Contact:

Nick Pullia 847-266-5012
NPullia@ravinia.org

Pedro DeJesus 847-266-5018
Pdejesus@ravinia.org

Embargoed Until March 5, 2015

RAVINIA ANNOUNCES 2015 SEASON

MORE THAN 120 EVENTS FROM JUNE 13 TO SEPT. 12, INCLUDING 60 ARTIST DEBUTS

Ravinia honors James Conlon in his final season as music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra residency, recalling favorite repertoire from his three-decade association with the festival, including Mozart, Mahler, opera and “Breaking the Silence”

Ravinia builds on 2014 strategy to successfully grow audience for CSO

Lifelong Chicagoan Ramsey Lewis celebrates his 80th birthday by making his CSO debut as both composer and soloist during superstar jazz weekend that includes concerts by Harry Connick Jr. and Diana Krall

Bobby McFerrin conducts the best from Porgy and Bess, the 2015 One Score, One Chicago selection, with Nicole Cabell, Brian Stokes Mitchell and a choir specially assembled by Josephine Lee

CSO goes to the movies with giant screens on the Pavilion stage and lawn for Star Trek, Gladiator, scenes and music from Fantasia and Fantasia 2000, and Danny Elfman’s music from the films of Tim Burton

Two of Ravinia’s most explosive nights are rolled into one as a performance by violinist Maxim Vengerov merges the annual “Tchaikovsky Spectacular” with the Women’s Board Gala

YouTube sensations The Piano Guys and Igudesman & Joo perform live

More than 50 works receive Ravinia, Chicago, American or world premieres, including Ben Moore commission for Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute

Ravinia’s tradition of unique pairings continues with performances by Tony Bennett/Lady Gaga, The Knights/Dawn Upshaw, Brian Wilson/Rodríguez, Itzhak Perlman/Emanuel Ax, Bush/3 Doors Down, Augustin Hadelich/Joyce Yang, and many more

Ravinia welcomes favorites Santana, Chicago, Sheryl Crow, Steely Dan, Jackson Browne, Aretha Franklin, Rob Thomas, Doobie Brothers, Gipsy Kings and the Steve Miller Band

Ravinia’s expansive 45-concert chamber and recital series features performances by soprano Karita Mattila, cellist Alisa Weilerstein, violinist Jennifer Koh, pianists Jeffrey Kahane and Joseph Moog, and the Emerson String Quartet

Pianists “complete” Martin Theatre lineup with Yundi performing Chopin’s complete ballades and Op. 28 preludes, Yefim Bronfman playing Prokofiev’s complete piano sonatas over three concerts, and Igor Levit essaying Bach’s complete keyboard partitas

HIGHLAND PARK, IL—Ravinia’s 2015 season, jam-packed with more than 120 events from June 13 through Sept. 12, was announced today by Ravinia President and CEO Welz Kauffman. The season features 60 artist debuts and 55 classical works never before performed at Ravinia. More than 35 programs will feature works by new and 20th-century composers. The not-for-profit is North America’s oldest and most programmatically diverse music festival - comparable to an outdoor Carnegie Hall - with about 65 percent of this year’s events featuring classical music, including the annual summer residency of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. About one-third of that residency will be conducted by James Conlon, who dedicates his final season as its music director to recalling favorite repertoire from his three-decade association with the festival.

“James hasn’t had a summer free in decades and deserves the time he wants to take for himself,” Kauffman said. “His presence will be felt at Ravinia for a long time, both in terms of his witty, fun-loving personality that was rooted in his devoted passion for classical music, and in the legacy of his powerful programs that included astounding opera performances, major presentations of Mahler, Mozart and the Russian masters, and, of course, his signature work of restoring to its rightful place in the canon the music of composers trampled by the Nazis.”

“James is a true believer, a lover of music, and a musician with boundless capacity for empathy and artistry. He will be missed almost as much as he is admired by the Ravinia Family,” said Ravinia Chairman John Anderson. “We will always be grateful to him.”

Kauffman reported that for the first time in over two decades—when an independent research firm was first hired to assess the sustainability of the classical audience—Ravinia exceeded its goal for bringing new audiences to CSO concerts. Ravinia sold an average of 2,100 (of 3,400) Pavilion seats for CSO concerts in 2014, and 150,000 of its 590,000 visitors came for classical music.

“One of the most important things Ravinia can do is to make sure that as many people as possible get to experience the world’s greatest orchestra in this era when audiences for classical music are waning around the world,” Kauffman said. “Encouraged by our uptick, Ravinia will stick to our efforts to entice new audiences with reasonable prices; free admission for children and students; pre-concert videos; guest chefs in our restaurants; dedicating one side of our annual brochure to calling out classical concerts in more detail; program notes available online in advance of concerts; parties hosted by our Associates Board; little surprises in the park that are planned for each CSO concert, such as the wedding cakes we shared with last year’s The Marriage of Figaro audiences; and, most importantly, programming an attractive array of symphonic music for new ears and connoisseurs alike, including the appealing movie nights.”

Most Pavilion tickets to all CSO concerts are only $25. Lawn tickets for most classical concerts, including CSO, are only $10. Children and students through college are admitted free to all classical performances (excluding movie nights). Tickets to all events go on sale to Ravinia donors on March 10 and to the general public on April 28, exclusively at Ravinia.org. Supporting Ravinia’s efforts, Allstate has become the first lead classical sponsor of Ravinia.

CHICAGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA RESIDENCY

Throughout 2015 Ravinia will celebrate James Conlon in his 11th and final summer as music director of the CSO residency by recalling themes and favorite repertoire from his three-decade association with the festival. Conlon’s relationship with Ravinia began in 1977, when he was invited by James Levine and Edward Gordon, respectively music director and executive director at the time, to guest conduct. He became music director of the CSO residency in 2005, achieving notable successes with a series of operas, complete cycles of Mahler’s symphonies and Mozart’s mature piano concertos, and the “Breaking the Silence” series, which demonstrated his matchless dedication to the composers and music silenced by the Holocaust.

Mahler and Mozart (July 22): Not only does this program tip its hat to Conlon’s multiyear concentration on Mahler and Mozart, but it replicates a concert from Conlon’s CSO-debut season at Ravinia in 1977. It features Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 and Ravinia favorite Garrick Ohlsson performing Mozart’s Piano Concerto K. 488.
All-Russian Evening (July 23): Conlon’s concentration on the great Russian repertoire is represented in this all-Russian night with pianist Lise de la Salle returning to Ravinia to perform Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 1—reminiscent of Conlon’s 2009 programing of the first concertos of the Russian masters. The program also features three orchestral selections from Mussorgsky’s Khovanshchina and Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5. In his second season as Ravinia’s music director, Conlon focused on the final three symphonies of Shostakovich in celebration of the composer’s centennial.
Zemlinsky and Brahms (July 29): Conlon is the recipient of numerous awards for championing the works of composers suppressed by the Nazi regime, and he was the first recipient of the Zemlinsky Prize for his efforts in bringing that composer’s music to international attention (he has recorded all of the composer’s orchestral works and operas). On this program, Conlon will give an encore performance of Alexander Zemlinsky’s symphonic poem The Mermaid (Die Seejungfrau), which he originally brought to Ravinia in 2007. The program also includes a masterpiece by one of Zemlinsky’s early influences, Johannes Brahms. Jorge Federico Osorio will play Brahms’s Piano Concerto No. 1. Osorio previously performed Beethoven’s complete piano concertos with Conlon and the CSO.
“Tchaikovsky Spectacular” (Aug. 1): For the final Gala Benefit concert of Conlon’s tenure, he will bring back violinist Maxim Vengerov for Ravinia’s increasingly popular “Tchaikovsky Spectacular.” Conlon conducted Vengerov in his only American appearance in 2013—following a 15-year absence—to rave reviews. Vengerov will perform Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto on a program that will also include selections from Swan Lake and the “1812” Overture with Ravinia’s signature cannon fire.
The Flying Dutchman (Aug. 15): Conlon concludes his tenure with a concert performance of Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman, which has never been performed in its entirety at the festival. The cast includes Greer Grimsley, Amber Wagner, Kristinn Sigmundsson, Simon O’Neill and the Chicago Symphony Chorus. Conlon is renowned for his interpretations of Wagner’s repertoire—particularly in Cologne, Paris and Los Angeles, where he conducted L.A. Opera’s first complete Ring Cycle—and, of course, he received great acclaim for his often star-studded opera presentations at Ravinia, including Aida, Tosca, Salome, The Magic Flute, The Marriage of Figaro and Don Giovanni with such singers as Patricia Racette, Bryn Terfel, Frederica von Stade and Nathan Gunn.

Bobby McFerrin conducts Porgy and Bess (July 8): When Ravinia began hosting the CSO in its summer residency in 1936, George Gershwin performed with them at Ravinia for the first and only time. Gershwin’s music has been a Ravinia staple ever since, and this year the Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess has been selected as Ravinia’s One Score, One Chicago presentation. Conductor Bobby McFerrin will program an evening of the best of what is considered by many to be America’s first great and most popular opera. (“Summertime” alone has been covered by more than 33,000 artists, ranging from Al Jolson to Janis Joplin.) The cast features vocalists Nicole Cabell and Brian Stokes Mitchell. Named the first Robert Shaw Conducting Fellow by Chorus America, vivacious Chicago choral conductor Josephine Lee will assemble a special choir for the performance. She and McFerrin shared conducting duties at Ravinia’s 2003 gala before working together on his Grammy-nominated album VOCAbuLarieS. McFerrin has a long history with this work, and his father, Robert McFerrin—the baritone who became the first African-American man to sing at the Metropolitan Opera—supplied the singing voice for Sidney Poitier’s title character in Otto Preminger’s still-controversial 1959 film adaptation. One Score is Ravinia’s program to get the entire community talking about a single masterwork, so this selection is timely following the Lyric Opera’s acclaimed full production of the classic. Ravinia will publish an online resource guide and has already begun introducing the work to thousands of students through its REACH*TEACH*PLAY education programs in Cook and Lake County classrooms and in performances at Navy Pier.
Ramsey Lewis makes CSO debut (Aug. 8): Ramsey Lewis celebrates his 80th birthday by making his CSO debut as both composer and soloist, performing his first piano concerto, commissioned by Ravinia for the occasion. Lewis often speaks of his yearning to be a classical pianist as a young man, but he was steered away from this career path because of his race. After intermission Lewis returns to the stage with his quintet for a full-out jazz jam session. Lewis agrees with the Chicago Tribune that he has achieved a “renaissance as a composer,” and credits Ravinia—where he has been artistic director of jazz since 1993—for commissioning several original works that were premiered at the festival, such as Clouds in Reverie (part of Ravinia’s New Scenes from Childhood project) and Watercolors (later featured on his 2010 album Songs from the Heart: Ramsey Plays Ramsey); his ballet score To Know Her … (originally danced by the Joffrey Ballet); and his multimedia, symphonic tone poem Proclamation of Hope, a tribute to Abraham Lincoln in his bicentennial year, that was broadcast nationally on PBS.

As part of his birthday celebration, Lewis will headline the April 14 opening night of Highland Park High School’s acclaimed cultural-immersion festival, “Focus on the Arts.” Students from the high school and from Ravinia’s REACH*TEACH*PLAY and Steans Music Institute (RSMI) jazz programs (both of which he had a hand in creating, along with William Johnson) will pay tribute to Ramsey with new arrangements of his hits before Lewis takes the stage with his quintet to close the show. Lewis will also lead a jazz master class, which is free and open to the public on June 17, for RSMI fellows at Bennett Gordon Hall.

“Play It Again, Marvin!” (July 26): Just weeks after conducting the CSO at Ravinia in 2012, Oscar- and Pulitzer Prize–winning composer Marvin Hamlisch died unexpectedly. Pianist Kevin Cole, himself a Ravinia favorite who frequently collaborated with Hamlisch, has created a multimedia tribute to the man behind such hits as “The Way We Were,” A Chorus Line, The Sting, They’re Playing Our Song and so many other favorites over a five-decade career. Sylvia McNair, among other vocalists, will also share songs and stories.
CSO Goes to the Movies: Building on the tremendous successes of the orchestra’s film nights at Symphony Center and Ravinia’s own triumph with The Lord of the Rings series, Ravinia will again install giant screens on the Pavilion stage and the north lawn for four different programs that celebrate the excitement of movie music, which has proven to be an introduction to symphonic music worldwide, includingin Los Angeles, London, Paris and New York.

Fantasia (July 12): Film scores are often created to complement and accentuate the director’s visuals, but back in 1940 groundbreaking animator Walt Disney sought to do just the opposite—create a set of stunning vignettes to help introduce audiences to already masterful music. The best sequences from both Fantasia and Fantasia 2000 (for which the CSO recorded the soundtrack under James Levine)will be shown with Ted Sperling conducting the CSO playing the classical music that inspired them, including Dukas’s The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, Ponchielli’s “Dance of the Hours,” Beethoven’s “Pastoral” Symphony and Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite.
Danny Elfman’s Music from the Films of Tim Burton (July 14): Hollywood is fertile ground for dreamers who share the same vision—Steven Spielberg and John Williams or Alfred Hitchcock and Bernard Herrmann—but of the many legendary pairings that have fascinated the movie business, perhaps none are as perfectly, quirkily in tune as director Tim Burton and composer Danny Elfman, who create new worlds with sight and sound. Conductor Ted Sperling will lead the CSO in music from the collaborators’ three-decade string of successes, illuminated by memorable scenes from such films as Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure, Batman, Edward Scissorhands, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Beetlejuice and more. This unique event has sold out virtually every venue it has visited.
Gladiator (Aug. 2): The CSO, with chorus and vocalist, led by Justin Freer, performs Hans Zimmer and Lisa Gerrard’s heart-pounding score while Ridley Scott’s complete Best Picture Oscar winner is shown. The emotionally stirring, Golden Globe–winning score is considered one of the best ever composed and repeatedly winds up on Top-10 lists from indie film blogs to the august BBC.
Star Trek (Aug. 16): Sci-fi guru J.J. Abrams boldly went where Shatner and Nimoy had been before, resurrecting Star Trek in 2009 with updated technical panache to introduce today’s audiences to the Gene Rodenberry’s game-changing franchise. Michael Giacchino’s Grammy-nominated score (considered by many to be one of the best film scores of its time) pays homage to the original series while creating new adventures. Steven Reineke conducts.

De Falla and DeYoung: Complete Three-Cornered Hat(July 17): Carlos Miguel Prieto will conduct a program featuring Spanish music by Falla, including the festival’s first complete performance of the composer’s ballet The Three-Cornered Hat. That score is often heard in the guise of two symphonic suites Falla extracted from its lively dance and expressive folk melodies, but the complete ballet also includes two sweetly somber songs set to flamenco music, which will be performed by mezzo-soprano Michelle DeYoung, an outstanding alumna of RSMI. DeYoung will also be accompanied by the director of RSMI’s program for singers, Kevin Murphy, in Falla’s Seven Spanish Folk Songs. Prieto will also introduce Ravinia audiences to Slovenian virtuoso Dubravka Tomšič, a protégée of Artur Rubinstein, with a performance of Beethoven’s climactic “Emperor” Concerto.
Superstars Return to CSO (Aug. 5, 6): For the past several years when the acclaimed violinist Pinchas Zukerman or the sublime pianist Peter Serkin visited Ravinia, it was for recitals in the Martin Theatre. This year each returns separately to the Pavilion stage with the CSO. On Aug. 5 Serkin performs Mozart’s colorful Piano Concerto No. 19, led by Musical America’s 2013 “Conductor of the Year,” Pablo Heras-Casado, on a program that includes Mendelssohn’s “Scottish” Symphony and Beethoven’s Overture to Egmont. The next night, Aug. 6, Zukerman performs Bruch’s rhapsodic Violin Concerto No. 1 under conductor Rafael Payare, a product of Argentina’s immersive “El Sistema” programs—the model for the elementary-school orchestras started by Ravinia in Chicago. The program features Berlioz’s Roman Carnival Overture and Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade.
Symphonie fantastique (July 16): Conductor/violinist Nikolaj Znaider takes center stage as soloist for Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 3, then trades his bow for baton to lead Berlioz’s phantasmagoric five-movement masterpiece Symphonie fantastique.

WOMEN’S BOARD GALA/TCHAIKOVSKY SPECTACULAR

Two of Ravinia’s biggest annual CSO events merge into one evening this year. Every summer the Ravinia Women’s Board hosts the only fundraising concert to benefit the not-for-profit festival and its REACH*TEACH*PLAY education programs. Each season also brings the “Tchaikovsky Spectacular,” complete with Ravinia’s signature cannon fire during the “1812” Overture. With this year’s gala headliner, Russian violinist Maxim Vengerov, choosing to perform Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto, it became the centerpiece to the annual all-Tchaikovsky event. The Aug. 1 program also features selections from Swan Lake.

“This being James’s final gala as our leader, we also thought it would be fun and appropriate to offer him Ravinia’s version of a military salute,” Kauffman said.

SINATRA CENTENNIAL

In addition to memorializing Marvin Hamlisch, Ravinia celebrates what would have been Frank Sinatra’s 100th birthday, first with his hits choreographed by Venetia Stifler and performed by Concert Dance Inc. on Sept. 1 and 2 as part of the $10 BGH Classics series. Then Frank Sinatra Jr. himself pays tribute to Ol’ Blue Eyes with a swinging orchestra in a multimedia celebration of one of the most popular entertainers of all time in the Pavilion on Sept. 4. Closing out Ravinia’s spring $10 BGH Classics series on May 16, alumni from RSMI and REACH*TEACH*PLAY’s Jazz Scholars program—including trumpeter Marquis Hill, the alumnus of both programs who earned a New York Times rave for his recent concert in that city—will pay tribute to both Ramsey Lewis and Frank Sinatra in their milestone birthday years.

JAZZ FESTIVAL HEADLINERS

Flanking Ramsey Lewis’s CSO debut and jazz concert on Aug. 8, Harry Connick Jr. returns to Ravinia for the first time in 25 years on Aug. 7, and Diana Krall brings her Wallflower World Tour on Aug. 9.

The headliners that play jazz festivals around the world also are spread through the season, including the Ravinia debut of stage, film and television (locally set The Good Wife) star Alan Cumming in the Martin Theatre on June 19; the superstar pairing of Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga with the Ravinia Festival Orchestra on June 26 and 27; Aretha Franklin singing “The Great Diva Classics” on July 11; and Chicago’s last chance to see Orquesta Buena Vista Social Club in concert, with their “Adios Tour,” on Aug. 12. On Aug. 29 jazz pianist Cyrus Chestnut teams with the Turtle Island Quartet pay homage to ragtime with “Jelly, Rags and Monk” on the $10 BGH Classics series. Also on that series Chicago cabaret artist Spider Saloff performs on Aug. 21, pianist Richard Glazier takes audiences from Hollywood to Broadway on Aug. 25, and the young professional musicians from RSMI demonstrate their talents with a Jazz Grandstand featuring original charts on June 19.

BETTER THAN YOUTUBE: THE PIANO GUYS AND IGUDESMAN & JOO LIVE

Borrowing their name from the piano store in a small Utah town where they first united to make viral videos that showcased their keyboard talents across many genres (and maybe sell a few pianos to boot), The Piano Guys quickly conquered the Internet with everything from Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” to a mash-up of all the famous Batman themes. It’s not unusual for a single video of theirs to achieve half a million views. Their international tour stops at Ravinia on Aug. 26.

Violinist Aleksey Igudesman and pianist Hyung-ki Joo follow in the footsteps of such famed stage personalities as Jack Benny, Victor Borge and Peter Schickele (a.k.a. P.D.Q. Bach), combining shades of slapstick comedy and popular culture with their undeniable talent as musicians to draw new audiences in to one of the world’s grandest artistic traditions. Not only are Igudesman and Joo a runaway hit on YouTube, having amassed tens of millions of views with their videos, but they also have given numerous performances around the world with their engaging shows, both with full orchestra and as a tightly knit duo. On July 30 Igudesman and Joo will bring “And Now Mozart,” their spoof on the music of the Classical master, to Ravinia for an evening the pair says “will contain absolutely no Mozart!”

UNIQUE PAIRINGS/DEBUTS

Many evenings will feature more than one big-name act on the same bill (asterisks [*] denote Ravinia debuts), including the tough-rockin’ Tedeschi Trucks Band and the soulful Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings* on June 21; Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga* with the chemistry they perfected on their number-one album, Cheek To Cheek, on June 26 and 27; singer-songwriters David Gray* and Amos Lee* on June 28; frequent collaborators The Knights and soprano Dawn Upshaw on July 5; Beach Boys founder Brian Wilson and Rodríguez*, the singer-songwriter from the Oscar-winning documentary Searching for Sugar Man, on July 6; alternative country singer-songwriter Brandi Carlile and Grand Ole Opry inductees Old Crow Medicine Show* on July 31; alternative hit-makers Bush* and 3 Doors Down* on Aug. 17; the new “Under the Sun Tour” with Sugar Ray, Better Than Ezra*, Eve 6* and Uncle Kracker* on Aug. 18; Needtobreathe* with Switchfoot*, Drew Holcomb & The Neighbors* and Colony House* on Aug. 19; sharp-dressed men ZZ Top with Blackberry Smoke* on Aug. 27; superstars violinist Itzhak Perlman and pianist Emanuel Ax playing Richard Strauss and Mozart on Sept. 9; mezzo-sopranos Frederica von Stade and Laurie Rubin* singing arias and duets on Sept. 10; and Gladys Knight and The O’Jays* on Sept. 11.

Also making their Ravinia debuts are Broadway’s Cabaret star Alan Cumming on June 19; acclaimed pianist Igor Levit on July 15; Matchbox Twenty frontman Rob Thomas in his solo debut on July 18; the mind and the great singing voice behind TV’s Family Guy, Seth MacFarlane, singing and swinging with orchestra on Aug. 21; country vocal group Little Big Town with David Nail on Aug. 28; and frequent chart-topper and country superstar Alan Jackson on Aug. 31.

RAVINIA FAVORITES

Ravinia will also welcome back some of its most popular artists, some regulars and others who have not been here for several years, including Sheryl Crow on June 25; the nation’s storyteller, Garrison Keillor, tailoring his A Prairie Home Companion for a live national broadcast from Ravinia on June 20; the Juilliard String Quartet on June 29; Doobie Brothers on June 30; the Steve Miller Band with Matthew Curry on July 10; the Emerson String Quartet on July 21; cellist Alisa Weilerstein on July 27; baritone Thomas Hampson on July 28; jam-band extraordinaire Umphrey’s McGee on Aug. 14; America’s best-selling band, Chicago, on Aug. 22 and 23; supreme guitarist Santana on Aug. 29 and 30; and Jackson Browne on Sept. 5.

CHAMBER AND RECITAL HIGHLIGHTS

Ravinia regularly presents the most extensive chamber music and recital series in the United States in its historic and beautifully restored 850-seat Martin Theatre and state-of-the-art 450-seat Bennett Gordon Hall (reserved seats in BGH are only $10 each), including these events (in date order):

Complete Piano Works in the Martin: Making his Ravinia debut, Chopin specialist Yundi will perform the composer’s complete ballades and Op. 28 preludes on July 5. Jeffrey Kahane performs Bach’s complete “Goldberg” Variations on July 7. Igor Levit, whose recording of Bach’s complete keyboard partitas was named Gramophone’s “recording of the month” in October, will perform all six of those works on July 15. Yefim Bronfman gives audiences the rare opportunity to hear the all of Prokofiev’s piano sonatas over three concerts with Nos. 1, 2, 4 and 3 performed on Aug. 9; Nos. 6, 5 and 7 on Aug. 11; and Nos. 9 and 8 on Aug. 13.
Dawn Upshaw and The Knights: (July 5): The New York–based chamber orchestra will be joined by longtime friend and collaborator soprano Dawn Upshaw for Berio’s Folk Songs, a cycle of 11 pieces in nine different languages and dialects, showcasing a range of simultaneously authentic and novel harmonies. The Knights will also perform Zhou Long’s arrangement of eight Chinese folk songs for string ensemble as well as two dance-inspired works in Dvořák’s Czech Suite and Ligeti’s wild and vivid Romanian Concerto in the Martin Theatre.
Scenes from Childhood (July 9): Pianist Vladimir Feltsman will apply his “effortless technique” (Union Tribune) to a Martin Theatre evening of three works Robert Schumann composed while courting his eventual wife, Clara. Schumann’s Scenes from Childhood is a collection of 13 small pieces the composer had selected from a trove of 30 he had written purely from the inspiration of a loving comment from Clara. Feltsman will also perform Schumann’s Fantasy in C Major, into which the composer poured his lament for being separated from Clara, and his musical “prank” on Viennese audiences, Faschingsschwank aus Wien.
Lowell Liebermann premiere (July 21): The Emerson String Quartet performs the Chicago premiere of Lowell Liebermann’s String Quartet No. 5, which was commissioned for them. Flanking this new work in the Martin Theatre will be Beethoven’s Quartet No. 16, his final completed work, and Dvořák’s “American” String Quartet.
“Music of the New World” (July 26): Cleveland International Piano Competition winner Stanislav Khristenko will showcase two centuries of American classical music with his “Music of the New World” program in BGH, featuring Barber’s Piano Sonata—called “the first truly great [American] piano work in the form” by Vladimir Horowitz—and George Gershwin’s Song-Book, that inimitable composer’s re-imagination of 18 of his most famous show tunes as scintillating piano pieces.
Cellist Alisa Weilerstein (July 27): MacArthur “Genius” Alisa Weilerstein will perform a selection of robust works from her recent Decca album, Solo, including Kodály’s solo sonata and Osvaldo Golijov’s Omaramor, in BGH.
Vengerov/Golan Reunion (Aug. 3): Back in 1993 Ravinia audiences first heard Maxim Vengerov and Itamar Golan performing together, and over the more than 20 intervening years the pair has only grown more in tune. Their return program in the Martin Theatre will similarly feature a mix of shining sonatas by Elgar and Prokofiev and a variety of virtuosic musical vignettes by Brahms, Dvořák, Wieniawski, Kreisler, Paganini and Ysaÿe.
Major Vocal Recitals: The Martin will be home to vocal luminaries throughout the summer. One of the world’s most celebrated baritones, Thomas Hampson sings works by Schubert, Mahler, Barber and Jennifer Higdon, accompanied by Kevin Murphy on July 28. Finnish soprano Karita Mattila, who recently earned plaudits for her first performance as the title character of Richard Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos at London’s Royal Opera, returns to Ravinia on Aug. 8 for the first time in 13 years to sing works by Brahms, Richard Strauss, Sibelius and Merikanto. Mezzo-sopranos Frederica von Stade and Laurie Rubin join forces and voices in an evening of arias and duets on Sept. 10.
“New Dances of the League of David” (Aug. 19): Pianist David Kaplan commissioned 17 composers—including Timo Andres, Mohammed Fairouz, Augusta Read Thomas and Pulitzer Prize winner Caroline Shaw—to create “interruptions and interludes” to Schumann’s Dances of the League of David as if they had taken on one of Schumann’s two musical alter egos, Eusebius and Florestan, to whom the composer attributed each movement of the original. The adventurous Chicago premiere takes place in BGH.
Tango Song and Dance (Aug. 22): Violinist Augustin Hadelich and pianist Joyce Yang perform Previn’s Tango Song and Dance, which the Washington Post called “at once light and fiendishly difficult.” The BGH program also features Pulitzer Prize winner David Lang’s mystery sonatas, written for Hadelich.
“Bridge to Beethoven” (Sept. 6): Illinois-native violinist Jennifer Koh comes to BGH with her longtime piano partner, Shai Wosner, to perform their “Bridge to Beethoven” program, highlighting three of that Romantic composer’s violin sonatas and a companion piece that links the duo’s musical lineage to his famed “Kreutzer” Sonata.

RAVINIA’S STEANS MUSIC INSTITUTE (RSMI)

Each year Ravinia awards the best young professionals from around the world fully paid fellowships to study at its on-campus summer conservatory with a faculty led by Miriam Fried (piano and strings), Kevin Murphy (singers) and David Baker (jazz). The fellows give free preview concerts and participate in public master classes with such artists as Midori and Kiri Te Kanawa. They also headline concerts on the $10 BGH Classics series: Jazz Grandstand, June 19; a performance of Tchaikovsky’s Souvenir de Florence and other piano and string masterworks, July 13; Dvorak’s “American” Quartet, July 20; “The Equilateral Triangle,” duets, songs and piano pieces by the lovelorn Johannes Brahms and Robert and Clara Schumann, Aug. 10; the art of songs sung in English, including a Ravinia commission from Ben Moore, whose work has been recorded by Deborah Voigt, Susan Graham and Nathan Gunn, Aug. 17.

2015 SEASON SUPPORT

Ravinia offers profound gratitude to the corporate sponsors of the 2015 season: Allstate Insurance Company; Aon Corporation; Baizer Kolar Lewis, P.C.; Baxter International Inc.; Beam Suntory; Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois; BMO Harris Bank; Camping World & Good Sam; Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.; Deloitte; Discover; Ernst & Young LLP; Exelon; Fortune Brands; Grant Thornton LLP; Greenberg Traurig, LLP; Huron Legal; Illinois Tool Works; Kirkland & Ellis; KPMG LLP; Latham & Watkins LLP; McGladrey; Midtown Athletic Club; Perkins Coie LLP; PNC Bank; The PrivateBank; RBC; Steinway Piano Gallery of Northbrook; Stella Artois and Goose Island Beer Company; Terlato Wines; United Airlines; The Westin Chicago North Shore; and Wintrust Financial Corporation.

Ravinia also thanks this season’s individual supporters: In Memory of Keene H. Addington II; Megan P. and John L. Anderson; The Charles and Margery Barancik Foundation; Harriet and Harry H. Bernbaum, in Memory of Keren-Or Bernbaum; Elizabeth F. Cheney Foundation; In Honor of Sandra K. Crown; The Dancing Skies Foundation; Joan & Bob Feitler, Smart Family Foundation; The Avrum Gray Family, in Memory of Joyce Gray; Maxine and Tom Hunter; Ann Israel; Holly and John Madigan; James and Roslyn Marks; Sharon and Eden Martin; Jo and Newt Minow; Negaunee Foundation; I.A. O’Shaughnessy Foundation; Sue and Tom Pick; Pinkert Industrial Group; Madeleine P. and Harvey R. Plonsker; Diana and Bruce Rauner; Ravinia Associates Board; Ravinia Women’s Board; Lori Ann Komisar and Morris Silverman; In Memory of Howard A. Stotler; Audrey L. Weaver, in loving memory of Michael D. Vogan; Weinbergs, Andersons, Livingstons, Schreuders and Weaver; Paul Williams and Leslie Berger; Joan Wing and Family, in Memory of Jack Wing; and Zadek Family Foundation.

FOR THE COMPLETE SEASON LINEUP SEE 2015 CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS

All programs and artists are subject to change. Images available upon request or at Ravinia.org. Interviews can be arranged with most artists. Press tickets are limited to each performance and are available on a first-come, first-served basis. Television crews are welcome to shoot at the discretion of the artist, but advance notice is required to be patched into Ravinia’s soundboard.

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National Press Representative:

Lois Cohn 212-874-7624

lcohn@lcohnpr.com