Ravinia schedule heavy with headliners
Leading stars of the world of music, theater and dance will headline the Ravinia Festival, which opens its 2008 season May 31 and runs through mid-September with 150 events in 101 days.
The schedule, announced today, includes the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's 72nd annual summer residency, pop concerts by Willie Nelson and Hootie and the Blowfish and the annual "Jazz at Ravinia" program.
The CSO residency starts July 9 with a concert led by guest conductor Leonard Slatkin with American violinist Joshua Bell.
Other classical guest artists will include violinists Itzhak Perlman, Gil Shaham and Sarah Chang; pianists Lang Lang, Leon Fleisher, Jorge Federico Osorio and Tchaikovsky International Competition winner Denis Matsuev in his Ravinia debut.
Chicago Symphony principal conductor Bernard Haitink will make his Ravinia debut with Gustav Mahler's Sixth Symphony July 16; and Lyric Opera music director Sir Andrew Davis will conduct an all-Beethoven concert July 30.
On July 19, the annual "Gala Benefit Evening" will present Dame Kiri Te Kanawa in her final Chicago-area concert. Ravinia music director James Conlon and the CSO will join the legendary New Zealand soprano in a varied program of music.
The annual "Jazz at Ravinia" programming will include a June 21 concert featuring the Ramsey Lewis Trio, Dave Brubeck Quartet with the Ravinia Jazz Festival Band and the Turtle Island Quartet. The final week of the season (Sept. 12), the Ramsey Lewis Trio will host a "Legends of Jazz" concert with vocalist Kurt Elling, saxophonist Ernie Watts and the Laurence Hobgood Trio.
Popular-music programs will also include appearances by Roberta Flack, Kenny Loggins, the Temptations, The Four Tops, Gipsy Kings, Los Lonely Boys and Donna Summer.
Also featured will be the Ruth Page Festival of Dance (opening the festival in the Pavilion on May 31), the Joffrey Ballet, Luna Negra Dance Theater, Natya Dance Theater and River North Dance Company.
Tickets for all 2008 Ravinia Festival programs will go on sale April 17 exclusively at ravinia.org, with the annual "Box Office Opening Day" free day of music at Ravinia Park on May 17.