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“...striking imagination and creativity.”

- Anthony Tommasini, The New York Times

Ravinia :: 7.21.2008

So the past few weeks have been wonderful, as I've been at the Ravinia festival... doing lots of playing, thinking, relaxing, and playing. Did I mention playing? The level of playing from my colleagues, a collection of young artists (read: slaves), is astoundingly high. To say that playing with and listening to people here is inspiring would be an horrible understatement. It goes without saying that everyone plays their instruments with ease and aplomb... but what is truly unique is the overall commitment to music making shared among everyone.
If you're in Chicago during the summer time, I think it's a must to come and hear what's happening at the Ravinia festival.
Last night was a Lang Lang extravaganza, complete with giant video screens to ensure that all could see as much as possible of his dynamism. I'm not sure that there is any other pianist in the world who can play as reliably as often as Lang Lang does, and there is nobody who is introducing more people around the world to classical music. I have been eager to hear him play live, as he has created so much buzz both within the bizz and amidst the general public. It was great to finally be able to react to his playing first hand.
It was very exciting to see the big crowds there (he outsold the beachboys), and to hear people who might not otherwise be going to see a concert of the Chicago Symphony talking about the event weeks in advance. For instance, the 20something guy helping me at lenscrafters a few weeks before had talked about getting his tickets a month earlier.
Some people argue that Lang Lang is attracting people not to classical music, but to himself. This may be true... in any case, its hard to demonstrate one way or the other. From my perspective: if Lang Lang attracts 10 people to his concert who have never attended a classical concert before, it only takes 1 of those people to go to another concert, of another artist, for Lang Lang to have done a truly great thing.

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