Ravinia 2023 Issue 6

J. HENRY FAIR (WILSON); SHERVIN LAINEZ (KITTEL); BINDELGLASS PHOTOGRAPHY (BARBASH & KASA); ANNA WEBBER (ELLING & PÉREZ); ROY COX (GALVIN) Pianist Terrence Wilson Called “one of the biggest piano talents to have emerged in this country in the last years” by the Baltimore Sun , Terrence Wilson has appeared with such top orchestras as the San Francisco Symphony and Philadelphia Orchestra and in uential chamber ensembles like the Escher String Quartet and Imani Winds. Trained at e Juilliard School, Wilson joined the piano faculty of the Bard College Conservatory of Music in . In a special appearance co-pre- sented by the Gateways Music Festival, the pianist returns to Ravinia for the rst time in over years with the poetic sound-worlds of Debussy’s Préludes and the tireless, complex drama of Rachmanino ’s Études-tableaux , as well as Brahms’s evocative intermezzos and Proko ev’s explosive, stormy Seventh Sonata. Kittel & Co. A member of the Turtle Island Quartet for ve years, Jeremy Kittel is violinist, ddler, and composer uent across genres—with a master’s in jazz from the Manhattan School of Music, his music bears those hallmarks as well as folk, Celtic, electronic, and classical in uences, receiving a Grammy nom- ination in . With his quintet Kittel & Co.—mandolin phenom Josh Pinkham, transcendent guitarist Quinn Bachand, bassist Jacob Warren, and hammered dul- cimer wizard Simon Chrisman—“the string band tradition [rises] to marvelously rare ed levels of collective virtuosity” ( e Times UK) that has thrilled audiences from the Telluride Bluegrass Festival to A Prairie Home Companion . Eddie Barbash & KASA Quartet Saxophonist Eddie Barbash, a founding member of Jon Batiste’s Stay Human, regularly ventures from roots music to a wide range of other styles, including jazz with Wynton Marsalis, rock with Lenny Kravitz, and classical with Yo-Yo Ma. Bolstering the joyous improvisation and swing of his jazz rhythm quartet is the lush sound of the KASA Quartet, rst-prize winner of the Coltman Chamber Music Competition. Based out of the Caroga Lake Music Festival, the group regularly its between the string quartet canon and jazz, music-theater, folk, and pop standards; together with Barbash, the criterion for their repertoire is simple: timeless melody, from American roots to the rhythms of Mexico, France, and Brazil, exempli ed by music of Duke Ellington, Claude Debussy, Pedro Infante, Roy Orbison, and so much more. Kurt Elling / Danilo Pérez Duo As a veteran jazz vocalist with a long list of credits and honors and no shortage of Chicago connections, Kurt Elling needs little introduction. He got to know Danilo Pérez in the s through the renowned Panamanian pianist’s gigs at the Windy City’s Jazz Showcase, but they didn’t work together until . eir connection deepened instantly, and a year later, the duo released Secrets are the Best Stories , conceived as a follow-up to Elling’s Grammy-nomi- nated album e Questions . It includes lyrics penned by Elling to the music of such masters as Wayne Shorter (whom Pérez worked with for years), fusion bass genius Jaco Pastorius, and multi-instrumentalist Django Bates, as well as settings of poems by the likes of Robert Bly, Robert Pinsky, and Toni Morrison. “With every word cra ed and sung artfully and every note played with a degree of risk by real masters, Kurt Elling’s daring Secrets Are the Best Stories is superb and singular,” said Pop Matters . Elling makes no secret of the empathy that he feels for—and hopes to nd in—his fellows citizens of the world through his music with Pérez: “I start from the heart,” Elling says of the songwriting, “and my heart goes to compassion.” Galvin Cello Quartet If one cello can provide an amplitude of musical beauty, then four must be o the charts. e proof is in the pudding with the United Nations– style Galvin Quartet, which combines cellists from China, Brazil, South Korea, and the United States. e four members met at Northwestern University (taking their name from its jewelbox recital hall) and quickly captured attention with the silver medal at the Fischo Chamber Music Competition and the top prize of the Victor Elmaleh Competition. e group’s Ravinia-debut program comprises arrangements of such classics as Vivaldi’s “Summer” Concerto from e Four Seasons and tender music from Wagner’s Lohengrin as well as works by such contemporary composers as Astor Piazzolla and Gabriela Lena Frank. Saturday APR 6 Saturday APR 13 Saturday APR 20 Friday MAY 3 Friday MAY 10 RAVINIA MAGAZINE • AUGUST 28 – SEPTEMBER 10, 2023