Ravinia 2019, Issue 6, Week 12

8:00 PM FRIDAY, AUGUST 23, 2019 PAVILION MY SONGS TOUR STING STING Getting his start with jazz fusion groups in England, Sting teamed his bass with drummer Stewart Copeland and guitarist Andy Summers in the midst of the burgeoning punk-rock scene of the late 1970s in London, forming The Police. The group ascended to international promi- nence on the strength of Sting’s songwriting, including “Roxanne,” “Message in a Bottle,” “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic,” and “Every Breath You Take.” Together they won six Grammy and two BRIT Awards and were in- ducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2003. After the band parted ways in 1984, Sting began working as an actor but also returned to music the following year—on the guitar—for his first solo album, The Dream of the Blue Turtles , demonstrating his now-famed social activism. With subsequent albums including Nothing Like the Sun , The Soul Cages , Ten Summoner’s Tales , Mercury Falling , and Brand New Day , he mixed genres to great success, amassing a further 10 Grammy and two BRIT Awards. Sting has also earned both an Emmy and a Golden Globe and received four Oscar nominations, most recently for “The Empty Chair” from the documentary Jim: The James Foley Story . In 2004 he was rec- ognized as the MusiCares Person of the Year, and he has also received Billboard ’s Century Award, the Kennedy Center Honors, the Polar Music Prize, and several honorary doctorates, including from the Berklee College of Mu- sic (1994) and Brown University (2018). Sting turned his attention to classical and traditional music beginning in 2006, adapting the works of 16th-century composer John Dowland on Songs from the Labyrinth . Over 2009–11, Sting embarked on a worldwide tour dubbed Sympho- nicity , reimagining some of his most celebrated songs with an orchestra, which was the vehicle of his Ravinia debut in 2010. Sting also played Ravinia in 2013 on his “Back to Bass” tour, and the following year he premiered his Tony-nom- inated musical The Last Ship in Chicago. Fol- lowing his world tour with Shaggy supporting their duo album 44/876 , he starred in a Toronto revival of The Last Ship and then embarked on the present “My Songs” tour. AUGUST 19 – AUGUST 25, 2019 | RAVINIA MAGAZINE 103