Ravinia Has a New Blog Address!

Visit http://backstage.ravinia.org to keep in touch with the latest at Ravinia.

Backstage Ravinia will be our new permanent blog home so be sure to bookmark the location.

The Sights & Sounds of Summer Begin

Bill T. Jones is on site today with the Arnie Zane Dance Company preparing for the Ravinia premiere of Fondly Do We Hope . . . Fervently Do We Pray. You can see this performance at Ravinia in September and look for more sneak peaks throughout the summer.








Photography by Russell Jenkins

Photo Essay: Backstage with an Artist

Bill T. Jones at Ravinia Festival on May 19, 2009 during an interview with Deborah Pickett. Look for the article this summer in Ravinia Magazine. Photo by Russell Jenkins.

Bill T Jones is one of the most interesting individuals I have had the opportunity to photograph. The energy around this man, this charismatic artist, is unparalleled.

Russell Jenkins
Manager of Graphic Arts and Photography

Free Wifi in the Park!

Ravinia is now offering free Wifi on the lawn this summer, so bring your favorite mobile device and connect from the comfort of your own picnic! And if you haven’t already, become a Ravinia fan on Facebook, be our friend on Myspace or follow us on Twitter for up-to-the-moment news and updates!

Amy Schrage
Associate Director of Communications

Come One, Come All!

This weekend was our Customer Appreciation Day where Ravinia fans enjoyed a ticket discount, free food tastings and goodies, music performances and a live broadcast on WFMT with Ravinia President and CEO Welz Kauffman and on-air talent Carl Grapentine.

The radio broadcast was full of great chat, music of the season, live performances and call-in interviews with 2009 artists such as Bill T. Jones, Ramsey Lewis, Marc Robin and Sylvia McNair. Beethoven expert Robert Greenberg and Kurt Weill aficionado Kim Kowalke also spoke on the air about the incredible composers that we are featuring and Spiaggia chef Tony Mantuano called in to talk about his guest chef appearance at Ravinia this summer.

It was great to see so many people get a glimpse of the park before we officially open on June 5, taking in the beauty of the greenery and enjoying the beautiful weather today. The season is almost here, can’t wait to see you all in a few weeks!

Amy Schrage
Associate Director of Communications



Welz Kauffman and Carl Grapentine chat about the 2009 season




Ravinia staff helps patrons with their ticket forms

Camelot Update

Conductor Paul Gemignani has agreed to conduct Ravinia Festival’s opening night concert presentation of Camelot. Gemignani will lead Sylvia McNair, George Hearn and Rod Gilfry in director Marc Robin’s original stand-and-sing vision of the show. Erich Kunzel was originally scheduled to conduct, but medical treatments for his recently diagnosed cancer will prevent his appearance at the season opener on June 5. Gemignani last conducted at Ravinia in 2006 when Patti LuPone stepped into the character of Mama Rose for the first time singing “Gypsy” with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. She later brought the role to Broadway to great acclaim and a Tony Award. Gemignani is a longtime collaborator of Stephen Sondheim and the music director on many Sondheim cast albums. This will be his fourth appearance at Ravinia, where he also conducted Sondheim’s “Passion,” “Sunday in the Park with George” and “Anyone Can Whistle.”

Tickets are available here.

Ravinia Receives a Four-Star Rating on Charity Navigator

We got word last week that Ravinia received a four-star rating for the fourth consecutive year from America’s premier independent charity evaluator, Charity Navigator . Charity Navigator rates organizations by evaluating two broad areas of financial health; their organizational efficiency, defined by functional expenses spent on programs, services and mission; and their organizational capacity, which refers to an organization’s ability to sustain its programs over time. They use a set of financial ratios and performance categories to rate each of these two areas and issue an overall rating that combines the not-for-profit’s performance in both areas. Can you believe that only seven percent of the charities evaluated in Charity Navigator’s database have received four consecutive four-star ratings? We are so honored!


Amy Schrage
Associate Director of Communications

From One Great Lawn to Another...

 

Ravinia isn’t the only famous lawn in Chicagoland. This week we made a visit to the Friendly Confines. The simple spin of a prize wheel brought baseball and music together on Thursday as Chicago Cubs patrons stepped up to Ravinia’s table inside Wrigley Field. At times the line spread down the concourse weaving in and out of other lines for hot dogs and cold beverages on one of the first spring-like days of the year. Those that stopped by spun the wheel for a chance to win lawn passes, a special limited edition baseball themed Ravinia t-shirt, and picnic blankets from Ravinia Gifts. At every home game throughout April and May Ravinia will be giving away a prize pack to one luck seat winner inside Wrigley Field and we’ll be back on the concourse again in May giving away more tickets to your summer at Ravinia!

Heather Haigh
Marketing Assistant

Ravinia Tours Illinois for Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial

Ravinia is touring throughout Illinois with a series of free concerts in honor of Lincoln's birth 200 years ago. The tour will follow in the footsteps of the 16th president and features stops at schools, senior centers, and celebrated, as well as lesser known, historical sites. The repertoire includes newly composed works for piano trio that were commissioned through Ravinia's first composition competition.

Follow us on our journey and read about the sites and experiences of this once-in-a-lifetime tour.