Ravinia 2024 Issue 2

conducting at Helsinki’s famous Sibelius Acade- my before establishing himself as a sought-after composer of choral music—a position he enjoys right up to the present day. EINOJUHANI RAUTAVAARA (1928–2016) , like Mäntyjärvi, also studied at the Sibelius Acad- emy in Helsinki. He studied there between 1948 and 1952, at a time when Jean Sibelius himself was still present and active. Sibelius, spotting Rau- tavaara’s talent in a composing competition, rec- ommended him for a scholarship at New York’s Juilliard School. On his return from a transfor- mative few years in the USA, Rautavaara went on to teach at the Sibelius Academy, holding a se- quence of prestigious posts, including Professor of Composition. He wrote Legenda for male cho- rus in 1985, at the same time as his acclaimed op- era Thomas , in which he began expanding his musical language to encompass more avant-gar- de techniques. A generation earlier, JEAN SIBEL- IUS (1865–1957) witnessed his early tone poem Finlandia (1899) quickly become one of his most widely played works, and his own reworking of a passage from the tone poem resulted in Finlandia Hymn , a celebrated choral version which has been repeatedly proposed as a Finnish national anthem ever since. It is sung as a Christian hymn around the world, and in our version for this pro- gramwe have set it to a widely used text, original- ly written in German by Katharina Von Schlegel and later translated into its English, “Be still my soul, the Lord is on thy side.” As is customary in almost all of our perfor- mances, we leave the final selection of songs to be chosen on the night, with the atmosphere, acoustics, and audience inspiring a different choice of close-harmony arrangements for each performance. The choices will come from the li- brary of over 3,000 arrangements of folk songs, jazz songs, pop songs, and comedic songs that we have collected during The King’s Singers’ 55-year history. While we cannot guarantee what will be included, we can confidently say there will be something for everybody, no matter your tastes! –Program notes © 2024 The King’s Singers Jean Sibelius THE KING’S SINGERS The King’s Singers have set the gold standard in a cappella singing on the world’s greatest stages for over 50 years. They are renowned for their unrivalled technique, musicianship and ver- satility, which stem from both the group’s rich heritage and its drive to bring an extraordinary range of new and unique works, collaborations, and recordings to life. The ensemble’s exten- sive discography has led to numerous awards, including two Grammy Awards, an Emmy Award, and a place in Gramophone magazine’s inaugural Hall of Fame. In 2023, the group re- leased three collaborative albums showcasing the breadth of their repertoire: one marking 400 years since the deaths of Renaissance compos- ers Thomas Weelkes and William Byrd; another celebrating their body of commissioned music, including the Nonsense Madrigals by Györ- gy Ligeti (who would have been 100); and the third honoring 100 years of Disney with almost 30 new arrangements of its iconic films’ songs. Growing the global canon of choral music, The King’s Singers have commissioned more than 200 works by such prominent composers as John Tavener, Joe Hisaishi, Judith Bingham, Eric Whitacre, Luciano Berio, Krzysztof Penderec- ki, and Toru Takemitsu, joining their unique body of arrangements, including from individ- ual King’s Singers past and present. The King’s Singers officially formed in 1968 when six choral scholars from King’s College, Cambridge, gave a concert at London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall. The group comprised two countertenors, a tenor, two baritones, and a bass—a singular formation that remains to this day. Alongside a demanding recording and performing schedule—over 100 concerts worldwide every season—the group also leads educational workshops and residen- tial courses around the globe, working with both ensembles and individuals on group singing. To mark their 50th anniversary in 2018, they founded The King’s Singers Global Foundation in the USA to support the creation of new music across multiple disciplines, to coach a new gen- eration of performers, and to provide musical opportunities to people of all backgrounds. The King’s Singers first performed at Ravinia in 1995 and are making their first return since 2000 for their fourth appearance. PAVILION 8:00 PM FRIDAY, JULY 5, 2024 THE MUSIC OF ABBA featuring ARRIVAL FROM SWEDEN THE MUSIC OF ABBA Arrival From Sweden is the acclaimed cover band that has earned world renown for not only sounding like but also looking like the original foursome. “The Music of ABBA” was founded in 1995 by Vicky Zetterberg and has since be- come the world’s most popular ABBA tribute show, having toured in almost 25 countries and appeared on several TV and radio shows. The group has mounted more than 20 tours of the United States since the full-scale “Golden Tour” in 2007 that also trekked across Europe, regu- larly selling out venues of all sizes, and it has been a regular feature of winter-season concerts in Sweden, performing with the nation’s biggest comedians and musical stars. Arrival From Swe- den has the distinction of being the only band in the world permitted to use identical copies of ABBA’s original stage costumes as well as a previously unreleased song from ABBA’s library, “Just a Notion,” alongside the iconic hits “Mam- ma Mia,” “S.O.S.,” “Money, Money, Money,” “The Winner Takes All,” “Waterloo,” “Gimme, Gimme, Gimme,” and “Dancing Queen.” Many members of the original quartet’s backing band have joined the group on tour, including Lasse Wellander, Janne Schaffer, Finn Sjöberg, Ola Brunkert, Roger Palm, Åke Sundqvist, Mike Watson, Rutger Gunnarsson, Janne Kling, Johan Stengard and Ulf Andersson. In fact, Arrival From Sweden replicates the original quartet’s sound so well that in a test on Swedish nation- al radio, ABBA fans believed that the group’s rendition of “Dancing Queen” was the original recording. The Music of ABBA was first present- ed at Ravinia in 2004 and tonight returns for its 11th season at the festival. RAVINIA.ORG  • RAVINIAMAGAZINE 59