Ravinia 2022, Issue 3

TONY DURAN PAVILION 56th Ravinia Women’s Board Gala 6:00 PM SUNDAY, JULY 24, 2022 CHICAGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA MARIN ALSOP, conductor LESLIE ODOM JR., vocalist There will be no intermission in this program. Ravinia expresses its appreciation for the generous support of Featured Sponsor The Dancing Skies Foundation . The Gala Benefit Evening, Ravinia’s only concert fundraiser, supports the festival’s Reach Teach Play music education and engagement programs. A MESSAGE FROM BMO At BMO, our purpose is to Boldly Grow the Good in business and life by driving positive change for our customers, employees, and communities. We are proud to be a supporter of Ravinia for over 40 years because we believe in its mission to educate and enhance lives through the arts and ensuring that great music is accessible to all. BMO has a deep sense of purpose—to be a champion for progress and a catalyst for change. We are leveraging our position as a leading financial services provider to create opportunities for our communities and our stakeholders to make positive, sustainable change, in the belief that success can and must be mutual. In 2020, we announced BMO EMpower, our purpose-driven, $5 billion commitment over five years to address key barriers faced by minority businesses, communities, and families in the United States. Through lending, investing, giving, and engagement in local communities, we are working to create more opportunity for economic recovery and success. Projects under the EMpower umbrella reflect the diversity of the communities we support and serve. BMO considers it a privilege to play a part in supporting Ravinia’s season. We look forward to gathering on the BMO Rooftop to enjoy the “sounds of summer” and the joy that the festival brings to our community. On behalf of our thousands of employees, BMO joins Ravinia in welcoming you to the 2022 festival season. LESLIE ODOM JR., vocalist A native of New York, Leslie Odom Jr. grew up in Philadelphia, at the age of 17 making his Broadway debut as Paul in Rent . After grad- uating Carnegie Mellon’s School of Drama with honors, he returned to the stage in such productions as Leap of Faith on Broadway, for which he won an Astaire Award, and 2014’s City Center Encores! revival of Tick, Tick ... Boom! , which introduced him to Lin-Manu- el Miranda. A multifaceted performer, today Odom is best known for his breakout origi- nal role in Miranda’s Broadway blockbuster Hamilton as Aaron Burr, for which he won the Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical and shared in the Grammy Award won by the cast in 2015 for Best Musical The- ater Album. In December 2017 he returned to the New York City stage with a cabaret-style Jazz at Lincoln Center concert, subsequently broadcast as a Live from Lincoln Center special. On screen, Odom most recently starred in the Sopranos prequel The Many Saints of Newark and in the film adaptation of One Night in Mi- ami , earning Oscar, BAFTA, Golden Globe, and Screen Actors Guild award nominations for his performance that included the songs of Sam Cooke. He won a Critic’s Choice Award for his original song “Speak Now” in the film. Odom has also received an Emmy nomination for voicing Owen Tillerman in the animated series Central Park , and his film and television credits also include Harriet , Murder on the Orient Express , Only , Red Tails and Smash . His upcoming projects include Knives Out 2 and David Gordon Green’s new Exorcist trilogy. Odom added author to his résumé in 2018 with Failing Up: How to Take Risks, AimHigher and Never Stop Learning , written in the style of a commencement speech. As a recording artist, Odom created his debut album in 2014, partially funded by a Kickstarter campaign, and released an expanded version in 2016, top- ping Billboard ’s jazz chart. He returned to the number-one slot in 2017 with Simply Christ- mas , and in 2019 he released his first album of original songs, Mr . Leslie Odom Jr. made his Ravinia debut in 2017 and tonight makes his Chicago Symphony Orchestra debut. MARIN ALSOP, conductor For Marin Alsop’s biography, see page 55. RAVINIA.ORG • RAVINIA MAGAZINE 35