photo: Patrick Gipson/Ravinia What’s In a Name? By Kyle MacMillan Kismet has a way of striking at unexpected times, and that is exactly what happened when three fellows at the Ravinia Festival’s Steans Music Institute (RSMI) happened to be put together with a violist to perform Gabriel Fauré’s Piano Quartet No. 2 in 2015. Though the three alumni of the Curtis Institute of Music were acquainted with each other from their time at the prestigious Philadelphia school, they had never played together previously and had no particular interest in being part of a piano trio. Or so they thought ..read more

One Big Beautiful Sound By Web Behrens World-renowned tabla virtuoso Zakir Hussain remembers exactly when he first made music with guitar legend John McLaughlin. It was September 1972 in the Bay Area, and Hussain had been jaw-droppingly gobsmacked the night prior by McLaughlin, shredding up a storm in concert with his jazz-fusion band. The following day, they were hanging out at the home of maestro Ali Akbar Khan when McLaughlin asked Hussain, “Would you play with me?” The 30-year-old Englishman picked up his acoustic guitar; the 21-year-old Indian prodigy availed himself of Khan’s tabla (a p ..read more

Photo: Benjamin Allen True Tradition By Donald Liebenson There is a moment of sheer infectious joy on Ravinia Steans Music Institute alum Tessa Lark’s most recent album, The Stradgrass Sessions. There are several, actually, but one that stands out comes at the end of “Hysedelje,” a fiddle tune composed by Lark that is more (blue)grass than Strad(ivarius). At the end, she emits a “whoop” that evokes her Richmond, KY, roots as the daughter of a bluegrass musician. “It was a spur of the moment,” she told Ravinia. “Culturally, it is something you might do after playing a fiddle tune.” She added w ..read more

Photo: Benjamin Ealovega Balanced Busyness  By Kyle MacMillan James Ehnes is certainly thrilled to be adding, in 2023–24, three more ensembles to the list of elite orchestras with which he has collaborated—the Israel Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, and Zurich’s Tonhalle Orchestra. But the famed Canadian violinist is just as happy to be returning for his second season as artistic partner with the far less widely known Artis-Naples in Florida. The multidisciplinary organization encompasses the Naples Philharmonic, with which he will collaborate several times during the season ..read more

By Kyle MacMillan “Like father, like son.” That old, familiar saying seems especially apt when it comes to Jeffrey Kahane and his son, Gabriel. Although they lived on opposite coasts for two decades and have different kinds of careers—Jeffrey, 66, following the path of a more traditional classical pianist and Gabriel, 42, finding his way as an entrepreneurial, cross-genre singer-songwriter—both have devoted their lives to music. And both have achieved considerable success in their ways. For now, Jeffrey is probably the more recognizable name of the two, having regular engagements with many of ..read more

By James Turano Rufus Wainwright has a voice best described as “cashmere wood”—soft, fine, and delicate, but with a solid, hardened edge. And his songwriting matches it: a mysterious mix of heartfelt, honest, and raw ballads and sturdy pop/rock ravers. He’s instinctively carved a space that only he inhabits. Even his name, “Rufus” sets him apart. He’s cool to the core. Rufus Wainwright regularly stirs his cauldron of creativity, defying both simple categorization and artistic limitations. Wainwright revels in fantastically filling his deliberately diverse songs with hints of musical passages t ..read more

By Donald Liebenson At one point in A Night at the Opera, Otis B. Driftwood, the slippery business manager portrayed by Groucho Marx, arrives at an opera house. “Is the opera over yet?” he asks a door attendant. When informed a few minutes remain in the opera, he becomes indignant. “Hey, you,” he chastises the hansom cab driver, “I told you to slow that nag down. On account of you, I nearly heard the opera. Now, once around the park and drive slowly.” Many children (and some adults, for that matter) have this same dismissive attitude toward opera. Opera for the Young (OFTY) is dedicated to cha ..read more

Tending the Roots By Donald Liebenson Elvin Bishop wasn’t fooling around when he fell in love with the blues.  Growing up in Tulsa on his family’s farm, the blues came to him in the night on radio stations from such far-flung locales as Nashville, Mexico, and Coffeeville, KS. “Out on the prairie, in those days, the local stations would shut down at midnight, and then you could pick up the 50,000-watt stations,” Bishop told Ravinia in a phone interview in anticipation of his festival debut with virtuoso harp player Charlie Musselwhite. Bishop went at music “blindly,” he said. “My ear was n ..read more

For more than 50 years on PBS, Great Performances has provided an unparalleled showcase of the best in all genres of the performing arts, serving as America’s most prestigious and enduring broadcaster of cultural programming. On Monday, August 21, Great Performances will present Ravinia’s 2022 performance of legendary composer Leonard Bernstein’s Kaddish Symphony. The performance features the talent of Uniting Voices (formerly Chicago Children’s Choir), the Chicago Symphony Chorus, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Led by Ravinia Chief Conductor and Bernstein protégée Marin Alsop ..read more

Dreaming Deeper By Kyle MacMillan With the explosion of keyboard talent and multiplicity of major piano competitions today, winners all too easily blur into each other, and some names spring to the forefront and then quickly recede. But Yunchan Lim stands out. Not only did the then-18-year-old Korean pianist become the youngest entrant ever to win the prestigious Van Cliburn International Piano Competition last year, his towering technique and insightful artistry grabbed the attention of critics and everyday listeners alike. The New York Times listed his gripping take on Rachmaninoff’s Piano C ..read more