'Camelot' among enticing offerings at Ravinia Festival
The Ravinia Festival will open June 5 with a presentation of the classic Lerner and Loewe musical "Camelot," starring Sylvia McNair as Guenevere, George Hearn as King Arthur and Rod Gilfry as Lancelot, with the Ravinia Festival Orchestra conducted by Erich Kunzel.
But that's just to whet the appetite. The full 2009 season, announced today, runs through Sept. 19 with some 120 events featuring 135 guest artists and ensembles in classical, jazz and popular music.
The centerpiece, of course, is the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, which under Ravinia music director James Conlon and the festival's former music director, Christoph Eschenbach, will offer six weeks of concerts July 7-Aug. 15. Conlon will wrap up the CSO's residency by conducting a concert performance of Giuseppe Verdi's "Rigoletto," with renowned baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky in the title role.
Conlon's Mahler cycle will continue with the Ninth Symphony and "Das Lied Von der Erde" ("The Song of the Earth"). And his ongoing "Breaking the Silence" programs of music devoted to composers persecuted by the Third Reich, will celebrate Kurt Weill, an émigré from Germany who fled the Nazi regime in 1933 and eventually re-established his career in the United States. Tony Award-winning vocalist Patti LuPone, a fixture in Ravinia's multiyear Stephen Sondheim tribute, returns for a concert Aug. 8 of Weill's "The Seven Deadly Sins" and songs from his Broadway shows.
But 2009 is the year of Abraham Lincoln, and Ravinia has placed Lincoln front and center as a participant in the statewide Lincoln Bicentennial.
Under the general title "Mystic Chords of Memory," a phrase spoken by Lincoln in his first inaugural address in 1861, Ravinia has devoted much of its 2009 season to a celebration of the 16th president, including world premiere commissions from Chicago Jazz legend Ramsey Lewis and Tony Award-winning choreographer Bill T. Jones.
Lewis' jazz-influenced symphonic poem (with vocal soloists and speaker) is set for June 12. Titled "Proclamation of Hope," the work is inspired by Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation. Jones' Lincoln tribute will be staged Sept. 17 and 19 in collaboration with the Arnie Zane Dance Company as part of Ravinia's Ruth Page Festival of Dance, is titled "Fondly Do We Hope - Fervently Do We Pray."
Ravinia's "One Score, One Chicago" educational initiative has been renamed "Four Score Chicago" this summer to honor Lincoln and will feature four works (including the Jones premiere) connected in various ways to the 16th president and his era.
Because the spoken word was a crucial element of Lincoln's life, the overall theme for this summer's festival is "Sing the Body Electric," based on the Walt Whitman poem "I Sing the Body Electric," which has inspired such other writers over the years as Waukegan-born Ray Bradbury.
Vocal contributions to the Lincoln celebration include the July 18 gala benefit evening, when Conlon conducts the CSO in Aaron Copland's "Lincoln Portrait" and "Fanfare for the Common Man." The concert will conclude with Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, with its "Ode to Joy" choral finale. The "Ode to Joy" is another of the featured "Four Score Chicago" works.
New this season will be large video screens flanking the stage for each Pavilion concert. They proved a big hit when introduced for one event last summer. "This enhancement is in direct response to our surveying of patrons, who said they would like to see the entire orchestra in action, "said Ravinia president and CEO Welz Kauffman. "Now, every seat is the best one in the house."
In response to the economy, Ravinia has a price freeze for 2009, holding tickets to 2008 levels. Also, a $25 top ticket will be offered for four selected Chicago Symphony Orchestra concerts. Other initiatives will continue, such as the popular "Classical Grass" 10-punch lawn pass, with 10 lawn admissions for the price of eight. The card can also be used for a 10 percent discount at the park's two gift shops. More than 20 concert, dining and parking packages are available for as low as $35.
Longtime favorites Tony Bennett, Bonnie Raitt, Lyle Lovett, Jackson Browne, Steve Miller Band and Peter, Paul and Mary, are among the featured popular-music artists. For a full popular music, jazz and classical music schedule, visit ravinia.org.
Tickets will go on sale exclusively at ravinia.org starting April 16. The box office will open for walk-up sales May 16, and phone orders will begin the following day at (847) 266-5100. A $7 surcharge is added to all online, phone, fax and mail orders. A full-color brochure is available by calling the above number or writing Ravinia Festival, P.O. Box 896, Highland Park 60035.