Ravinia 2023 Issue 4

BLEND HOUSE Kahanes père & fils brew multiple-origin music By Kyle MacMillan “LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON.” That old, familiar saying seems espe- cially apt when it comes to Jeffrey Kahane and his son, Gabriel. Although they lived on opposite coasts for two decades and have different kinds of careers—Jeffrey, 66, following the path of a more traditional classical pianist and Gabriel, 42, finding his way as an entrepreneurial, cross-genre singer-songwriter—both have devoted their lives to music. And both have achieved consider- able success in their ways. For now, Jeffrey is probably the more recognizable name of the two, having regular engagements with many of the world’s top orchestras and concert series. Gabriel, meanwhile, has worked with indie-rock newcomer Phoebe Bridgers and folk-rock great Paul Simon, written music for the 2018 Broadway production of Kenneth Lonergan’s play The Waverly Gallery, and made his well-received San Francisco Symphony debut in February when the orchestra performed his oratorio on homelessness, emergency shelter intake form . For the most part, the two have deliberately kept their professional lives separate, performing their first formal concert together in 2011 at the Univer- sity of Denver and pairing up only a handful of times afterward. But they took their professional collaboration to an unprecedented level in Septem- ber 2021, when Jeffrey and the Kansas City Symphony premiered Heirloom , a 30-minute concerto for piano and chamber orchestra that Gabriel wrote with his dad in mind. “ Heirloom is dedicated with love, admiration, grati- tude and awe to my father, Jeffrey Kahane,” he wrote at the end of his accompanying notes. In one of the work’s first performances by an ensemble that was not one of its original six co-commissioners, Jeffrey will join guest conductor Teddy Abrams and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in an August 10 performance of Heirloom . Abrams is an admirer of Gabriel’s music, and when he was engaged by Ravinia, he suggested the concerto for the program, and festival leaders readily agreed. After the piece debuted in Kansas City, Gabriel revised it twice, and that third version will be heard here. RAVINIA MAGAZINE • JULY 31 – AUGUST 14, 2023 14