Pitbull, Erykah Badu, Grace Potter, the Black Crowes, Common, Dwight Yoakam and Stevie Nicks are just a few of the artists scheduled to play the Ravinia Festival this summer.
Festival organizers on Thursday announced more than 100 concerts will take place May 20 through Sept. 18 at the Highland Park outdoor venue where some 50 artists will be making their debut over the course of the season.
This year marks Ravinia’s return to a full season of performances—the first time since 2019. In 2020, the festival canceled its entire season (only the second time in Ravinia history) due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Last year, the festival presented an abbreviated season with 64 concerts.
Tickets for the 2022 season go on sale May 4 at Ravinia.org.
Here’s a look at some of the highlights of the 2022 season:
Pop/Rock/World:
- Amos Lee and Neal Francis (June 15)
- Rodrigo y Gabriela (June 16)
- Jackson Browne (June 17)
- Common, with Black Violin (June 18)
- Dwight Yoakam, with Old Crow Medicine Show (July 2)
- Amjad Ali Khan Trio (July 14)
- Little Big Town (July 20)
- Esperanza Spalding and Monsieur Perine (July 31)
- The Revivalists, Grace Potter (Aug. 6)
- Pitbull, with Iggy Azalea (Aug. 25)
- Culture Club (Aug. 26)
- Diana Ross, with Naturally 7 (Sept. 4)
- Stevie Nicks (Sept. 8 and 10)
- Erykah Badu (Sept. 11)
Dance
Ruth Page Festival of Dance series features the Ruth Page Civic Ballet (May 20); Ruth Page Civic Ballet, with special guests Giordano Dance Chicago, DanceWorks Chicago, Hedwig Dances and Porchlight Music Theatre (May 21); Hubbard Street Dance Chicago (Sept. 16).
Classical Music:
- A six-week residency by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Works include: “Don Giovanni,” starring Lucas Meachem, Kristinn Sigmundsson, Rachel Willis-Sorensen and Nicole Car (Aug. 11-13); “La Clemenza di Tito,” featuring Matthew Polenzani, Guangqun Yu and Emily D’Angelo, the CSO’s first complete performance of the Mozart work (Aug. 12 and 14), both conducted by James Conlon; Peter Oundjian and Itzhak Perlman in a program of Coleridge-Taylor, Mussorgsky and Mendelssohn (Aug. 18).
- The inaugural “Breaking Barriers Festival” (July 20-31) celebrating women conductors, diverse artists and leaders at the forefront of classical music, curated by Ravinia’s chief conductor Marin Alsop.
- Music of the Baroque featuring Dame Jane Glover, conductor, and Garrick Ohlsson, piano (Sept. 3).
- A “Family and Film” series, featuring “The Lion King: In Concert Live to Film,” featuring the Chicago Philharmonic (June 29), and “The Goonies: In Concert” (July 6), both conducted by Thiago Tiberio.
Jazz:
- “Legends of Jazz: Honoring Ramsey Lewis,” featuring Chicago icon Ramsey Lewis, Kurt Elling, Marquis Hill, Lizz Wright, Bobby Lewis with the J.W. James A.M.E. Church Choir and members of Urban Knights (June 19)
- Trombone Shorty’s Voodoo Threauxdown, featuring Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue, Tank & the Bangas, Big Freedia, Cyril Neville (The Uptown Ruler) George Porter Jr. and Dumpstaphunk (playing the music of The Meters), and The Soul Rebels (June 26)
Also this season, Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute summer training program for young artists has named violinist-composer Jessie Montgomery as composer-in-residence for its 2022 Piano & Strings program, which will include chamber music coaching sessions and performances of several of her works by young professional musicians, Thursday’s announcement stated.
The full schedule is available at ravinia.org.
