Ravinia 2024 Issue 2

MARTIN THEATRE 7:30 PMWEDNESDAY, JULY 17, 2024 TAKÁCS QUARTET EDWARD DUSINBERRE, violin HARUMI RHODES, violin RICHARD O’NEILL, viola ANDRÁS FEJER, cello DVOŘÁK String Quartet No. 10 in E-flat major, op. 51 Allegro ma non troppo Dumka: Andante con moto Romanze: Andante con moto Finale: Allegro assai NGWENYAMA Flow ** Prelude Lento Quark Scherzo Finale –Intermission– RAVEL String Quartet in F major Allegro moderato: Très doux Assez vif: Très rythmé Tres lent Vif et agité ** First performance in Chicago Tonight’s concert is performed in memory of Thomas F. Pick . MAVIS STAPLES A Chicago native, Mavis Staples began her mu- sic career in the 1950s, singing with her family, the Staple Singers. The group became closely tied to the civil rights movement in the ’60s, serving as one of its most important spiritual and musical voices. Soaring in popularity with its mix of gospel, “message,” and contemporary pop songs, the Staple Singers were signed to Stax Records in the late ’60s, and Mavis began to work on solo material with the label around the same time. In 1977 she collaborated with Curtis Mayfield on the soundtrack for A Piece of the Action , releasing an album of songs from the movie under the same title. Staples began col- laborating with Prince in the late ’80s, resulting in two albums on his Paisley Park label, Time Waits for No One (1989) and The Voice (1993), the latter including the song “Melody Cool,” which they had recorded for the 1990 film Graf- fiti Bridge . Together with keyboardist Lucky Pe- terson she released Spirituals & Gospel in 1996, a tribute to the famed gospel singer and activist Mahalia Jackson. Staples released another al- bum of spirituals, Have a Little Faith , in 2004, that year also contributing to John Scofield’s Ray Charles tribute album That’s What I Say . In 2007 she teamed up with Ry Cooder on We’ll Never Turn Back for her Anti- label debut. The label also released her Jeff Tweedy–produced albums You Are Not Alone (2010; Staples’s first Grammy winner) and One True Vine (2013), and the M. Ward–helmed Livin’ on a High Note (2016)—all major R&B chart hits—2017’s If All I Was Was Black , also produced by Tweedy, and her latest record, 2019’s We Get By , written and produced by Ben Harper. In 2022 she shared in Album of the Year Grammy honors as a contributor to Jon Batiste’s We Are . Mavis Staples first appeared at Ravinia in 1992 with the Staple Singers and to- night returns for her eighth season. RAVINIA.ORG  • RAVINIAMAGAZINE 81 MIRIAMSANTOS