CHICAGO – July 3, 2024 – Throughout July and August 2024, WFMT brings listeners a selection of the best classical music performances from two popular outdoor summer festivals, Grant Park Music Festival, hosted by WFMT’s Dave Schwan live from Pritzker Pavilion in Chicago’s Millennium Park; and Ravinia Festival in Highland Park, hosted by WFMT’s Kerry Frumkin.
Listen throughout the summer on 98.7WFMT, wfmt.com, and the WFMT app.
Grant Park Music Festival
Independence Day Salute 2024
Thursday, July 4, 6:30 pm
WFMT presents the Festival’s annual rousing salute to America. With Christopher Bell decked in red, white, and blue, the Grant Park Orchestra presents Bernstein, John Williams, John Philip Sousa, and the ever-popular Armed Forces Salute. The concert features soprano Katelyn Lee and trumpeter David Gordon, plus an audience sing-along.
Shostakovich Symphony No. 5/Joan Tower’s 1920/2019
Wednesday, July 10, 6:30 pm
Guest conductor Giancarlo Guerrero conducts Shostakovich’s glorious – and subversive – Fifth Symphony, written under threat by Joseph Stalin. The Grant Park Orchestra plays this orchestral powerhouse alongside American composer Joan Tower’s tribute to the struggle for women’s rights, 1920/2019.
Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini
Wednesday, July 17, 6:30 pm
Guest conductor Eric Jacobsen leads the Grant Park Orchestra in Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, featuring pianist Clayton Stephenson. The concert opens with Ravel’s tribute to the French Baroque, Le tombeau de Couperin, and closes with Paul Hindemith’s Symphonic Metamorphosis on Themes of Carl Maria von Weber.
Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony
Wednesday, July 24, 6:30 pm
Guest conductor Eric Jacobsen returns to lead the Grant Park Orchestra in Beethoven’s iconic Fifth Symphony. The audience favorite Beethoven program includes a world premiere by Haitian American composer Nathalie Joachim.
Sibelius’ Swan of Tuonela/Bruckner’s Symphony No. 4
Friday, August 2, 6:30 pm
Carlos Kalmar celebrates the 200th anniversary of the birth of fellow Austrian Anton Bruckner with the lush Symphony No. 4. The Grant Park Orchestra opens the program with Sibelius’ hauntingly beautiful Swan of Tuonela and includes the suite from Janáček’s piquant opera The Cunning Little Vixen.
Copland’s Appalachian Spring/Mozart’s Jupiter Symphony
Wednesday, August 7, 6:30 pm
Carlos Kalmar leads the Grant Park Orchestra in the suite from Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring alongside Mozart’s soaring Jupiter Symphony, a piece imbued with such grandeur, someone named it after the king of the gods.
Mahler’s Symphony No. 8
Friday, August 16, 6:30 pm
The closing concert of the season – and Carlos Kalmar’s final concert as music director and principal conductor – features sopranos Jane Archibald and Maeve Högland, tenor John Matthew Myers, mezzo- soprano Susan Platts, baritone Rod Gilfry, bass-baritone Kevin Short, the Grant Park Chorus, and the Gumpoldskirchner Spatzen children’s choir.
Ravinia Festival
Lincoln Trio 20th Anniversary Concert
Monday, July 8, 8:00 pm
The renowned string group celebrates their 20th anniversary with a concert of works ranging from Astor Piazolla to Stacy Garrop. This concert was recorded in November 2023 at Bennett Gordon Hall.
CSO Live – 2024 Premiere at Ravinia
Friday, July 12, 7:30 pm
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra opens its 88th summer season at Ravinia Festival with Chief Conductor Marin Alsop leading an evening of American music. Two featured soloists, soprano Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha and pianist Michelle Cann, are highlighted in Copland’s Appalachian Spring and Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915. Also, the orchestra celebrates the centenary of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue.
Terrence Wilson Recital
Monday, July 15, 8:00 pm
Terrence Wilson has established a reputation as one of today’s most gifted instrumentalists. The acclaimed pianist tackles works by Rachmaninoff and Prokofiev. This performance was recorded at Ravinia on April 6.
Steans Piano Trio
Monday, July 22, 8:00 pm
Founded when three alumni of Curtis Music Institute were fellows of Ravinia Steans Music Institute’s Program for Strings, the Steans Piano Trio performs works by Haydn, Shostakovich, and Ravel. This performance was recorded in November 2023.
Pianist Jonathan Biss
Monday, July 29, 8:00 pm
Pianist Jonathan Biss returns to Ravinia with works classic and new. He opens the program with two Franz Schubert’s Impromptus, following with a new work by former MacArthur Fellow and United States Artists Fellow Tyshawn Sorey. Schubert’s Piano Sonata in B-Flat Major bookends the performance recorded on June 20 in the Martin Theatre.
The Knights + Aaron Diehl Trio
Monday, August 5, 8:00 pm
The Knights, an orchestral collective, joins pianist Aaron Diehl onstage at the Martin Theatre. The group performs excerpts from jazz titan Mary Lou Williams’s Zodiac Suite, the Ravinia premiere of Louise Farrenc’s Finale-Allegro from Symphony No. 3 in G Minor, and concludes the program with Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6, “Pastoral.” This performance was recorded on June 29.
A Far Cry + Kinan Azmeh and Dinuk Wijeratne
Monday, August 12, 8:00 pm
World-class clarinetist Kinan Azmeh and genre-defying pianist Dinuk Wijeratne join chamber orchestra A Far Cry at the Martin Theatre for an evening of Ravinia premieres. The program opens with Syrian American composer Kareem Roustom’s Dabke for string orchestra and continue with Azmeh’s Ibn Arabi Postlude and Wijeratne’s Clarinet Concerto. The concert, recorded on July 2, wraps with Leoš Janáček’s Idyll for string orchestra.
Soprano Karen Slack + Kevin Miller – African Queens
Monday, August 19, 8:00 pm
Soprano Karen Slack, a Steans Music Institute alum, joins pianist Kevin Miller for African Queens, a new project commissioned by Ravinia Festival that celebrates the history and legacy of seven fierce African queens who were revered as rulers and warriors. The program will be framed by traditional repertoire in conversation with the seven new works for voice and piano. To be recorded in the Martin Theatre on August 1.
Takács Quartet
Monday, August 26, 8:00 pm
Antonín Dvořák’s String Quartet No. 10 in E-flat major – often called the “Slavonic Quartet” – and Maurice Ravel’s String Quartet in F major are in the spotlight alongside the Ravinia premiere of Nokuthula Ngwenyama’s Flow as the Takács Quartet returns to the Festival. To be recorded in the Martin Theatre on July 17.
WFMT is one of the world’s most respected classical music radio stations, accessible via broadcast at 98.7FM, streaming live at wfmt.com, and on the WFMT app. Recognized for trusted hosted programming, immersive live performances and concerts, strong partnerships with community organizations and championing young, local musicians and access to the arts, WFMT spotlights inspiring music, musicians, and musical performances from Chicago and around the world including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Sinfonietta, Lyric Opera of Chicago, the New York Philharmonic, and many more. Connect with WFMT on Facebook and Twitter.
