Ravinia 2024 Issue 1

PAVILION 7:30 PM SUNDAY, JUNE 23, 2024 MICHAEL FEINSTEIN in Because of You My Tribute to Tony Bennett featuring The Carnegie Hall Big Band MARTIN THEATRE 7:30 PMWEDNESDAY, JUNE 26, 2024 10TH ANNIVERSARY BIRDMAN IN CONCERT SOUNDTRACK PERFORMED LIVE BY THE FILM’S COMPOSER ANTONIO SÁNCHEZ MICHAEL FEINSTEIN Born and raised in Co- lumbus, OH, Michael Feinstein started play- ing piano by ear at age 5. After graduating high school, he moved to Los Angeles, where in 1977 he was introduced to Ira Gershwin. Feinstein became his assistant for six years, which allowed him access to numerous unpublished Gershwin songs, many of which he has since performed and recorded. Gershwin’s influence provided a base for Feinstein to become a composer and arranger in addition to a perform- er, with a repertoire also encompassing Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, John- ny Mercer, Duke Ellington, and Harry Warren. Alongside five Grammy Award nominations and three honorary doctorates from his three decades of bringing the music of the Great American Songbook to the world, Fein- stein has earned multiple Emmy nominations for his PBS specials, and he has hosted an acclaimed NPR series, Song Travels . Beyond concerts at such venues as the White House, Buckingham Palace, the Hollywood Bowl, Car- negie Hall, and the Sydney Opera House, Feinstein works as an educator and archivist, creating the Great American Songbook Foundation in 2007. Based at the Palladium of the Center for the Performing Arts in Carmel, IN, which Feinstein is the artistic director for, the foundation is dedicated to celebrating and preserving the art form through educational programs such as the annual High School Songbook Academy. Feinstein also serves on the Library of Congress’s National Recording Preservation Board. His own discography has most recently featured Gershwin Country —which re- imagines the brothers’ classic songs through country music in collaboration with Dolly Parton, Alison Krauss, Brad Paisley, Rosanne Cash, and more— alongside a Christmas album with pianist Alan Broadbent, a two-volume celebration of Frank Sinatra, and Cheek to Cheek with Barbara Cook. He co-wrote the title track of his disc We Dreamed These Days with Maya An- gelou. Feinstein has been the principal pops conductor of the Pasadena Symphony since 2013, and he launched a pops series at the Kravis Center in Palm Beach, FL, in 2014, focusing on American Songbook rarities and clas- sics. Michael Feinstein first appeared at Ravinia in 1993 and tonight plays the festival for the 13th time. ANTONIO SÁNCHEZ Born in Mexico City, four-time Grammy Award winner Antonio Sánchez began to play the drums at age 5 and performed profes- sionally as a teen in Mexico’s Lat- in, jazz and rock scenes. He later pursued a degree in classical pia- no at the National Conservatory in Mexico and in 1993 enrolled in Berklee College of Music and New England Conservatory, where he graduated magna cum laude in Jazz Studies. Follow- ing nine albums and 18 years as one of the most cherished of Pat Metheny’s collaborators, Sánchez has also recorded and performed with Gary Burton, Michael Brecker, Charlie Haden, and Chick Corea. In 2014 Sánchez’s popularity soared when he scored Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Birdman , which ended up garnering four Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Sánchez’s new album, SHIFT (Bad Hombre Vol. II), on Warner Music features Sánchez playing virtually every instrument on the album— in addition to being its producer. SHIFT features Trent Reznor, Dave Mat- thews, Kimbra, Ana Tijoux, Meshell Ndegeocello, and more. Antonio Sán- chez has previously appeared at Ravinia in band led by Gary Burton (2006), Joshua Redman (2007), and Pet Metheny (2017). RAVINIAMAGAZINE • JUNE 7 – JUNE 30, 2024 78