Ravinia announces CSO 2011 lineup

Feeling the heat from Millennium Park, and faced with criticism that pop music is pushing classical music to the margins of its summer programming, the Ravinia Festival is putting its marketing muscle behind its enduring star attraction, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

In particular, Ravinia is playing up the musical variety patrons may find in the 17 orchestral concerts running July 7-Aug. 19, which will mark the 75th anniversary of CSO residency at the festival in Highland Park.

Big names again are the focus on the newly-announced lineup of artists and repertory.

Lang Lang and Andre Watts, piano superstars of different generations, will anchor the opening weekend concerts, to be led by former Ravinia music director Christoph Eschenbach. The July 7 and July 8 programs feature Franz Liszt's Piano Concertos Nos. 1 and 2, part of the festival's season-long commemoration of the Liszt bicentennial.


Both Brahms piano concertos also are on the schedule — No. 1 on July 14 and No. 2 on July 15 — performed by Emanuel Ax, with Christoph von Dohnanyi conducting. Rounding out Dohnanyi's two all-Brahms programs will be the Second and Third symphonies.

Music director James Conlon will begin his summer residency on July 21 with an all-Rachmaninov program that includes the rarely heard choral works "The Bells" and "Spring" Cantata, with the Chorus of the National Opera of Ukraine making its Ravinia debut. The concert includes the composer's "Paganini" Rhapsody, with piano soloist Alexander Romanovsky.

Conlon also will preside over the gala benefit evening, a program of favorite Gershwin songs and orchestral works on July 23. The soloists are pianist Kevin Cole and singers Sylvia McNair, Kelly O'Hara and Brian Stokes Mitchell.

Other soloists appearing with the CSO include soprano Deborah Voigt, July 9; CSO concertmaster Robert Chen, July 24; violinists Miriam Fried on July 31 and Itzhak Perlman on Aug. 4; and cellist Yo-Yo Ma, Aug. 5. Leon Fleisher will perform Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 12 with Perlman conducting, on Aug. 6.

Folk-rock musician Rufus Wainwright will join the CSO and conductor Jeffrey Kahane on Aug. 14 for the Chicago premiere of Wainwright's settings of Shakespeare sonnets. It will share the bill with other classical works inspired by the Bard and a solo set by Wainwright.

Also on the pop front, Ravinia will screen in its entirety director Peter Jackson's 2001 film "The Fellowship of the Ring," the first installment of his trilogy based on J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings" novels. The CSO under Ludwig Wicki will provide live musical accompaniment (score by Howard Shore), and the film will be beamed to patrons on the lawn via jumbo video screens. Dates are Aug. 18 and 19.

As of this writing, tickets for the 2011 Ravinia season will only be available through the Web site, ravinia.org. For information, call 847-266-5100.

'Opera in Cinema'

The Metropolitan Opera isn't the only game in town when it comes to screening complete operas in high-definition video. The "Opera in Cinema" series at Columbia College Chicago is presenting 14 operas in recent performances from major European theaters between now and the end of April at Film Row Cinema, 1104 S. Wabash Ave.

Next up will be Verdi's "Simon Boccanegra," starring Placido Domingo in the title role. The performance was taped in April at Milan's La Scala and was conducted by Daniel Barenboim. Screenings are 7 p.m. Tuesday and 2 p.m. Oct. 10.

Upcoming operas include Tchaikovsky's "The Queen of Spades," Oct. 19 and 24; Bellini's "Norma," Nov. 9 and 14; Wagner's "Das Rheingold," Nov. 16 and 21; and a live transmission of Wagner's "Die Walkure" from La Scala, Dec. 7.

Tickets are $20 and $25 ("Walkure" only) and may be purchased online at brownpapertickets.com, or by calling 800-838-3006.

jvonrhein@tribune.com