Chicago Skyline
Ravinia Festival breaks the silence
More than 130 events include banned works
By John von Rhein [Chicago Tribune, 10 Mar 05]
Marching into its second century, the Ravinia Festival will surround James Conlon’s first season as music director with more than 130 events, from the season opener on June 7 to the finale on Sept. 11.
Along with conducting the resident Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 12 of its 22 concerts, Conlon will launch multiyear surveys of Mahler and Mozart and the rediscovered works of composers whose music was suppressed by the Third Reich and remained forgotten for decades after World War II.
The American conductor, a major force in the modern revival of works banned by the Nazi regime, will inaugurate Ravinia’s new Breaking the Silence series with a focus on Viktor Ullmann. The gifted German-Czech composer, who wrote more than 20 works in the Terezin concentration camp before dying in the gas chambers of Auschwitz, will be represented by his chamber opera “The Emperor of Atlantis,” Symphony No. 2, Piano Concerto, String Quartet No. 3 and more.
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