Ravinia

Ravinia Festival Commissions Bill T. Jones to Create New Work On The Life Of Abraham Lincoln

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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Two more weekends of Ravinia for CSO

Submitted by Marc van Bree on Fri, 08/04/2006 - 12:25pm.

Since the CSO’s resident blogger Charles Grode is on vacation, he asked me to write an entry for this Web site. Let me start by briefly introducing myself: I am Marc van Bree and I am public relations coordinator for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, a position I started about nine months ago.

On one of the first occasions that I saw the CSO perform at Ravinia, I joined some friends for one of those lovely summer night picnics on the lawn. Last year, right before I got the good news of a job at the CSO and before traveling to my wedding in my home country, the Netherlands, I saw (or rather heard!) the Texan piano legend Van Cliburn with the Orchestra in Grieg’s Piano Concerto.

This year, to celebrate my one year wedding anniversary, I am heading to Ravinia again, and this time for two days of world renowned artists who have come to town to perform with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. This Saturday, I will be listening intently to Renée Fleming, who will be singing selected arias and songs with the CSO. I faxed my order in as soon as tickets were available!

On Sunday, I will settle on the lawn for cellist Yo-Yo Ma in Azul for cello and orchestra, written by the CSO’s new Mead Composer-in-Residence Osvaldo Golijov. This composition, commissioned by the Boston Symphony Orchestra for its 125th anniversary, will have its world premiere with Yo-Yo Ma at the BSO’s summer home, Tanglewood, this Friday; in other words, it’s hot off the presses!  It will be exciting to be among the first people in the world to hear what’s sure to be a fascinating new work.

Talking about hot, I am glad that it will be a bit cooler this weekend. I was wondering what the musicians do when it’s close to 100 degrees outside. Stage manager Kelly Kerins told me that even though the Orchestra plays outdoors, the stage is air-conditioned; on really hot days, they add fans around the stage, but they have to be on low, since the orchestra is amplified for listeners on the lawn. You want to avoid that buzzing sound in the speakers!

If you haven’t made your own trip to Highland Park this year, I would encourage you to check it out.  The following weekend, August 11, 12 and 13, will be your last chance to hear the CSO, when they join Patti LuPone for a performance of the musical Gypsy. And I just heard that legendary composer Stephen Sondheim will join Ravinia Festival president Welz Kauffman for a pre-concert discussion on August 11!

Ravinia may be close to wrapping up for the CSO, but the Orchestra’s downtown season is certainly right around the corner.  We invite you to tune into WFMT98.7 from 8:00 a.m. to 12 noon on Saturday August 12 to hear a preview of the coming season and all the great music in store for us in the coming year. You can expect to hear lots of music featured in the 2006-2007 season and interviews including Yo-Yo Ma, CSO trombonist Charles Vernon, CSO Mead Composer-in-Residence Mark Anthony Turnage, CSO Chorus Director Duain Wolfe, and Gerard McBurney, creative director and host of the CSO’s new Sunday afternoon Beyond the Score series, plus much more.

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Summer at the Orchestra

Submitted by Jim Hirsch on Wed, 08/02/2006 - 9:07am.

While our colleagues at Ravinia and the Grant Park Music Festival are busy working eighteen-hour days, those of us with September – June seasons are in the throes of subscription sales, sponsorship and fundraising work, and a host of other activities.  Our opening nights will be here before we know it, and yes, the temperature may even dip below ninety again as fall approaches.

This is the time of year when we are getting a good sense of how our season is faring with subscribers and new ticket buyers.  It’s also a time when many orchestras roll out their season marketing campaigns.

I read about an especially fun campaign that the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra conducted last year.  Their opening weekend featured Beethoven's Ninth, Beethoven bobbleheads,  and a 'Get Your Beethoven On' marketing campaign.  

It was their best-attended opening weekend in recent history and is indicative of how things continue to change in the orchestral world. 

Single ticket sales are increasingly important as a way of generating income, and more importantly, providing an entrée to becoming a subscriber.  On-line ticket sales are also increasing despite the belief that older concertgoers aren’t “net-savvy”.  They are. I love the idea of a Beethoven bobblehead.  I want one for my desk. 

Do any of you have some creative orchestral campaigns that you have run across that you could share?  Or how about some fun ideas that we could bat around?  What would catch your attention?  I reserve the right to steal  any good ideas that are generated by this blog and use them immediately.

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A Full House at Ravinia (with an exclusive ticket offer for CCM readers)

Submitted by Justin Brown on Tue, 07/11/2006 - 4:28pm.

As Ravinia celebrates the 70th anniversary of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's summer residency this season, we are excited to continue our Full House® initiative, a grass-roots campaign with the goal of increasing the average pavilion attendance for CSO performances at Ravinia.

Full House is a proactive plan created to invigorate the audience for classical music. When the plan was launched last season, it was endorsed by the Chicago Tribune editorial board and embraced by the "Ravinia Family" and the community at large. The simple idea behind Full House is to deputize all those who already love the CSO experience at Ravinia to invite four new listeners per season to a pavilion concert, thus, over the years, expanding the base of regular concert-goers.

Following select CSO performance, Ravinia hosts Full House receptions at which concert-goers can meet after the performance to discuss their experience over refreshments. Guest artists from the evening's performance are invited to visit the parties, as well. Ravinia staff and volunteers are on hand to engage party-goers in a conversational survey.

Two post-concert receptions have been held this season with great success. We are looking forward to the three remaining events. This season, Full House has brought hundreds of new listeners to the pavilion for CSO performances and will bring many more throughout the remainder of the season.

As a reader of Chicago Classical Music, we would like to offer an exclusive opportunity to purchase half price top-tier pavilion tickets for the CSO performance on Sunday, July 30 featuring Mozart Piano Concertos Nos. 24 and 25 with pianist Jorge Federico Osorio. Email justin@ravinia.org with your name, address, telephone number, and email address to order $45 pavilion tickets for $22.50.

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A Whole Lot of Catching Up!

Submitted by Steve Robinson on Thu, 07/06/2006 - 9:31am.

It's been an interesting week and I thought I'd use this diary posting to catch up on a little bit of what's been going on.

PLEDGE
WFMT's pledge drive ended on June 21st with wonderful results.  We raised $401,000 from 2800 callers and this set a record for an eight-day drive in June.  We couldn't be more pleased.  I said several times on-air that "we just got a call from Bill Gates offering to pledge $200 million with the proviso that we don't do any more pledge drives, and I turned him down because we enjoy doing them too much to give them up." Hahaha.  Actually, we do enjoy doing them because it's a great opportunity to speak to our listeners and hear what they have to say about the station.  This type of interaction is unique to a listener-supported station and is very important to us.  Another point all of us make on-the-air is that a pledge to WFMT is really a way of supporting virtually every classical music ensemble in town because WFMT is devoted to so many organizations.  The list is very long but just a few of the groups we work with include the Lyric Opera, Music in the Loft, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Chamber Musicians, Elgin Symphony, University of Chicago, City of Chicago, Music Institute of Chicago, Chicago Sinfonietta, Harris Theater, Merit School of Music, Ars Viva, Ravinia and too many more to list here.  So to have such a record-breaking June drive makes everyone at WFMT feel terrific.  If you pledged, thanks very much!

 

TRIP TO ISRAEL
The WFMT Radio Network has been talking with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (IPO) for over two years about producing a 13-part series of broadcast concerts. Happily, a few weeks ago, the IPO called to say they were able to raise the funds necessary to pull it off and they would like the series to begin in October.  Itzhak Perlman will host the series... October 2006!  Yikes. This means moving into high gear as fast as possible, and we've done just that.  WFMT's Jan Weller is going to produce and he'll join me in Tel Aviv next week to conduct a few dozen interviews with musicians in the orchestra, orchestra management, patrons, critics, historians, Zubin Mehta, and others we encounter during the week that we'll be there.  It's going to be a whirlwind trip.  I'll still be there when my next blog posting is due, so I'll write from Tel Aviv next week. 

THE SILK ROAD to HIGHLAND PARK
On Monday, June 26th, WFMT broadcast Yo-Yo Ma's Silk Road Ensemble concert live from the Pritzker Pavilion.  It was a spectacular event.  Yo-Yo and his ensemble offered a marvelous evening of music notable for its richness and variety. Yo-Yo was the perfect MC for the concert.  Every seat at the Pritzker was filled and the lawn was jammed.  I was told something like 25,000 people heard the concert.  Thousands more heard it on WFMT and on the WFMT Radio Network, where it was broadcast live.  The host was WFMT's Lisa Flynn with engineering by the amazing Eric Arunas, who offered listeners a sound mix that left nothing out and was superbly balanced and focused throughout.  The broadcast was underwritten by Sony Classical and I was delighted that Michelle Errante, my contact at Sony, came in from New York for the event.

From there I zipped up to Ravinia to catch the end of Jonathan Biss' recital at the Martin, where I met with Suzanne Ponsot from the American Friends of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.  Suzanne and I met earlier in the day with the major donor to the IPO broadcast.  After Jonathan's recital, we repaired to a nearby restaurant to meet and discuss the impending series.  A few minutes into our discussion, in-walked pianist Jeffrey Siegel, just in from a performance at the Music Institute of Chicago.  It turns out that Jeffrey and Suzanne are old friends, so the evening ended on a most convivial note.

Back to the Silk Road for a minute: last year, WFMT and the WFMT Radio Network produced a live broadcast of Yo-Yo's Orchestra Hall Silk Road performance.  I was poking around his site the other day (www.yo-yoma.com) and discovered that the entire broadcast, hosted by Jan Weller and engineered by Eric, is available on-demand on the site!  The fidelity is amazing and shows, among other things, how far audio has progressed on the Web.  Does anyone remember realaudio 1.0?  It sounded like short wave radio!  (To find the broadcast, scroll all the way down the home page and you'll find it near the bottom.)

JEFFREY SIEGEL
On Wednesday, Jeffrey gave one of his patented Keyboard Conversation concerts at the Martin Theater.  Jeffrey has been touring his “Keyboard Conversations” to over a dozen cities in the U.S. for over 25 years, including a series at Northwestern—this was his first “Keyboard Conversation” at Ravinia.  His subject was the music of Robert Schumann and he gave his usual insightful lecture/performance, focusing mainly in Schumann's earlier works for the keyboard.  Jeffrey is a fine pianist but I thought he outdid himself last Wednesday with a truly stellar performance. 

CENTER ON HALSTED
Over the past few years, it's been my pleasure to host one-hour programs on behalf of Chicago area organizations that are engaged in capital campaigns.  I've done them with the Music Institute of Chicago, Harris Theater and Merit School of Music.  Several months ago I was introduced to people involved with a capital campaign for the Center on Halsted.

To quote from the Center's website (www.centeronhalsted.org): "To achieve this vision and create a place where people can come together to play, learn, and talk to one another, the Center’s mission is as follows:

In a safe and nurturing environment, the Center on Halsted serves as a catalyst for the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transgender) community that links and provides community resources, and enriches life experiences."

Three aspects of the Center's campaign intrigued me.  First, the new building they are constructing on Halsted is extraordinary for its openness, creative use of space and architectural beauty. Second, the building will contain a theater that the Center intends on utilizing for music and other performances on a constant basis.  In fact, they've already formed a strong link with the Chicago Chamber Musicians.  Third, unlike the three capital campaigns mentioned above, the Center was at the end of their campaign and was entering what they call their "public phase."  I therefore thought it was a great opportunity for a radio program.

The program was produced by WFMT's program director, Peter Whorf, and aired on Saturday morning.  My guests were Robbin Burr, executive director, and Robert Kohl, chair of the board.  The program discussed the new building, the capital campaign and the cultural activities planned for the theater.  Shortly after the program ended, I received two voicemails from listeners.  Here are word for word transcripts:

"I've been going to the Center on Halsted since January and I must admit I'm a whole better, nicer, more wonderful person since I've been going there and I'm really pleased and surprised they are getting some mentions so thank you for taking the time. Even though I miss the music, I do think it's very, very important for the gay, lesbian, transgender community to get this kind of information out.  So thank you very much for your time and consideration and your help...Lord knows we do need it."  

Second call.

"I am a Fine Arts Circle member and I'm absolutely discouraged and disappointed at this program about the gay and lesbian center. We do not want to have our money on the Fine Arts membership funding this type of thing. You are offensive and disgraceful.  You ought to stop this type of thing or we're going to withdraw financial support in a large way if you don't stop.  That is an offensive program." 

And so it goes...

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UShaka Residency

Submitted by Adriana Avila on Wed, 05/31/2006 - 4:02pm.

On June 8 & 9 Opera Africa will be performing UShaka, the musical telling of the life of legendary Zulu warrior Shaka.  Seventy singers from South Africa have flown to the U.S. to bring this incredible performance to the Ravinia stage.

Before the perfomance, Opera Africa will be participating in several community outreach events including a choral exchange with three professional choirs (Lira, Ngoma, and the Chicago Chamber Choir) on Friday, June 2, and with six high school choirs on Monday, June 5. 

This is a fantastic opportunity for the UShaka cast and the local choirs to blend their styles, a learning experience for them both.  We are especially excited for the high school choirs, who will present a pre-concert performance before both UShaka concerts here at Ravinia. It should be very interesting to see and hear the interaction between these widely varied choirs, a fantastic opportunity for everyone involved.

UShaka is also exploring the local community, bringing their unique sound and story to the Chicago Botanical Gardens on Saturday June 3 and the St. Sabina Church morning service on Sunday June 4.  We’re eager to see UShaka take an active role in the community, giving the Chicago area a glimpse of African culture.  These are all great chances to see UShaka live before their Ravinia premiere on Thursday and Friday. 

~Nick Rego, Marketing Intern

Nick is this summer's marketing intern.  He will be a junior at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and he is majoring in English and Art History. 

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Let The Games Begin

Submitted by Meg Rains on Fri, 04/21/2006 - 3:25pm.

Well, it's official ... after several busybee weeks – no make that months – the Ravinia Festival's web site has been updated, brochures hit the mail and online ticket sales have begun.

Tickets went on sale yesterday and our August 9th showcase of Bach's Complete Brandenburg Concertos, to be performed in our intimate Martin Theatre (featuring the CSO and Jaime Laredo as conductor, violin and viola), has already sold out! What a feeling to see classical performances getting this kind of audience attention.

As many of you know, our brochure included a CD preview of the summer season hosted by our CEO Welz Kauffman and soprano Sylvia McNair. We were pleased to see the Chicago Sun-Times give the CD a shout out in yesterday's paper. It's true that you can write and write about music until you're blue in the face, but hearing that preview of Mahler's Third or Renee Fleming or Verdi's Requiem leaves the listener hungry for more. We'll be serving it up June 1–September 16.

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Spring Forward

Submitted by Adriana Avila on Sat, 04/01/2006 - 7:26pm.

Happy April!

Tonight we move our clocks ahead an hour and I can’t tell you how symbolic this is for me. I feel like we are moving fast-forward-full-speed-ahead into another season at Ravinia Festival. That means one thing; winter is over! (Crossing my fingers it doesn’t snow at the end of April.)

For those of you like me, Ravinia is synonymous with summer. It’s a tradition. It’s the light at the end of the dark, winter tunnel. I remember getting so excited to see the announcement of the season in the paper before I became a part of the Ravinia staff. Memories of sitting on the lawn and listening to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra or Celia Cruz or Bonnie Raitt always reminded me why I love summer at Ravinia.

Now it’s weird being on the other end of the schedule and being a part of the team that actually gets the information out to the public. I don’t get the surprise element of seeing the calendar as a whole along with everyone else. I guess that does take away part of the excitement. However, I still think about how nice it is to drink wine and picnic outside while listening to great music. Plus, I get the inside scoop before anyone.

I feel like I’m getting performance jitters, even though I’m not performing. Does anyone else get that “rush” before the start of a season?

I think part of those jitters is just hoping that everything goes off without a hitch. I’m sure we all dream of wonderful performances, high ticket sales, rave reviews and big success stories. In reality, there is a lot of work going on behind the scenes of any arts organization.

The challenge we all face (and the reason this site even exists) is getting people just as excited for classical music as they do popular music. What else can we do to get the younger audience in to fill the seats? We started the “Full House” initiative last year, which was very successful. The surveys we conducted all showed positive reactions from first-time patrons.

While seeing a classical concert might not be at the top of a young person’s “To Do” list, I think that a lot of people would enjoy it more than they would expect. The problem is getting them out to experience it and discover that for themselves. From the thunder of the full orchestra or the softness of a soloist, the experience is really magical. Then again, you know that. How do we convince others?

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Ravinia 2006 Season Announced

Submitted by Adriana Avila on Fri, 03/24/2006 - 4:21pm.

First, let me apologize for being absent over the past couple of weeks. It has been a busy, busy time here at the festival. Our season was just announced this week, which you can view online now.

For the first time ever, you can listen to audio tracks and download podcasts on iTunes. The music coincides with a calendar date and gives an audio example of what you will hear at that particular concert. Plus it gives some background information on the composer, the piece and the performers.

It’s a really unique way to present the season, I think. Hopefully, this will take some of the mystery and fear away from those new to classical music and encourage them up to experience it live.

Individual tracks are available on certain calendar dates as well. So browse around and take a listen to some or all of the clips.

In addition to the podcasting, we are using a very popular online music community website called www.myspace.com to promote our concert series. You can see our page here. Is anyone else using this or another related service?

Our page is fairly new and it takes some time to build a network of “friends,” but I think it’s a good way to attract a young audience. It’s a free service and you have total control over the content. Plus, you can post bulletins to alert those in your network about upcoming shows and events.

These are just a couple of ways to put a fresh spin on classical music and present it to a new generation. I think it’s important to keep up with the trends in technology and explore different ways to use them in promoting our organizations. I would love to hear what you think about these two new features.

*****
I just found this article on Yahoo that discusses how live classical recordings are becoming more readily available online. It's an attempt to revive interest in classical music and attract new listeners. It's perfect timing.

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Office Tunes

Submitted by Adriana Avila on Fri, 02/17/2006 - 8:33pm.

My poor co-workers have to put up with me singing in the office all the time. When I'm not driving them crazy with Christmas songs, I am humming along as I work on our 2006 season calendar. Believe me, I am no singer (unless you count how I like to pretend in the shower or car). No matter what I do, though, I keep going back to this particular piece.

I am sure you've seen the United commercials using this song. Are you humming it now too? The song is George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue."

This summer the Ravinia Festival Women's Board Gala will recreate the night that Gershwin played in the park. I've heard stories about how there were people literally hanging from the trees to get a glimpse of this legendary composer and songwriter. So every time I go past that calendar square, the song keeps playing in my head.

Like many people, I am a big fan of Gershwin music and this is going to be one spectacular evening. "Gershwin at Ravinia: Who Could Ask for Anything More?" commemorates the 70th anniversary of Gershwin's only Ravinia performance in 1936. Four-time Tony winner Audra McDonald, veteran of Ravinia's Sondheim series; vocalist Brian Stokes Mitchell; and conductor/pianist Andrew Litton will headline the 2006 Women's Board Gala Benefit Evening, July 15.

Hershey Felder, creator and star of George Gershwin Alone and Monsieur Chopin, will host and perform a program that includes "Rhapsody in Blue" and selections from Porgy and Bess, taking guests back to that summer when Gershwin took Ravinia by storm.

Paulette talked about the role of music in film in a recent article posted here at Chicago Classical Music. I think it's a great way to remind people how important music is in theater, movies, television and even cartoons. Imagine watching Bugs Bunny run around with no music!

I always tell friends who think they don't like classical music to think about it again. I know they will discover a hidden love (or at least fondness) for it.

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