“Welz Kauffman’s 20th and final season as the Ravinia Festival’s president and CEO looks to be historic in several regards,” writes Howard Reich in Thursday’s (3/12) Chicago Tribune. “Among them: The completed RaviniaMusicBox—an immersive theater and museum space—will open June 12…. Marin Alsop will make her bow as the festival’s first chief conductor and curator July 10. The festival will extend its Leonard Bernstein celebration [with music including] a rare performance of ‘A White House Cantata.’ … The new [RaviniaMusicBox] building will … give visitors another reason to visit Ravinia and, ultimately, to expand the audience for classical music, … ‘especially if you’re coming to one of our big nonclassical shows—where people come, have a meal on the lawn or in one of our restaurants, they might have a couple hours before the show,’ said Kauffman.” Violinist Itzhak Perlman will perform and conduct three concerts; vocalist Cynthia Erivo will perform music of Nina Simone, Billie Holiday, Etta James, Aretha Franklin, and Gladys Knight to mark the 19th Amendment’s centennial; and Kaufmann will perform in a farewell concert entitled “All’s Welz That Ends Well” featuring Kevin Cole, Sylvia McNair, Josephine Lee, and Michelle Areyzaga.
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