Ravinia Festival Concerts Will Return This Summer 2021!

 I hope they bring back Pianist, Yuja Wang!!

 Dear Ravinia Patron,

It gives me great pleasure to share with all of you the news that Ravinia plans to reopen in July! While our detailed programming schedule will not be announced until late April, we wanted to share with you a little about our plans today.

The health of audiences, artists, community, and staff are very important to us.  We are taking our guidance from Northwestern Medicine, state and local government, and industry standards for outdoor activity to bring shared live-music experiences back to Ravinia this summer. All concerts at Ravinia this summer will take place outside in the open-air Pavilion, have a reduced audience capacity, and be offered only with reserved-in-advance distanced seating in the Pavilion and on the Lawn. The number of artists on stage will also be reduced, in order to allow for proper distancing between performers.
 
We are thrilled that the Chicago Symphony Orchestra will return to Ravinia, its summer home, and that Marin Alsop will lead seven concerts with the orchestra in her first season as Ravinia’s Chief Conductor and Curator.
 
While we know that this summer will look a little different, we look forward to sharing magical summer nights with you once again. Our website will be up to date with the most current details about programming and guidelines for attendance. Thank you all for your steadfast dedication to Ravinia, for your support, and for your understanding over the past year as we continue to navigate a most unusual time.
 
 
Sincerely,

Jeffrey P. Haydon
President & CEO

 In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God

 in Christ Jesus concerning you.

(1 Thessalonians 5 )

RAVINIA

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Ravinia Music Festival Disappointment

Disappointing news if you live in the Chicagoland area. No Music under the stars till next year, Lord willing.

Ravinia Cancels 2020 Season Due to Covid Pandemic

5/1/20 [email]  Update:

In response to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, Ravinia, the oldest music festival in the country, has been forced to cancel its 2020 season. Ravinia has operated continually since its 1904 opening except for 1932–1935, when the park was silenced by the Great Depression. The not-for-profit festival was to have presented more than 120 events from June 12 through September 16, including the annual summer residency of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. The festival’s summer conservatory, Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute, will also be closed this summer.

pc: Ravinia

Ravinia President and CEO Welz Kauffman, who late last year announced that 2020 would be his final season at the helm, explained that factors driving this decision prioritized the health and safety of Ravinia’s artists, audiences, staff, and neighbors, and follows similar cancellations of other summer festivals, along with their training programs.

Since February, Ravinia has been working with its guest artists—some of whom have already canceled their entire 2020 summer tours—to determine how best to proceed, including opportunities to rebook these performers into future seasons. Ravinia’s leadership has also been closely monitoring the evolving warnings of local, state, and national authorities to avoid large gatherings.

“Ravinia benefits from an informed and responsible Board of Trustees and engaged family of volunteers, and our lengthy and thorough discourse on this topic has brought us to the conclusion that it is impossible to move ahead with the season,” Kauffman said.

Anyone who purchased tickets can receive refunds or vouchers for future performances, or they can convert those funds into much-needed tax-deductible donations.

Conductor, Gustavo Dudamel

In addition to online concert footage and interviews in support of the May 15 national PBS broadcast premiere of Bernstein’s Mass filmed last summer, Kauffman emphasized that he and the Ravinia staff are developing ideas to give the festival a “from home” presence across social platforms, including “virtual” opportunities for lectures, master classes, and rehearsals for the Lake and Cook County elementary school students who participate in Reach Teach Play, as well as for the young professionals who won acceptance to RSMI this year.

“The lives of these young students have been thrown in total disarray, so it is important that Ravinia helps where it can to provide the structure of these virtual classrooms. Our programs give young people a means of expression and connection with each other and their own quarantined families. We teach them that music is their superpower, and what better time than now to have a superpower?” Kauffman said.

“The crisis created by the Covid pandemic has impacted so much of our lives in dramatic ways. Ravinia will do its part in helping the nation recover,” said Ravinia Board Chairman Don Civgin, “and we will celebrate that recovery with music under the stars next summer.”

O sing unto the LORD a new song: 

sing unto the LORD, all the earth.

Psalm 96

R A V I N I A Calendar

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Christian Louboutin & Yuja Wang, Pianist

pc: Ravinia

We attended Pianist Yuja Wang's  concert at Ravinia Festival in Highland Park, Illinois.  She performed Brahms' Piano Concerto No. 1 on a Steinway Grand Piano, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra accompanied her.  Well done!

Ms Wang struck me as looking older than her 30 years. Her hair was well-suited for Summer performances as it was cut in an inverted wedge style. She wore an outfit which showed a lot of leg  & arm, yet she was sweating a lot when her Piano performance was over -- possibly because the 3-part Piano Concerto lasted almost an hour.  She also performed two, cute encores;  the last one was a special rendition of "Turkish March" by Mozart.  Loved it!

Even with me on my folding chair on the lawn -- away from the main pavillion --  her high-heeled (stiletto) shoes caught my attention. They were gorgeous Christin Louboutin  shoes similar to the pics below in height. Yet, she managed to play well; and walked on and off the stage just fine.

"Declic"

"Dorrado"

Ms Wang will wear a long skirt only when she is 40 y.o.