113 / 124
KEVIN COLE,
piano and vocalist
Pianist Kevin Cole has consistently drawn criti-
cal acclaim for his interpretations of thcentu-
ry American music, particularly in performanc-
es of Gershwin’s catalogue. His discography
includes the
Gramophone
Award–winning
recording of Gershwin’s
Oh Kay!
with soprano
Dawn Upshaw and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s,
as well as the acclaimed solo-piano disc
Cole
Plays Gershwin
and the vocal jazz trio album
In the Words of Ira— e Songs of Ira Gershwin
.
He was also the featured soloist for the PBS spe-
cial
Gershwin at One Symphony Place
with the
Nashville Symphony Orchestra. Cole has given
master classes in musical theater vocal perfor-
mance at the Interlochen Center for the Arts
and the North Carolina School for the Arts, and
he has been music director of Michigan Ensem-
ble eatre, Pasadena Playhouse, San Francisco
Shakespeare Festival, and Royal George eatre
(Chicago). He has also worked as a vocal arrang-
er and accompanist for such stage performers as
Liza Minelli, Sylvia McNair, Brian D’Arcy James,
Barbara Cook, William War eld, John Lith-
gow, Aretha Franklin, Barbra Streisand, Idina
Menzel, and many others. Cole’s work in these
capacities—and as a composer, vocalist, and ar-
chivist—has been praised by such music theater
icons as Irving Berlin, Harold Arlen, E.Y. Har-
burg, Hugh Martin, Burton Lane, Marvin Ham-
lisch, Stephen Sondheim, and the families of
Jerome Kern and Gershwin. He recently made
his Carnegie Hall debut with the Albany Sym-
phony, adding to a list of concert engagements
that has included the Los Angeles Philharmonic
at the Hollywood Bowl; the BBC Concert Or-
chestra at Royal Albert Hall; the National Sym-
phony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center; the San
Francisco and Seattle Symphonies; Philadelphia,
Philharmonia, and Minnesota Orchestras; Chi-
cago, Pittsburgh, and New Zealand Symphony
Orchestras; and such festivals as Ravinia, Wolf
Trap, Savannah, and Chautauqua. Kevin Cole
rst performed at Ravinia in
and returns
tonight for his th season.
ROD GILFRY,
vocalist
Rod Gilfry was born and raised in Southern Cal-
ifornia, earning a bachelor’s degree from Cali-
fornia State University–Fullerton and a master’s
from the University of Southern California.
From
to
, he was a member of the
Frankfurt Opera ensemble, and then he joined
the Zurich Opera ensemble until
. Gilfry
made his Metropolitan Opera debut in
as Demetrius in Britten’s
A Midsummer Night’s
Dream
, and he earned international attention in
when he created the role of Stanley Kowal-
ski in André Previn’s
A Streetcar Named Desire
at
San Francisco Opera. He has since appeared in
a dozen premiere performances, most recently
including Jake Heggie’s
It’s a Wonderful Life
at
Houston Grand Opera, David Lang’s
the loser
at Brooklyn Academy of Music, Brett Dean’s
Hamlet
at the Glyndebourne Festival, Matthew
Aucoin’s
Crossing
at American Repertory
e-
ater, and Christian Jost’s
Die Rote Laterne
at
Zurich Opera. e two-time Grammy nominee
has also recently been featured in the American
premiere of
omas Adès’s
e Exterminating
Angel
and Lehár’s
e Merry Widow
at the Met,
as well as in performances of Beethoven’s
Missa
solemnis
with the Los Angeles Master Chorale
and Ninth Symphony with the Alabama Sym-
phony Orchestra, Adès’s
e Tempest
with the
San Francisco Symphony and at the Quebec
City Festival, Mark-Anthony Turnage’s
Anna
Nicole
with New York City Opera and the Royal
Opera at Covent Garden, and Mozart’s
Così fan
tutte
with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and
Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and at the Ed-
inburgh Mostly Mozart, and Aix-en-Provence
Festivals, also performing the composer’s
Don
Giovanni
at the latter. Gilfry is set to reprise his
roles in
Crossing
and
the loser
with Los Angeles
Opera and
It’s a Wonderful Life
with San Fran-
cisco Opera, and upcoming performances also
include Strauss’s
Ariadne auf Naxos
with Santa
Fe Opera and Heggie’s
Dead Man Walking
at the
Met. Rod Gilfry rst sang at Ravinia in
and
tonight is making his h season appearance.
SYLVIA MCNAIR,
vocalist
A two-time Grammy Award winner and re-
gional Emmy winner, Sylvia McNair has been
a leading voice in musical realms from opera
and oratorio to cabaret and musical theater over
a more than three-decade career. McNair com-
pleted a master’s degree at Indiana University
and later won the national Metropolitan Opera
Auditions in
, following her participation in
San Francisco Opera’s apprentice program. Her
soprano voice has soared in portrayals of Mo-
zart’s Ilia in
Idomeneo
and Pamina in
Die Zau-
ber öte
, as well as the title role of Monteverdi’s
L’incoronazione di Poppea
, though her break-
through performance was as Anne Trulove in
Stravinsky’s
e Rake’s Progress
at Glyndebourne
in
.
e following year she won the newly
reinaugurated Marian Anderson Award. Mc-
Nair is also devoted to concert performances
and recordings, having appeared with count-
less American and European orchestras and on
over albums, ranging from Mozart arias with
Neville Marriner and the Academy of St. Martin
in the Fields to American Songbook standards
by Jerome Kern and Harold Arlen with André
Previn to Latin American jazz standards. Her
most recent recording is of her one-woman, au-
tobiographical show,
Subject to Change!
In addi-
tion, McNair has performed for the US Supreme
Court at the invitation of Justice Sandra Day
O’Connor, sung Bach’s B-minor mass with the
Vienna Philharmonic at the Vatican, and toured
the US for three seasons with pianist Kevin Cole
for performances of “Here to Stay,” a multime-
dia Gershwin program. She received Governor’s
Awards in recognition of her contributions to
the arts from her native Ohio (
) and Indiana
( ), plus honorary doctorates fromWestmin-
ster Choir College (
) and Indiana University
(
), where she joined the faculty of the Jacobs
School of Music in
. Sylvia McNair made
her Ravinia debut in
, and she has twice led
master classes for Ravinia’s Steans Music Insti-
tute Program for Singers, in
and
, the
latter as part of the festival’s celebrations of Rob-
ert Shaw’s centennial. Tonight marks her th
season performing at Ravinia.
JUNE 2 – JULY 8, 2018 | RAVINIA MAGAZINE
111