Ravinia 2019, Issue 7, Week 14

Above: The Circle Rockets prepare to give the first performance on the Sistema Ravinia Auditorium stage at Catalyst Circle Rock School. Left: Sixteen-year-old Chicago native Ifetayo Ali-Landing serenades the inaugural audience of the Kehrein Center for the Arts with her solo cello, a performance that led to her Chicago Symphony Orchestra debut at Ravinia just two months later. Bottom: Ravinia President and CEO Welz Kauffman regales in the signature Bernstein interpretations of soprano Michelle Areyzaga from behind the piano. The 900-seat Sistema Ravinia Auditorium is home to Siste- ma Ravinia’s Circle Rockets student orchestra, who christened the rebuilt auditorium with a performance. The stage also host- ed soprano Michelle Areyzaga accompanied by Ravinia Presi- dent and CEOWelz Kauffman at the piano in a quartet of songs by “America’s music teacher,” Leonard Bernstein—“Take Care of This House” from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue , “A Simple Song” from Mass , “I Feel Pretty” from West Side Story , and “Glitter and Be Gay” from Candide —as well as award-winning cellist Ifetayo Ali-Landing. [Both Areyzaga and Ali-Landing recently ascended Ravinia’s home stages as well with Bernstein’s music: Areyzaga sang in the “Jazz Trio” for the festival’s first stagings of Trouble in Tahiti on August 22, and Ali-Landing made her Chicago Symphony Orchestra debut with the Third Meditation from Mass on July 27.] The Circle Rockets was the first student orchestra launched by Ravinia Festival. The auditorium will also be available to community and professional artists. “We’re very proud not just to have the Ravinia name on this important addition to Austin life, but also to acknowledge the Sistema method of music education, which uses music as a way of transforming society and channeling the positive energy of our children,” Kauffman said. “We’re not looking to form the next Yo-Yo Ma or Common; we’re trusting music to assume its natural role of connecting people and enriching our lives.” PATRICK GIPSON/RAVINIA (ALL PHOTOS) AUGUST 26, 2019 – MAY 9, 2020 | RAVINIA MAGAZINE 35