Ravinia Rethinking Its Orchestral Partnership

To most music lovers in the Midwest, the Ravinia Festival is nearly synonymous with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. But the partnership betwen the two organizations has seen far better days, and since the CSO does not own the festival – a nearly unique situation among major American orchestras – Ravinia is considering serious changes to its schedule which would deemphasize the orchestra’s participation. Ticket sales for CSO performances at Ravinia have been off sharply for the last several years, and that has the festival seriously considering a plan which would cut the number of performances the orchestra puts on at Ravinia each summer.