Ravinia Festival kicks off June 9
June 7, 2011 10:56AM
Daryl Hall (left) and John Oates | Scott Stewart~Sun-Times
Ravinia
Festival
Lake-Cook and Green Bay roads, Highland Park
(847) 266-5100; ravinia.org
Article Extras
Updated: June 11, 2011 9:27AM
If it’s June in the northern suburbs, it must be time for the Ravinia Festival to swing open its gates for another summerlong music extravaganza. Ravinia is the country’s oldest outdoor music festival, and it’s in no hurry. Picnic on its cool lawn, kick your shoes off. Arrive early, stay late. Relax in the sway of the pavilion for an up-close look at your favorite musicmaker.
This year, the schedule has a few perennials and more than a few new faces to keep the mix interesting. Here are some sure bets worth the pavilion ticket price or perfect for lying back on the lawn:
POP MUSIC
Daryl Hall & John Oates, 7 p.m. June 26: The music of the rock and soul pioneers is a blast from the past that never grows old. They met in a freight elevator while escaping a riot at Philadelphia’s Adelphi Ballroom during one of the club’s legendary Battle of the Bands in the early 1970s. They would go on to collaborate on a songbook filled with such hits as “Rich Girl,” “Kiss on My List,” “Maneater,” “Private Eyes,” “I Can’t Go for That (No Can Do),” “Sara Smile,” “She’s Gone” and “One on One.”
Tickets: pavilion, $80; lawn, $27 ($32 at the gate).
— Mary Houlihan
Jennifer Hudson, 7:30 p.m. July 16-17: The gorgeously svelte Oscar and Grammy winner heads to Ravinia for the first time. She’s touring behind her latest album, “I Remember Me,” a hugely soulful and emotional effort, signaling a musical rebirth of sorts for the Chicago native.
Tickets: pavilion, $80; lawn, $33.
— Miriam Di Nunzio
Tickets: pavilion, $70; lawn, $27 ($32 at the gate).
— Thomas Conner
Los Lobos and Los Lonely Boys, 7:30 p.m. Aug. 11: From its start almost 40 years ago in East Los Angeles, the Mexican-American band has morphed through many guises: roots rockers, blues stompers, retro revivalists, folkloric interpreters and socially conscious crusaders. The Wolves have inspired a younger generation of American Latino rockers, to advance the cause, including the Texas-based Los Lonely Boys.
Tickets: pavilion, $50; lawn, $22 ($27 at the gate).
— Laura Emerick
Rufus Wainwright, 5 p.m. Aug. 14:
Rufus Wainwright embodies an estuary where pop and folk genres flow into the classical canon, so it’s only apropos he’s astride both styles for one night at Ravinia. For the first part, after the CSO performs pieces by Berlioz and Mendelssohn, Wainwright will debut with the orchestra to present his cycle of five Shakespeare sonnets set to music, which was co-commissioned by Ravinia and the San Francisco Symphony. (Three of the musical sonnets appeared on Wainwright’s most recent album, last year’s “All Days Are Nights: Songs for Lulu.”) After intermission, Wainwright will return with his band for a pop set.
— Thomas Conner
Tony Bennett, 8:30 p.m. Aug. 26:
The vocal icon skipped his annual Ravinia concert last year, and instead landed at the glittery casino by the bay (north of Gary), where little cable cars (of the South Shore Line) climb halfway past the slag piles near those abandoned Inland Steel plants. This summer, he’s back to celebrate his 85th birthday (Aug. 3) and perhaps preview his upcoming “Duets II” disc, out in September. That month, the legend will make his highly anticipated debut at the Metropolitan Opera but even that main event will be hard-pressed to rival the intimate ambience of Ravinia.
Tickets: pavilion, $91; lawn, $34 ($39 at the gate).
— Laura Emerick
Chicago, 7:30 p.m. Aug. 27 (sold-out) and Aug. 28: The last time Chicago’s namesake band performed at the Ravinia Festival, “Saturday in the Park” was a brand-new hit. Returning to the north coast for the first time since 1972, today’s Chicago is an independent rock band featuring four founding members from that ’72 lineup (singer Robert Lamm and horn players James Pankow, Lee Loughnane and Walter Parazaider). The next Chicago album will be another Christmas set, their third, but all the band’s favorite hits should be under the Ravinia trees for these two engagements.
Tickets: pavilion, $80; lawn, $33 ($38 at the gate).
— Thomas Conner
Mandy Patinkin and Nathan Gunn, 8 p.m. Aug. 31:
It’s a barihunk double bill in the pavilion, as Broadway baby and South Shore native Mandy Patinkin and opera house heartthrob baritone Nathan Gunn flex their respective vocal prowess. Somebody scream. Tickets:
pavilion, $75; lawn, $15.
— Andrew Patner
DANCE Momix (8 p.m. Sept 9-10; 11 a.m. Sept. 10):
Tickets: $45 pavilion; $10 lawn.
— Mary Houlihan
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