Ravinia Festival Celebrates All Things Lincoln
One of the Ravinia Festival's most well-received recent innovations is its free “family fun day," and this summer's all-day event, set for Sept. 7, will offer a glimpse into Ravinia's full-scale 2009 celebration of the Lincoln bicenntennial.
The Sunday event will offer a “Lawn of Lincoln" display, with a wide range of music and family activities throughout the park, with young people offered a variety of “fun" things such as face painting, moon jumps, balloon artists and crafts.
Other Lincoln-themed events scheduled throughout the day will include an interactive mock news conference with the 16th president, staged by a member of the Association of Lincoln Presenters. Youngsters and their parents are encouraged ask questions of “Mr. Lincoln."
Ravinia will also display an eight-foot-long wood carving of the Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, created by 96-year-old Manny Shellist. The address will also be read by actor Michael Krebs as Lincoln. Krebs will also perform throughout the day in the park, with Debra Ann Miller in the role of Mary Todd Lincoln.
The Ravinia Festival commissioned Chicago composer Elbio Barilari to create a new work that chronicles the connection between Abraham Lincoln and his Mexican counterpart, Benito Juarez. Barilari will perform this work with the seven-piece Ondas Ensemble, featuring special guest jazz trumpeter Orbert Davis, singer Juan Rivera of Sones de Mexico and narrator Henry Godinez from the Goodman Theatre, at 6:30 p.m. in the National City Bank Private Dining facility in Ravinia's dining pavilion.
The world premiere, tentatively titled “Lincolnania," features texts by Carl Sandburg and Walt Whitman, and will be sung in Spanish and English as part of Chicago's Latin Music Festival. The performance will also be broadcast live on WFMT 98.7-FM.
The Sunday event will offer a “Lawn of Lincoln" display, with a wide range of music and family activities throughout the park, with young people offered a variety of “fun" things such as face painting, moon jumps, balloon artists and crafts.
Other Lincoln-themed events scheduled throughout the day will include an interactive mock news conference with the 16th president, staged by a member of the Association of Lincoln Presenters. Youngsters and their parents are encouraged ask questions of “Mr. Lincoln."
Ravinia will also display an eight-foot-long wood carving of the Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, created by 96-year-old Manny Shellist. The address will also be read by actor Michael Krebs as Lincoln. Krebs will also perform throughout the day in the park, with Debra Ann Miller in the role of Mary Todd Lincoln.
The Ravinia Festival commissioned Chicago composer Elbio Barilari to create a new work that chronicles the connection between Abraham Lincoln and his Mexican counterpart, Benito Juarez. Barilari will perform this work with the seven-piece Ondas Ensemble, featuring special guest jazz trumpeter Orbert Davis, singer Juan Rivera of Sones de Mexico and narrator Henry Godinez from the Goodman Theatre, at 6:30 p.m. in the National City Bank Private Dining facility in Ravinia's dining pavilion.
The world premiere, tentatively titled “Lincolnania," features texts by Carl Sandburg and Walt Whitman, and will be sung in Spanish and English as part of Chicago's Latin Music Festival. The performance will also be broadcast live on WFMT 98.7-FM.
For more information contact All About Jazz.
