108 / 116
5:00 PM SUNDAY, AUGUST 19, 2018
PAVILION
CELEBRATING LEONARD BERNSTEIN AT 100
CHICAGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
MARIN ALSOP,
conductor
J’NAI BRIDGES,
mezzo-soprano
BERNSTEIN
Symphony No. (“Jeremiah”)
Prophecy
Profanation
Lamentation
J’Nai Bridges
–
–
MAHLER
Symphony No.
Langsam. Schleppend.—Immer sehr gemächlich
Krä ig bewegt
Feierlich und gemessen, ohne zu schleppen
Stürmisch bewegt
Ravinia expresses its appreciation for the generous support of
Featured Sponsor
e Negaunee Foundation
.
IGOR LEVIT,
piano
From the age of , Igor Levit studied music in
Germany, where his family settled a er emigrat-
ing from his native Russia. He held scholarships
from the German National Academic Founda-
tion and the German Music Foundation, and
in
he completed studies at Hanover’s Uni-
versity of Music, Drama, and Media, where he
earned the highest academic and performance
marks in the institution’s history. Among his
mentors were Karl-Heinz Kämmerling, Matti
Raekallio, Bernd Goetze, Lajos Rovatkay, and
Hans Leygraf. In
Levit won second prize in
the Arthur Rubinstein Competition in Tel Aviv
as the youngest artist in the eld, and he also
captured prizes as the best performer of cham-
ber music, the best performer of contemporary
music, and the audience favorite. He previously
had won the top prize from the International
Hamamatsu Piano Academy Competition in
Japan. Levit has since been honored as
BBC Mu-
sic Magazine
’s “Newcomer of the Year” in
for his debut album on Sony Classical of Bee-
thoven’s last ve sonatas, which was named Solo
Recording of the Year by ECHO Klassik and also
earned him the Royal Philharmonic Society’s
Young Artist Award. His recording of Bach’s
complete keyboard partitas was released in Au-
gust of that year, and a three-disc collection fea-
turing Bach’s “Goldberg Variations,” Beethoven’s
“Diabelli Variations,” and Frederic Rzewski’s
e
People United Will Never Be Defeated!
followed
in
. Over the past year, Levit has made de-
buts with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra,
Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, and
Vienna and Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestras,
as well as return engagements with the Deutsche
Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and Zurich’s
Tonhalle Orchestra. He also appeared on the
opening night of the
BBC Proms, made his
debut at the Salzburg Festival, and held a resi-
dency at the Rheingau Music Festival before em-
barking on an Asian tour with the Bavarian State
Orchestra. At the beginning of
, Levit was
named a Gilmore Artist, and the Royal Philhar-
monic Society named him its Instrumentalist of
the Year a few months later. Tonight Igor Levit is
making his Chicago Symphony Orchestra debut
and his rst return to Ravinia following his
festival debut.
RAVINIA MAGAZINE | AUGUST 13 – AUGUST 19, 2018
106