Reserve your patch of grass with Ravnia's discount passes
Taking in a Ravinia concert while enjoying a picnic on the lawn is a tradition dating to the earliest years of the festival.
One of the advantages of listening to great music while relaxing on the lawn is the convenience: no need to reserve tickets in advance. If the weather is nice, you can make a last-minute decision to pack up a blanket and food and enjoy en evening of music under the stars.
Lawn admission these days is $10 for most concerts, but a recent Ravinia innovation has been a big hit -- the 10-concert lawn punch pass, marketed under the catchy nickname "Classical Grass."
The passes are now on sale online at www.ravinia.org. If you order before Dec. 31, you pay $70, a 30 percent discount over the $100 face value of the card. After Dec. 31, the price is $80, still a substantial discount. The cards are on sale early because they have become popular holiday gifts.
The "Classical Grass" punch pass can be used 10 times for one person, or for a single concert you can bring along nine guests (or any combination of persons and dates adding up to 10). The pass also entitles the holder to a 10 percent discount at Ravinia Gifts, including the store located inside the new dining pavilion.
The punch pass cannot be used for the July 19 gala concert, starring soprano Kiri Te Kanawa, or for any of the "Martinis at the Martin" cabaret concerts.
For information, go to www.ravinia.org. Information on the 2008 season programs will be released in upcoming months.
ESO celebrates Hollywood: The Elgin Symphony Orchestra will perform the Academy Award-winning music of great Hollywood composers in this weekend's Pops series program.
"A Night at the Oscars" will be presented at 8 p.m. today at the Schaumburg Prairie Center for the Arts, and at 8 p.m. Saturday and 3:30 p.m. Sunday at Hemmens Theatre in Elgin.
Films scores represented on the program will include "Pirates of the Caribbean," "Schindler's List," "Titanic," "Star Wars," "West Side Story," "Dances With Wolves" and "The Wizard of Oz," conducted by ESO music director Robert Hanson, with guest soprano soloist Diane Penning.
Tickets cost $25 to $64 for best available seating. For tickets or information, call the ESO box office at (847) 888-4000 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. today or visit www.elginsymphony.org.
Abbado returns to podium: Former Chicago Symphony Orchestra principal guest conductor Claudio Abbado resumed work last week after taking several weeks off for unspecified medical reasons. Abbado, 74, was treated for stomach cancer in the late 1990s, during his tenure as music director of the Berlin Philharmonic. His friends and professional colleagues are obviously concerned about the current state of the Italian maestro's health, details of which have been kept within his family.
Because of his lowered energy (Abbado had most of his stomach surgically removed when the cancer was first discovered), he has limited his concerts to around 30 annually, with emphasis on the Lucerne Festival, whose all-star orchestra he founded. Last week he conducted concerts with the Orchestra Mozart chamber orchestra in Bologna, Italy, his first concerts since conducting Mahler's Third Symphony in Lucerne during the annual festival in August.
Early Lyric curtain times: As with its current production of Handel's "Julius Caesar," Lyric Opera of Chicago has early 6:30 p.m. curtain times for Richard Strauss' "Die Frau Ohne Schatten" ("The Woman Without a Shadow"), which opens its nine-performance run tonight at the Civic Opera House. Including two intermissions, the opera lasts about four hours.
For additional information or to reserve tickets (subject to availability), call Lyric Opera of Chicago at (312) 332-2244, ext. 5600, or visit www.lyricopera.org.