Submitted by Ravinia on Wed, 07/23/2008 - 2:44pm.
The last couple of weeks at Ravinia
have spawned a lot of discussion about age and experience. We have had three
extraordinary young virtuosos join us – Denis Matsuev, Lang Lang and Chris Thile
– and response was remarkable. Matsuev, who is working closely with Vladimir
Putin on arts issues in Russia, brought an old-fashioned virtuosity to
his concerts with the CSO and in the Martin Theatre – virtuosity that has been
regarded as a negative by much of the classical music establishment who seem
suspicious of anything that gets a strong, positive audience reaction. Lang
Lang brought rock-star glamour and popularity to the Park, spending hours
signing copies of his autobiography (yes, at 26 years old, an autobiography!)
and talking about his upcoming appearance at the opening of the Beijing
Olympics. And Chris Thile, mandolin expert and intrepid bluegrass explorer,
wowed his devoted fans. At the other end of the spectrum, Bernard Haitink,
Barbara Cook, Charles Rosen and Kiri Te Kanawa have all shone brightly, bringing
wisdom, pacing, and the power only experience can deliver to their performances.
One of the many things I appreciate
about Ravinia is its welcoming of diversity – not only ethnic, but also age. In
the classical music world, where we know that folks begin purchasing tickets to
orchestral concerts at age 45, on average, we do everything we can to celebrate
and honor our more experienced patrons – from programming, to the start time of
performances, to the upgrading of our dining opportunities. And at the same
time, one of the happiest sounds at Ravinia comes not from our stages, but from
the lawn, where the giggles and gurgles of our youngest patrons inspire smiles
all through the Park – kids getting great music and enjoying family
time.
One of the first Ravinia patrons I
encountered was the dignified and elegant Kay Mayer, a devoted music lover who
actually attended the one and only Ravinia performance by George Gershwin in
1936! Kay passed in her sleep recently – she will be sorely missed.
By Welz Kauffman
Ravinia President/CEO
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Submitted by Ravinia on Thu, 10/25/2007 - 3:09pm.
World premiere will be part of Ravinia’s 2009 celebration of the Lincoln Bicentennial under the banner: “Mystic Chords of Memory”
Ravinia Festival has commissioned award-winning choreographer Bill T. Jones, who most recently won a Tony for his choreography for Spring Awakening, to create a new full-evening work, tentatively titled A Good Man, inspired by Abraham Lincoln and celebrating the slain president’s 2009 bicentennial. The announcement was made today by Jones and Ravinia Festival President and CEO Welz Kauffman in a joint press conference before the Lincoln death bed at the Chicago History Museum. The work will be performed by the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company.
“The image of Abraham Lincoln’s long, broken body stretched across what was to become his death bed will be at the heart of the work,” Jones said. “I wonder about the paradise our country could have been if Lincoln had lived to complete the reconstruction of America, but which we are only left to imagine. I would like to share that vision with audiences and then remove it in order to expose that great distance between what is and what could have been.”
The press conference concluded Jones’s daylong trip to Springfield and Chicago that provided him the opportunity to connect with real locations and relics from Lincoln’s life in Illinois, including the old state Capitol, Lincoln’s home, tomb and the Lincoln Library and Museum. Jones also was introduced to the Illinois Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission. As a member of the commission, Kauffman sees the bicentennial as an opportunity for community involvement that will encourage guests and artists from the entire “Land of Lincoln” to seek out Ravinia, which for years has worked toward diversifying audiences and programming with an eye toward commissions and premieres by such luminaries as John Adams, Osvaldo Golijov, Mark Morris, the Joffrey Ballet and Philip Glass—not to mention the first opera from South Africa, Princess Magogo.
“Bicentennial celebrations by their very definition are about a single moment in time, but any artistic celebration of the great Abraham Lincoln requires something truly timeless. That’s why we sought out Bill T. Jones,” Kauffman said. “Bill is emblematic of Ravinia as he, too, thrives on music, dance, theater, community development and reaching out to diverse audiences. There’s also a bit of Lincoln in him—not just his charisma but also his respect of the past and demands of the future. He and the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company enjoy international acclaim, and I would love to see his view of Lincoln shared on distant shores. I can’t wait to experience Lincoln through his eyes.”
Kauffman said that because Lincoln looms so large as a historical figure, it’s easy to forget just how recently Lincoln lived and made decisions that will forever impact this land. Lincoln was killed less than 40 years before Ravinia, North America’s oldest music festival, was founded by a railroad company.
Details on the project, which is under development, will be released as the work progresses, but the work will be central to Ravinia’s 2009 celebration of Lincoln’s life and legacy (which will include other events throughout the season).
Jones said, “I live with the uneasy feeling that society has shaped me as a result of something that was stolen from us when Abraham Lincoln was killed. The cynicism and alienation that I have to cope with in my own head and heart arose as a result of a climate built systematically by such a strange turn of destiny as his assassination. Libraries are full of scholarly texts dedicated to the legacy of this singularly American man. I want to create a dance theater work that investigates a handful of key moments from his remarkable life and subject them to a process whereby song and memory deliver us beyond the boundaries of space and time.”
After working together for more than a decade as a critically lauded dance team,
Bill T. Jones and Arnie Zane (1948-1988) formed their own company in 1982. Since then, the 10-member company has performed in more than 200 cities around the world and is recognized for its collaborative work with artists ranging from painter Keith Haring to the Orion String Quartet. The Harlem-based company is also celebrated for its educational endeavors. Its acclaimed dance works include Last Supper at Uncle Tom’s Cabin/The Promised Land, Still/Here, Blind Date and last year’s Chapel/Chapter.
In addition to winning the Tony for Spring Awakening, Jones received the 2007 Obie Award and 2006 Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation Callaway Award. He’s also received the 2006 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Choreography for The Seven; the 2005 Wexner Prize, the 2005 Samuel H. Scripps American Dance Festival Award for Lifetime Achievement, the Harlem Renaissance Award, the 2003 Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize and the 1994 MacArthur “genius” grant. In 2000 The Dance Heritage Coalition named Jones “an irreplaceable dance treasure.” Jones began his dance training at the State University of New York at Binghamton (SUNY), studying classical ballet and modern dance.
The San Francisco Chronicle says, “Some choreographers are born dance-makers whose genius manifests in the steps themselves. And some choreographers are geniuses who just happen to choose dance for their primary mode of expression. Bill T. Jones is of the latter variety, and the dance world is fortunate to have him.” The Chicago Tribune concurs, “Bill T. Jones is a dancer abundantly blessed with musicality. Whether he is poised in classical ballet positions or sashaying about in a quick vaudeville buck-and-wing, he appears to find the best movement for the right moment.”
Ravinia Festival’s 2009 season will reflect many aspects of the celebrated and sometimes controversial 16th president through programming across the many genres and disciplines regularly presented at America’s oldest music festival, including classical, jazz, gospel, music theater and dance. These programs will be united under the banner “Mystic Chords of Memory,” a quote from Lincoln’s first inaugural address. Ravinia received a $70,000 grant from the Illinois Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission. The grant will help Ravinia commission up to 10 chamber music compositions, each setting or framed by Lincoln’s words. Other programs will look at the music and composers from Lincoln’s era; the global influence of this important leader; the legacy of poet Walt Whitman; and jazz, gospel and spirituals.
The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.”
---Abraham Lincoln, First Inaugural Address
-submitted by Adriana Avila, Marketing Manger, Ravinia Festival
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