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RAVINIA’S STEANS MUSIC INSTITUTE
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Clockwise from above: The sculpure hanging in the
lobby of the John D. Harza Building, the home of
RSMI and Bennett Gordon Hall, was designed by
metal sculptor and Ravinia Life Trustee Richard Hunt
to represent the Edward Gordon Award, which was
inaugurated in 2013 and first honored Miriam Fried
for her leadership of RSMI; Fried enjoys a lighthearted
moment while coaching a trio score at RSMI during
the summer of 1998; Fried pauses to offer some insight
during a practice session with violinist Tim Fain in his
second summer at RSMI, in 1997.
“This is part of my life,” the Boston-
based violinist says. “I’m eager to come
here every summer. I love the place, I
really do.”
The Steans Institute (RSMI for short)
is one of most sought-after summer
training centers in the country, and it
can count a wide array of noted artists
as alumni. [No fewer than 3 return to
headline Ravinia’s stages this summer,
including violinist Joseph Lin (with
the Juilliard String Quartet), pianists
Yuja Wang and Inon Barnatan, soprano
Nadine Sierra, mezzo-soprano Michelle
DeYoung, and tenor Paul Appleby, not
to mention five that return annually
as members of the Chicago Symphony
Orchestra, as well as two composers and
eight performers featured on the
Bridges
concert.] It encompasses three different
programs—for jazz, piano and strings,
and voice—at successive times in the
summer. This year, that second compo-
nent begins June 1 and runs through
July 22, presenting more than a dozen
concerts on its home stage of Bennett
Gordon Hall. Ravinia’s June 28 concert
in the Martin Theatre will feature Fried
and her fellow RSMI faculty-artists
celebrating the 3th anniversary of the
institute (and, by extension, its founding
piano and strings program), and Fried
will celebrate her own milestone year as
soloist in Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto
with the CSO on July 22.
Setting RSMI’s piano and strings
program apart is its small size—3 or
so college-level musicians, ranging in
age from 1 to 3, with a small ensemble
sometimes taking one of the slots—
and its singular focus on sonata and
chamber repertoire. “I think the idea,”
Fried says, “is to identify people who
are all talented and accomplished and
passionate and willing and interested in
working toward a common goal. There
are a lot of other people who are not in-
terested in chamber music who wouldn’t
do very well here.”
In addition, she says, RSMI tries
to cut out the “competitive, negative
aspect” of some elite music schools by
eliminating hierarchies and treating ev-
ery student the same. Such an egalitar-
ian approach and the curtailment of as
many other distractions as possible help
give participants the peace of mind they
need to just focus on the music. In ad-
dition, there are few imposed deadlines;
the musicians can take the time they
need to properly prepare a piece.
“It’s a very, very meaningful thing
that she’s built,” says Jonathan Biss, the
accomplished pianist who happens
to be one of her two sons. “I know so
many people—people who I went to
school with, from my generation, and
people who are my students and my
students’ colleagues—who say that their
summers there completely changed the
way they thought about music. Having
that effect on people for 25 years is truly
wonderful.”
Winner of the Paganini Competition
in 198 and the Queen Elisabeth Music
Competition in 191, Fried has enjoyed
a top-drawer solo career, performing
with many of the world’s major orches-
tras. The Israeli violinist is particularly
known for her interpretations of Bach’s
sonatas and partitas for solo violin, per-
forming them twice at Ravinia (in 2
and 21) and recording them for the
Lyrinx label in 199 and again for Nim-
bus in 21, following a year’s intense
study. She even created an online video
course about the works, much like her
son has for Beethoven’s piano sonatas.