Ravinia Festival

In 1904, the A.C. Frost Company created Ravinia as an amusement park intended to lure riders to the fledgling Chicago and Milwaukee Electric Railroad. The amusement park had a baseball diamond, electric fountain and refectory or casino building with dining rooms and a dance floor. The prairie-style Martin Theatre (then called Ravinia Theatre) is the only building on the grounds that dates back to that original construction. When the park's existence became jeopardized following the railroad's bankruptcy, local residents (for the most part Chicago businessmen) formed a corporation in 1911 to purchase and operate the park. Music was a confirmed summer activity from then on, except for a brief hiatus during the Great Depression and the COVID-19 pandemic. The Ravinia Festival has been widely acclaimed throughout its history. In the 1920s, it was known as the summer opera capital of the world due to businessman Louis Eckstein, who booked all-opera seasons and artists from the Chicago Opera and New York Metropolitan Opera Companies. By 1930, Ravinia had featured performers including Yvonne Gall, Edward Johnson, and Giovanni Martinelli. However, the high costs of opera performances ultimately led to financial ruin for Ravinia, and it closed for four years. In 1936, North Shore residents raised enough funds to attract the Chicago Symphony Orchestra who then made Ravinia its permanent summer residence. In addition to symphony concerts, often with guest soloists, the venue hosts opera, jazz, blues, folk, rock, and popular music performances, plus ballet, drama, and Reach Teach Play educational programs which take place year-round. These educational programs serve around 50,000 people each year in Chicago area schools without a music program. The longest running program—Jazz Mentors and Scholars—assembles the best Chicago Public School musicians with city musicians to create a larger ensemble. Over the years, Ravinia Festival has hosted many famous artists. Recent artists who have performed at Ravinia include Kygo, John Legend, Aretha Franklin, Bryan Ferry, Diana Ross, Maroon 5, Common, Carrie Underwood, The Beach Boys, Tom Jones, Tony Bennett, Lady Gaga, Josh Groban, Dolly Parton, Sheryl Crow, Patti LaBelle, Andrew Bird, Darius Rucker, Mary J. Blige, Gladys Knight, James Taylor, Santana, Stevie Nicks, Patti LuPone, Smokey Robinson, Sting and John Mellencamp among others. In November 2023, The Ravinia Festival Association, organizer of North America's oldest outdoor music festival, filed a federal lawsuit against Ravinia Brewing Company for trademark infringement, alleging that the brewery's use of the name and imagery is misleading consumers into believing there is a relationship with the festival. The dispute escalated following the opening of a second brewery location and release of a summer music-themed beer. The legal case concluded with a settlement resulting in the defendant changing its name to Steep Ravine Brewing Company. ==Performance venues==

• The Pavilion is a 3,350-seat venue where the park's major music events and concerts—including Chicago Symphony Orchestra performances—are held. It is undergoing a full renovation ahead of the 2026 season. • The Martin Theatre is an 850-seat indoor hall often used for chamber music, semi-staged opera performances, children's concerts, and other shows. • Bennett Gordon Hall is the 450-seat home of Ravinia's Steans Institute, and also used for pre-concert discussions and preview concerts. Ravinia's Steans 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. • Sandra K. Crown Theater is a100-seat live performance venue that provides a state-of-the-art experience of immersive audio and visuals as well as Ravinia’s closest encounters with live music. • The Carousel is located on the North Lawn and offers general admission seating for a more relaxed, laid-back experience. It hosts a variety of performances, including local and emerging artists, across genres like folk, jazz, and classical. • The Lawn is an expansive area for picnics during performances. Music is broadcast via a sound system and a large video screen is sometimes displayed. ==Grounds==

For most attendees, Ravinia is experienced on the 36-acre (150,000 m2) parkland and lawn. Ravinia is one of the few concert venues in the country to allow full meals to be brought in and consumed at concerts, including allowing alcoholic beverages. Accordingly, most grocery stores and specialty restaurants in and around the Highland Park area offer ready-to-eat Ravinia picnics for purchase. Metra provides rail service to Ravinia Park on the Union Pacific North Line at a station outside the front gate with special stops before and after concerts. It is the last private train stop in Illinois. The noted British conductor Sir Thomas Beecham, who guest-conducted the CSO there in 1940, referred to Ravinia as "the only railway station with a resident orchestra." Visitors get dropped off and picked up right at the front gate. ==Artistic directors and leadership==

• Walter Hendl, Artistic Director (1959–1963) • Seiji Ozawa, Music Director (1964–1968)and principal conductor (1969) • Edward Gordon, Executive Director (1968–1989) • István Kertész, Principal Conductor (1970–1972) • James Levine, Music Director (1973–1993)° • Zarin Mehta, Executive Director, President & CEO (1990–2000) • Christoph Eschenbach, Music Director (1995–2003) • James Conlon, Music Director (2005–2015) • Ramsey Lewis, Artistic Director, Jazz at Ravinia (1992–2022) • Welz Kauffman, President & CEO (2000–2020) • Marin Alsop, Artistic Curator (2018–2019) and Chief Conductor and Curator (2020–present) • Jeffrey P. Haydon, President & CEO (2020–present) ° Levine was named "Conductor Laureate" in April 2017, to begin performances in summer 2018. On December 4, 2017, the Ravinia Festival severed all ties with Levine, in the wake of sexual abuse allegations against him, dating back to decades earlier at the Ravinia Festival. ==See also==