Ravinia Festival in Highland Park may have its roots in classical music, but over the years it has become so much more. Jeffrey Haydon, the festival’s president and CEO, in fact suggests that Ravinia is “legendary” within the music industry.
“There are other famous music festivals and places, but none combine all the elements,” Haydon explained, adding that Ravinia “is the last truly major independent venue in the country [and is] its own non-profit. It owns its property. We book all of our shows. We don’t subcontract.”
The venue has built up loyalty from its audience as well, he added. “Ravinia embodies the spirit of summertime escape. It has defined summer for generations. [Audiences] build their schedules around it, their reunions.”
Assuming his post in August of 2020, Haydon was presented with a radically different kind of Ravinia which had been revolutionized by his predecessors. Zarin Mehta in the ‘90’s added a jazz festival and Welz Kauffman.
“Kauffman had a great vision of how to open Ravinia up to the entire community, to be more welcoming,” Haydon said. During his 20-year tenure, Kauffman, a gay man who was recently named executive director and CEO of the Old Town School of Folk Music, brought Ravinia into the 21st century. While developing future classical musicians and audiences remains a key goal for the festival, Kauffman recognized the diversity within the world of music, Haydon explained.
Expanding the Ravinia programming beyond classical music was the key. Kauffman made Ravinia a resource for audiences to discover numerous genres of music.
“Diversity on the stage and in the audience…is what brings us together. Now every night is different,” Haydon said. He came to Ravinia after a long career in arts administration and fundraising; he most recently spent eight years at the Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts in Katonah, New York.
Diversity has indeed been a strong suit this summer, with the festival featuring both well-known headliners and many newer performers from a variety of countries and backgrounds. This season, featured LGBTQ+ performers include Queen and Inner City (Live), Michael Feinstein, Melissa Etheridge, Ben Platt, Mishell Ndegeocello (who performs Aug. 8) and others. There is also music and musicians from Sri Lanka, Japan, Montenegro, Belarus, Armenia, Bulgaria, South Africa and Ukraine, to name just a few.
Haydon praised the leadership of Chief Conductor Marin Alsop, who is a lesbian. Kauffman brought in Alsop, a protégé of Leonard Bernstein to curate the festival’s Bernstein Centennial programs. Her contract with Ravinia runs through 2025. Alsop “recognized the need to have more opportunities to present conductors and soloists not in the spotlight. Breaking Barriers Festival (BBF) creates that opportunity for women conductors and women composers,” Haydon said.The winning pieces of a competition co-sponsored by NEWMUSIC USA for women and non-binary and transgender composers were workshopped July 27 as part of the BBF. Conducted by Taki-Alsop Conducting Fellows, the pieces were performed by members of the Chicago Philharmonic, with Marin Alsop and Augusta Read Thomas critiquing the fellows’ methods and interpretations of the new music. The BBF highlighted the link between science and the arts and the role of creativity in both arenas.
For 2024, Breaking Barriers focused on “Women Leaders in Music and Space,” said Ravinia Artistic Producer Hinano Price. “Marin brought us Amanda Lee Falkenberg’s ‘Moons Symphony’ which is unique, with seven movements representing seven of the 179 moons of our solar system. We also found that there are many women leaders in space [-related fields], in NASA—and in the Chicago area, the president and CEO of the Adler Planetarium, and the head of the astronomy department at Northwestern University are women.” Price suggested that 2025’s Breaking Barriers series would focus on women in music and culinary arts, adding, “There are many women in Chicago involved in culinary efforts—there is a connection.”
Klaus Mäkelä, the CSO director designate, will also be in residence at Ravinia in August of 2026. “Makela is interested and committed to being a more regular presence during the annual CSO residency than some of his predecessors were,” Haydon said.
Ravinia’s variety of genres, performers, venues, audiences and prices are all pieces of the puzzle that must be balanced and fit together by festival officials. Price explained, “We use a Google Doc and calendar view. It is a huge puzzle; some days we have ten slots to fill. We need to see what we are missing.”
But Haydon noted yet another benefit to Ravinia’s commitment to a diverse repertoire. He said that, after three years of attending popular concerts at Ravinia, 50% of audience members are willing to try a classical event.
“That bodes well for the future,” Haydon said. “The mix of genres is working for Ravinia, fueling their long-term vision of supporting classical music and musicians. Of course, Ravinia actually supports all kinds of music.”