. The program features Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 13; the Seven Fantasies, op. 116, by Brahms; and the Ravinia-premiere performance of Bartók’s "Three Burlesques."

Theremin Centennial Concert, May 11: As if making the very air “sing” with good vibrations, Thorwald Jørgensen will electrify with the lyricism of the theremin in Rachmaninoff’s Vocalise and the energetic sonata by Franck, honoring the instrument’s centenary via the Russian and French heritage of Léon Theremin, who created the other-worldly instrument—heard throughout pop culture in such movie soundtracks as Bernard Herrmann’s "The Day the Earth Stood Still" and Miklos Rosza’s "Spellbound;" recitals by Paul Robeson; and radio hits like Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love”—that is controlled without physical touch. Lincoln Trio pianist Marta Aznavoorian also performs on the program that includes Tchaikovsky’s "Sérénade mélancolique" and the Ravinia premieres of Messaien’s "Vocalise-étude" and Jørgensen’s own "Distant Shores."

via Ravinia Festival