Voice Classical Concerts in Chicago

Ravinia is grateful for the support ofThe Negaunee FoundationPremier SponsorMahler 6 Consortium“A symphony must be like the world,” Mahler said. “It must contain everything.” Marshaling the profound energy of the CSO for Mahler’s Sixth Symphony, Marin Alsop leads a riveting search for meaning in a complex, rapidly changing world. Moving through moments of idyllic nostalgia to devastating fanaticism and fateful blows, this monumental work perfectly anticipates the challenges and longing of the 21st century.Writing for NPR, Alsop elaborates: “I’m not sure there has ever been a more fitting symphony for our time than Mahler’s Symphony No. 6. … Today, as we have become immune to shock, where nothing seems too extreme and where hyperbole rules, Mahler and his Sixth Symphony seem to fit right in.” More than a century after its premiere, the Sixth still confronts audiences with its prophetic intensity and unflinching emotional truth.For all its thunder and tragedy, the Sixth is also a refuge: a vast emotional landscape where beauty and brutality coexist, and where life’s biggest questions are asked with fearless honesty. Leonard Bernstein, Alsop’s mentor and one of Mahler’s most passionate champions, called him “the prophet of the 20th century.” In this searing performance, Alsop and the CSO reveal why Mahler’s voice speaks just as urgently to our own time.

The GRAMMY® Award–winning vocal ensemble Chanticleer is known around the world as “an orchestra of voices,” celebrated for its wide-ranging repertoire and dazzling virtuosity. Founded in San Francisco in 1978 by singer and musicologist Louis Botto, Chanticleer quickly became one of the world’s most prolific recording and touring ensembles. The group has sold more than one million recordings and performed thousands of concerts for audiences across the globe. As The New York Times writes, “These men are phenomenal: as fresh as a blade of grass, tightly focused and keenly expressive.”This summer, the ensemble celebrates America’s 250th anniversary of independence with Our American Journey, a program highlighting the diverse voices, songs, harmonies, and rhythms that shape the nation’s shared musical heritage. At the heart of the program is a new commission by composer Trevor Weston, exploring the connections between traditional American hymnody and African American spirituals. Other repertoire traces the evolution of American choral traditions—from Black gospel quartets and shape-note singing to barbershop harmony and vocal jazz.The program also features settings of traditional American bluegrass tunes and beloved folk songs such as “Calling My Children Home” and “Shenandoah,” alongside arrangements of contemporary classics including Queen’s “Somebody to Love” and “Home” from The Wiz.The program revisits Chanticleer’s 2002 album Our American Journey, which was inducted into the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress in April 2025. Building on that recording, the ensemble continues the voyage, exploring how many distinct musical voices have shaped—and continue to shape—America’s choral tradition.

Ravinia is grateful for the support ofHunter Family FoundationSpotlight SponsorA testament to American possibility, Antonín Dvořák’s famous Ninth Symphony is a quest for the identity of American music and a vision of what the nation’s voice could become. Commissioned by the New York Philharmonic in 1893, the work draws inspiration from Indigenous and Black American musical traditions, creating a sweeping, deeply human portrait of a nation.More than a century later, the question of what defines a uniquely American sound continues to resonate. This summer, Dvořák’s monumental work is paired with a contemporary voice shaping the answer as Alsop and the CSO present the Midwest premiere of Carlos Simon’s Good News Mass. Blending gospel spirituality with Black Catholic tradition and classical liturgy, Simon’s work carries forward the same spirit of cultural dialogue that inspired Dvořák more than a century ago.Speaking to The New York Times, Simon reflects on the universality he seeks in his music: “If this music is done in the right way, if it’s being honest, it doesn’t matter whatever your language, whatever your background, whether you’re white, Black, whoever — it goes straight to you. And that’s what I always strive for.”