Ravinia Announces New Additions To Summer Lineup

From Ravinia: Ravinia announced additions to its 2018 season, which features more than 140 events from June 1 through Sept. 16. New this year, to reduce customer wait times, June and July concerts will go on sale on Tuesday, May 8, and August and September concerts on Thursday, May 10, exclusively at Ravinia.org.

Tommy Emmanuel will open the previously announced Alison Krauss concert on June 16. Emmanuel has achieved enough musical milestones to satisfy several lifetimes. Or at least they would if he was the kind of artist who was ever satisfied. At age 6, he was touring his native Australia with his family band. By 30, Emmanuel was a rock and roll lead guitarist, burning up stadiums in Europe. At 44, he became one of five people ever named a “Certified Guitar Player” by his idol, music icon Chet Atkins. Today, he plays hundreds of sold-out shows every year from Nashville to Sydney to London.

Kevin Cole returns to the Martin Theatre in Kevin Cole & Friends on June 30. The pianist has delighted Ravinia audiences with his celebrations of Marvin Hamlisch, Cole Porter, and the Gershwins over the past three seasons, and he returns this summer with Rod Gilfry, Sylvia McNair, and Ryan VanDenBoom for another signature evening of the Great American Songbook. Cole is an award-winning pianist, musical director, arranger, composer, vocalist, and archivist who garnered the praises of Irving Berlin, Harold Arlen, E.Y. Harburg, Hugh Martin, Burton Lane, Marvin Hamlisch, Stephen Sondheim, and members of the Kern and Gershwin families. Known as “America’s pianist,” Cole has delighted audiences with a repertoire that includes the best of American music.

Adding to its Kids Concerts series, Ravinia offers the chance to travel the world of percussive dance with the Chicago Human Rhythm Project’s foot drumming show “Stomping Grounds,” on July 7. Featuring companies from different cultures, this program is narrated to highlight what makes each unique and what we all have in common—rhythm! Ravinia’s family-friendly KidsLawn will be open during this show. This family-friendly space on the north lawn is the perfect place to lay out a picnic and let the kids run between interactive exhibits, including large-scale percussion instruments on which they can make their own kind of music. KidsLawn will also feature an “instrument petting zoo,” arts and crafts, and live performance activities on select dates.

Classic Albums Live returns to Ravinia on July 7 to perform The Beatles’ hit album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Founded in 2003 by Craig Martin, Classic Albums Live takes the greatest albums and re-creates them live on stage—note for note, cut for cut—using the best musicians. “Think of it as a recital,” says Martin. “These albums are historic and stand the test of time.” Forgoing costumes and impersonations, Classic Albums Live has found success in concentrating solely on the music. “We don’t dress up or wear any sort of costume. We just get up and play. All of our energy is put into the music. We want the performance to sound exactly like the album,” says Martin. With more than 100 shows a year across North America, Classic Albums Live has seen massive success in performing arts centers and theaters.

The 2018 residency of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra expands with an additional night celebrating the work of Russia’s most popular composer of all time on July 21. This second evening of the Tchaikovsky Spectacular will feature selections from Swan Lake plus the First Piano Concerto with soloist Inon Barnatan, whose recent performance at Orchestra Hall “prized delicate color [and] power” (Chicago Tribune). As always, the concert will conclude with Ravinia’s live cannon percussion in the thrilling 1812 Overture.

Tall Heights makes its Ravinia debut opening for Cake and Ben Folds on Aug. 22. Singer/guitarist Tim Harrington and singer/cellist Paul Wright formed Tall Heights in 2010, keeping their songs stripped down to their essential elements, in part, to make it simpler to perform on the streets of Boston. Their most recent release, Neptune, is a far lusher construct: along with pristine and emotive vocal harmonies, there’s subtly chugging electric guitar and a spare descending bass line on “Iron in the Fire,” ethereal synthesizers and a spacious drum part on “Spirit Cold,” a brittle splash of percussion to open “Backwards and Forwards,” and feedback created by two cellphones on “Cross My Mind.” “It was helpful and I think comforting to define ourselves as two vocalists, guitar and cello,” Wright says. “There was a beauty and a simplicity, and stepping outside of that box is pretty scary, because you’re forced to redefine yourself and do some sonic soul-searching. I think this record reflects the results of that scary step.”

Nashville artist Ryan Kinder joins the lineup of John Fogerty and ZZ Top’s “Blues and Bayous” Tour for its June 12 Ravinia stop. Pairing soulful Southern vocals with electrifying guitar heroics, the young artist is bringing his instrument back to the forefront of the genre—and he’s doing it with a vision that’s all his own. “I feel like playing is equal to singing,” Kinder explains. “In fact you can sing through a guitar like it’s another voice, and that’s what I want—for people to forget what they’re hearing.” With his sexy, swaggering new single, “Close,” country fans will forget more than what they’re hearing—they’ll forget their troubles, forget their inhibitions, and forget how to keep from singing along.

Photo via the Ravinia Festival