'Lincoln tour' sets bicentennial to music

The celebration of the Lincoln bicentennial by area classical music organizations is officially under way, with the Ravinia Festival making it a truly statewide affair.

The appropriately named Lincoln Trio, an ensemble of musicians from the Music Institute of Chicago, is performing a tour of Ravinia-sponsored free concerts throughout Illinois.

The tour opened with two concerts Thursday (Lincoln's birthday) in Springfield, at Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church and Crowne Plaza, with a third state capital concert at 10 a.m. today at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, 12 North Sixth Street.

Music to be heard on the tour includes newly composed works for piano trio selected through Ravinia's first composition competition. The music is designed to honor the words of Lincoln, along with literary passages about him, similar to the way Aaron Copland did in his "Lincoln Portrait" which, incidentally, will be presented at the Ravinia Festival this summer.

The fourth concert on the tour is 3 p.m. Sunday at Cantigny Park, 1 South 151 Winfield Road, in Wheaton. The tour resumes March 10 in Springfield and will run through April 24. The free concerts, at local colleges, elementary schools, libraries, senior centers, churches or art galleries, will include a return visit to Springfield, along with concerts in Champaign, Urbana, Evanston, Chicago, Decatur and Lincoln's downstate namesake city.

The tour is the brainchild of Ravinia president and CEO Welz Kauffman, who will be present throughout the two-month event.

"From the second we made our first announcement of Lincoln programming almost two years ago, Ravinia has been eager to share diverse cultural points of view on the man many consider America's greatest leader," said Kauffman, who sits on the Illinois Lincoln Bicentennial Commission. "This tour not only generates fresh points of view, it also gives us the opportunity to travel the state, much the way Lincoln did as a circuit lawyer, to give our fellow Illinoisans both a taste of Ravinia and a memorable tribute to Lincoln."

The tour complements Ravinia's previously announced programs under the banner "Mystic Chords of Memory"- a lyrical line expressed by Abraham Lincoln in his first inaugural address. This summer, Ravinia will celebrate Lincoln through a variety of performances, including major commissions from Tony Award-winning choreographer Bill T. Jones and Chicago jazz legend Ramsey Lewis.

Ravinia's annual gala benefit evening, titled "Bicentennial Ball," and will feature Copland's "Lincoln Portrait" and Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.

In conjunction with the Lincoln Trio performances, Ravinia's "Rising Stars" series is celebrating Lincoln at 8 p.m. today at Bennett-Gordon Hall, 201 St. Johns Ave., Highland Park. Admission is $20. This is a preview of an upcoming East Coast tour honoring Abraham Lincoln given by instrumental ensembles from Ravinia's Steans Institute.

For more details about Ravinia's Lincoln bicentennial events, visit ravinia.org.

Other area Lincoln bicentennial music events:

• Chicago Symphony Orchestra: The CSO will celebrate the 16th president on Feb. 21 and 24, with guest conductor James Gaffigan joined by renowned actor James Earl Jones for Aaron Copland's "Lincoln Portrait." The concert will also feature Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, along with Lincoln-themed works by American composers Roy Harris ("Gettysburg Symphony"), and Robert Russell Bennett ("Abraham Lincoln, a Symphonic Portrait"). For information, call (312) 294-3000 or visit cso.org.

• Elgin Symphony Orchestra: On Feb. 20-22, music director Robert Hanson will conduct "Patriotic Pops," a concert featuring Copland's "Lincoln Portrait," along with a selection of marches by John Philip Sousa, "Stars and Stripes Forever." The Feb. 20 concert is at the Schaumburg Prairie Center for the Arts with the Feb. 21-22 concerts at Hemmens Theatre. For information call (847) 888-4000, or visit elginsymphony.org.

• Elgin Youth Symphony: The 100-member EYSO, conducted by Randal Swiggum, will visit Springfield on Wednesday and Thursday for concerts honoring Lincoln. The Wednesday concert will be at Springfield High School, and following a Thursday morning tour of the Lincoln home, the orchestra will perform at noon in the rotunda of the state capitol. The music, including Copland's "Fanfare for the Common Man" and "Lincoln Portrait," will also be heard at the EYSO's March 15 concert at Elgin Community College's Blizzard Theatre. For more information call (847) 841-7700, or visit eyso.org.

CSO wins pair of Grammys

Recordings on the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's CSO Resound label won two Grammy Awards from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences at last weekend's 51st annual awards ceremony in Los Angeles, bringing its total to 60 Grammys and extending its own record for an American orchestra.

The recording of Dmitri Shostakovich's Fourth Symphony, conducted by principal conductor Bernard Haitink and drawn from concerts in May 2008, won for Best Orchestral Performance; and Christopher Willis, David Frost and Tom Lazarus won the Best Engineered Album (Classical) category for "Traditions and Transformations: Sounds of Silk Road Chicago," released in February 2008.

These are the first Grammys for CSO Resound since the CSO launched its in-house record label in May 2007. "Traditions and Transformations" also received nominations for Serge Prokofiev's "Scythian" Suite under the baton of Alan Gilbert (Best Orchestral Performance), and for Wu Man (Best Instrumental Soloist with Orchestra) in Lou Harrison's Pipa Concerto under conductor Miguel Harth-Bedoya. The recording, a collaboration between the CSO and cellist Yo-Yo Ma, creator of the Silk Road Ensemble, was recorded during concerts in April and May 2007 given as part of the yearlong Silk Road Chicago project.