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MICHAEL FEINSTEIN
Born and raised in Columbus, OH, Michael
Feinstein started playing piano by ear at age .
A er graduating high school, he moved to Los
Angeles, where in
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unpublished Gershwin songs, many of which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. Gersh-
win’s in uence provided a base for Feinstein to
become a composer and arranger in addition to
a performer, with a repertoire also encompass-
ing Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, Johnny Mercer,
Duke Ellington, and Harry Warren. Alongside
ve Grammy Award nominations and three
honorary doctorates from his three decades of
bringing the music of the Great American Song-
book to the world, Feinstein has earned multiple
Emmy nominations for his PBS specials, and he
has hosted an acclaimed NPR series,
Song Trav-
els
. Beyond concerts at such venues as the White
House, Buckingham Palace, the Hollywood
Bowl, Carnegie Hall, and the Sydney Opera
House, Feinstein works as an educator and ar-
chivist, creating the Great American Songbook
Foundation in
. 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 education-
al 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 a Christmas album with
Grammy-winning pianist Alan Broadbent, add-
ing such discs as a two-volume celebration of
Frank Sinatra;
e Power of Two
, a collaboration
with
Glee
and
Rock
star Cheyenne Jackson;
and
Cheek to Cheek
, recorded with Barbara
Cook. He co-wrote the title track of his disc
We Dreamed
ese Days
with Maya Angelou.
Feinstein has been the principal pops conduc-
tor of the Pasadena Symphony since
, and
he launched a pops series at the Kravis Center
in Palm Beach, FL, in
, focusing on Amer-
ican Songbook rarities and classics. Michael
Feinstein rst appeared at Ravinia in
and
tonight plays the festival for the ninth time.
KRISTIN CHENOWETH
An Emmy and Tony Award–winning actress
and singer, Kristin Chenoweth has recently
been recognized with a star on the Hollywood
Walk of Fame for her career spanning lm,
television, voiceover, and the stage. She won a
Tony Award in
for her role in
You’re a Good
Man, Charlie Brown
, as well as a nomination for
her creation of Glinda the Good Witch in the
Broadway sensation
Wicked
in
, and she
was awarded an Emmy in
for her role in
Pushing Daisies
. She has also been nominated
for two Emmy Awards and a People’s Choice
Award for her appearances on
Glee
. Chenoweth
wrote a candid, comedic chronicle of her life
so far,
A Little Bit Wicked
, in
, and saw it
debut atop the
New York Times
bestseller list.
She is set to star as Madeline in the upcoming
musical comedy
Death Becomes Her
, an ad-
aptation of the
Robert Zemeckis lm. In
, Chenoweth earned both a Drama Desk
and an Outer Critics Circle Award for her lead
role in the Roundabout eatre Company’s
On
the Twentieth Century
, also receiving Tony and
Drama League Award nominations. In concert,
she has performed to sellout audiences around
the world, including at Carnegie Hall and Royal
Albert Hall, and in
she released a recording
of a live performance, entitled
Coming Home
.
Her most recent disc,
e Art of Elegance
(
),
was her rst album of American Songbook clas-
sics, and it debuted at number one on
Billboard
’s
jazz charts. at same year, she returned to the
stage for a limited engagement in
My Love Letter
to Broadway
. Chenoweth is a graduate of Okla-
homa City University with a master’s degree in
opera performance, and she recently formed
a charity partnership with the Broken Arrow
Performing Arts Center in her home state of
Oklahoma. She launched an annual “Broadway
boot camp” at BAPAC in
, providing theater
hopefuls opportunities to perform and learn
from top mentors, including Chenoweth herself.
Kristin Chenoweth is making her Ravinia debut.
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RAVINIA.ORGAUGUST 13 – AUGUST 19, 2018 | RAVINIA MAGAZINE
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