CSO still centerpiece in Ravinia schedule
The Ravinia Festival is ready for a classic summer.
Programming underway this month in the intimate Martin Theatre includes such early-season gems as the Juilliard String Quartet and pianists Ursula Oppens, Charles Rosen and Gary Graffman, along with world-renowned mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves.
But it's the Chicago Symphony Orchestra that remains Ravinia's centerpiece, and a special summer is in store.
In fact, Ravinia President and CEO Welz Kauffman calls it "the strongest CSO season in three decades."
The orchestra will take the Pavilion stage July 9 when Joshua Bell joins guest conductor Leonard Slatkin for the opening-night CSO concert, playing Jean Sibelius' Violin Concerto.
The CSO's Ravinia residency will cover 18 concerts over six weeks, through mid-August.
Of special interest will be the legendary New Zealand soprano Dame Kiri Te Kanawa's Chicago farewell concert, when she headlines the annual gala benefit evening July 19, with Ravinia Music Director James Conlon conducting.
But that's only one element of the CSO's summer schedule.
"Other special parts of the CSO's Ravinia season include the Mahler Eighth Symphony on July 26, and the Mozart operas in the Martin Theatre in mid-August," Kauffman said. "This is the first time we've ever done opera in the Martin, and only the second time we've had the CSO in the Martin. We're pretty excited about that."
The semistaged operas will be the singspiel "The Abduction from the Seraglio," with narration provided by British actor Michael York, on Aug. 14 and 16; and "Don Giovanni" on Aug. 15 and 17. Bass Samuel Ramey, a long-time Lyric Opera of Chicago favorite, will star as Leporello in the latter opera.
"Mozart's music is intimate to begin with," Kauffman said. "The orchestra is not huge, which gives us the opportunity to split the CSO in half, each half playing one of the operas. As a result, it gives us a chance to do multiple performances of each opera, so that we just aren't doing all that work for one show."
The Mozart operas serve as a closing chapter in Ravinia's multi-year celebration of the 250th anniversary of Mozart's birth.
Ravinia has chosen the Mahler Eighth ("Symphony of a Thousand"), part of Conlon's ongoing CSO-Mahler cycle, as the subject of the festival's annual "One Score, One Chicago" educational initiative.
"We selected it because it's a piece that gets done so rarely, largely because of the forces involved and the cost of putting it on, because it's such a great piece, and frankly, because it involves a children's choir," Kauffman said. "So, it seemed to be a logical choice."
Other classical events of interest:
CSO Principal Conductor Bernard Haitink will make his Ravinia debut July 16, conducting Mahler's Symphony No. 6 ("Tragic").
Making their Ravinia debuts, all in the Martin Theatre, will be pianist Simone Dinnerstein playing Bach's "Goldberg Variations" on Aug. 25; Ingrid Fliter, with a piano recital Aug. 4; and the Tashi ensemble on Aug. 11, performing the piece the group was first organized to play 30 years ago, Olivier Messiaen's "Quartet for the End of Time."
Returning guest artists will include pianists Lang Lang, Emanuel Ax and Vla-dimir Feltsman; violinists Itzhak Perlman, Sarah Chang and Gil Shaham; the Men-delssohn String Quartet, and the Beaux Arts Trio's Ravinia farewell as that legendary group heads into retirement.
Pops guru Erich Kunzel will conduct several concerts marking the 30th anniversary of his Ravinia debut. Included will be a John Williams film music program Aug. 1, a Broadway celebration Aug. 3 and the traditional "Tchaikovsky Spectacular" on Sept. 1
Ravinia Festival tickets
Online: Visit ravinia.org to order tickets with major credit cards. This "online box office" also will inform you which concerts are sold out for the Pavilion or Martin Theatre. For some high-profile events, the $10 lawn admission may also sell out, so visit the Web site or call ahead. Ravinia.org also has weather and traffic updates and additional program details.
By phone or in person: The box office at (847) 266-5100 is open between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. daily and 1-6 p.m. Sundays and holidays (closed July 4). The box office is located at the west (Tyler) gate of Ravinia Park, a few steps east of the Metra tracks. Enter the main parking lot off Green Bay Road, just north of Lake-Cook Road.
By mail or fax: Write to Ravinia Festival Box Office, P.O. Box 896, Highland Park, 60035, or fax your order to (847) 266-0641.
A $7 service charge is added to the total cost of Internet, phone, mail or fax orders.