Ravinia 2019, Issue 4, Week 8

“I believe Mass was Bernstein’sMahler Eight. Common to both pieces is a desire to answer the big existential question.” MARIN ALSOP Last year at Ravinia, Marin Alsop curated the ɶrst of multiple seasons of concerts that aim to celebrate Bernstein’s own works and those of composers he championed or that had special signiɶcance in his career including Bernstein’s Serenade with violinist Joshua Bell (top) and “Jeremiah” Symphony with me]]o J’Nai Bridges (bottom) both of which will be excerpted on July 27 and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with me]]o Michelle DeYoung (middle left) and bass Ryan Speedo Green (middle right) both of whom will return as soloists in Mahler’s Eighth Symphony on July 2 . last summer at the Tanglewood Music Festival, will be staged by Alison Moritz, with choreography by John Heginboth- am, a dancer formerly with the Mark Morris Dance Group. e cast will feature Miles Mykkanen in the title role, Sharleen Joynt as Cunegonde (who gets to chirp “Glitter and Be Gay”), and Evan Jones triple-cast as Voltaire, Pangloss, and Cacambo, with two alumni of Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute vocal program rounding out the stars: Mar- garet Gawrysiak as the Old Lady and Baroness, and Alex Mansoori taking on all four of the Baron, Governor, Vander- dendur, and Ragotski. e rst and wittiest of Bernstein’s two operas, Trouble in Tahiti examines the unhappy marriage of a middle-aged couple, portrayed by Szot and soprano Patricia Racette, who reside in a suburb akin to Ravinia’s hometown of Highland Park (don’t miss the reference in the libretto!). Alsop will lead the pair, plus the “jazz trio” of RSMI vocal alumni Michelle Areyzaga, Nils Nilsen, and Nathaniel Olson and members of the Chicago Philharmonic, in two performances on the same day, August , in Ravinia’s Martin eatre. “Paulo and Patricia had never worked together before they starred in Kurt Weill’s opera Street Scene last year in Madrid,” says Kau man. “ eir chemis- try is fantastic, and they are thrilled to be reuniting at Ravinia.” Earlier in the season was the return to the Ravinia reper- toire on June of Songfest, Bernstein’s US Bicentennial com- mission, a cycle for six singers and orchestra based on texts by American poets ranging from Edgar Allan Poe and Walt Whitman to Langston Hughes and Lawrence Ferlinghetti. is is one of the most important, indeed arresting, of Bernstein’s later concert works. Another six alumni from the RSMI vocal program performed its songs with the Caroga Arts Ensem- ble under the direction of Alexander Platt, who co-arranged the chamber version that was heard on this occasion. [Ravinia and Bernstein devotees will remember that this version was premiered at Ravinia in .] Bernstein’s signature masterpiece, the musical West Side Story, arrived at Ravinia on July , with the CSO performing the score with a showing of the restored Best Picture Oscar winner, projected on screens in the Pavilion and on the Lawn. David Newman conducted, just as when the movie last “played” Ravinia in . Newman and the CSO also will provide the live accompaniment to a screening on August of director Elia Kazan’s On the Waterfront. e lm took home eight Oscars, including best actor for Marlon Brando, although Bernstein’s inspired score—his only ing with Tin- seltown—lost out in the Best Soundtrack category to Dimitri Tiomkin’s score for e High and the Mighty . On July , Alsop will be joined by her good friend the author and broadcaster Jamie Bernstein—Leonard’s oldest child and author of last year’s absorbing, warts-and-all memoir PATRICK GIPSON/RAVINIA 12 RAVINIA MAGAZINE | JULY 15 – JULY 28, 2019