Ravinia Music Festival in America..

Ravinia, North America's oldest music festival, stands today as its most musically diverse, presenting over 140 different events throughout the summer. These concerts run the gambit from Yo-Yo Ma to John Legend to the annual summer residency of the nation's finest orchestra, The Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

The Ravinia Festival is the oldest outdoor music festival in the United States, with a series of outdoor concerts and performances held every summer from June to September. It has been the summer home of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra since 1936. Located in Highland Park, IL, the festival operates on the grounds of Ravinia Park, with a variety of outdoor and indoor performing arts facilities.

The Ravinia neighborhood, once an incorporated village before annexation in 1899, is known as Ravinia, and retained its own post office until autumn 2010. The business district on Roger Williams Ave., within walking distance from the Ravinia Festival grounds, includes neighborhood service businesses and restaurants. Ravinia takes its name from the ravines found nearby along the shoreline of Lake Michigan.

The 36-acre park is nestled in a gently wooded area that makes it an enchanting place to experience music. Guests can bring their own picnics or eat at one of the park restaurants. Children up to age 15, high school and college students are admitted free to the lawn for classical performances.

Ravina Mission..

As a nonprofit organization, community outreach and music education initiatives are our mission. Over 75,000 people are served through Ravinia's Reach*Teach*Play programs each year, ensuring that great music remains accessible to all.

Ravinia runs the Steans Music Institute on its grounds. This summer music conservatory awards 60-70 fully paid fellowships each year to the most talented young professional musicians from around the world to WORK with an esteemed faculty and the headliners who frequent the festival.

History of Ravinia

Seiji Ozawa was named Ravinia's first music director in 1964. Four years later, pianist Edward Gordon was appointed executive director, and the Festival began to grow in new directions, including the creation in 1988 of a professional studies division, the Steans Music Institute. Concert opera performances returned, and the park facilities were extensively renovated in 1970, with a new stage floor designed by legendary choreographer George Balanchine.

In 1971, James Levine, who first conducted at Ravinia as a last-minute replacement, succeeded Ozawa as music director four years before becoming music director at the Metropolitan Opera. Among his most memorable seasons was a summer in which he programmed all of Mahler's symphonies. He headed Ravinia until 1993, helping Gordon, and later, Zarin Mehta to transform Ravinia into a festival in the fullest sense of the word. Mehta, former general MANAGER of the Montreal Symphony, was named executive director in 1990 and later became president and CEO of Ravinia Festival.

Performance & Venue..

For 43 years the Ravinia Women’s Board has sponsored an annual competition to create the design that will become the unique poster used to promote the festival’s upcoming season. The poster design becomes a distinctive signature of the Ravinia season. It should therefore convey the rich experience of enjoying outstanding musical performances in this lush and historic outdoor park.

• The Pavilion, a 3,200-seat venue where the park's major music events and concerts, including Chicago Symphony Orchestra performances, are held. Patrons can see the shows in a traditional concert setting in an open-air theater with state-of-the-art sound, video and lighting equipment or choose to sit in the lawn area and listen to the music while picnicking.

• The Martin Theatre, an 850-seat indoor hall often used for chamber music, semi-staged opera performances,Martinis at the Martin cabaret series, and other intimate shows.

• Bennett Gordon Hall, the 450-seat home of Ravinia's Steans Music Institute, the BGH Classics Series, and also used for pre-concert discussions and preview concerts. Ravinia's Steans Music Institute is the Ravinia Festival's pre-professional summer conservatory program.

•  Three programs comprise the Institute's summer season: the program for jazz; the program for piano and strings, and the program for singers. In each of the programs, fellows study with internationally renowned faculty of artist/teachers, participate in concerts and master classes given as part of Ravinia's summer programming, and attend Ravinia concerts. Musicians from Ravinia's Steans Music Institute have appeared at such prestigious venues as the Metropolitan Opera, Boston’s Gardner Museum, the Library of Congress, Miami’s Friends of Chamber Music series and New York’s Town Hall, in addition to Ravinia's own stages.

Metra rail Service..

Union Pacific North Line with service from Chicago to Kenosha is highly recommended! The Metra train stops right at the front gate of Ravinia. The train is the perfect solution for avoiding traffic.

• Please visit Metrarail.com or call 312-836-7000 for complete schedules and information.
• Roundtrip tickets are as low as $7* on weekdays and weekends, or purchase the $7 Weekend Pass for unlimited use on Saturdays and Sundays.
• Train stops at Ravinia's Tyler Gate (Ravinia Park stop*).
• Use Braeside and Ravinia stops as alternatives when Ravinia Park is not an option.
• Check video screens at West gate for train departure times.
• Please note that some stations are not serviced during certain times. (be sure to check the schedules)

*The Ravinia Park stop is made only during the summer concert season. Rates may vary contact Metra Rail for more information.

Smoke Free Area.

Ravinia Festival is proud to have been the nation’s first outdoor festival to create a smoke-free concert ENVIRONMENT starting in 1995.

On January 1, 2008, the City of Highland Park, in support of the Smoke Free Illinois Act, expanded their local smoking prohibition to include outdoor parking lots, public parks, and the Green Bay Road Trail that runs in front of our main West Gate entrance.

Ravinia Festival supports the City of Highland Park in their Smoke Free efforts and is pleased to offer patrons two designated smoking areas, one located at the West Gate entrance and one located in the North parking lot.

Please note that these are the only two areas in which smoking will be permitted by law. Smoking is prohibited on all other festival grounds and in the Park ‘N Ride loading areas.

Prepared & Collection by : M.Ajmal Khan.