Illness forces Ravinia change

Longtime Ravinia guest conductor Erich Kunzel has been forced to withdraw from the festival's June 5 season-opening concert presentation of Lerner and Loewe's "Camelot" while he undergoes treatment in Cincinnati for pancreatic cancer.

Conductor Paul Gemignani has agreed to take the podium for director Marc Robin's original stand-and-sing vision of the classic Broadway show.

"Erich Kunzel is that rare conductor whose name alone can bring audiences to the park, and many of our longtime supporters feel a special connection to him, so we are all saddened that he must face this dreadful disease," said Ravinia president and CEO Welz Kauffman. "But we want him to know that he has our continued love and support."

Gemignani last conducted at Ravinia in 2006 when Patti LuPone starred as Mama Rose in "Gypsy" for the first time.

Kunzel, 74, has been Ravinia's primary pops conductor for three decades. In his 44-year tenure as conductor of the Cincinnati Pops, he has won numerous Grammy Awards and last year took the orchestra to Beijing for concerts during the summer Olympics.