Ravinia 2023 Issue 1

ALESSIO BAX At just the age of , pianist Alessio Bax grad- uated with top honors from the conservato- ry of Bari, his hometown in Italy, and a er further studies in Europe, he moved to the United States in . He catapulted to prom- inence as the top prize winner of the Hamamatsu and Leeds International Piano Competitions, and then in he was awarded an Avery Fisher Career Grant. Four years later he received both the An- drew Wolf Chamber Music Award and the Lincoln Center Award for Emerging Artists. Regularly performing across ve continents as a chamber musician and solo artist, he has also been a guest of more than orchestras, including the London, New York, Royal, and Saint Petersburg Philharmonics; the City of Birmingham, Boston, Cincinnati, Dallas, Se- attle, and Sydney Symphony Orchestras; and Japan’s NHK Symphony, alongside such con- ductors as Marin Alsop, Vladimir Ashkena- zy, Andrew Davis, Fabio Luisi, Simon Rattle, Yuri Temirkanov, and Jaap van Zweden. With his regular piano duo partner Lucille Chung, Bax was recently featured with the Saint Louis Symphony and in recital at Lincoln Center. Additionally, he has toured extensively with violinist Joshua Bell, joined by cellist Steven Isserlis for a recent trio tour of Spain, and has performed Beethoven’s complete cello and piano works with Paul Watkins in New York. His chamber music collaborators have also included tenor Ian Bostridge, utist Emman- uel Pahud, trumpeter Sergei Nakariakov, vi- olinist Daishin Kashimoto, violists Lawrence Power and Tabea Zimmermann, and cellist Jean-Guihen Queyras. In Bax released Italian Inspirations , his th album on Signum Classics where his discography also includes Beethoven concertos and sonatas, a Mozart album with London’s Southbank Sinfonia, and works by Scriabin, Mussorgsky, Brahms, Bach, and Rachmanino . Since he has been the artistic director of the Incontri in Terra di Siena Festival in the Val d’Orcia re- gion of Tuscany, and in he was invited to join the piano faculty of the New England Conservatory. Alessio Bax made both his Ra- vinia concert and Ravinia Steans Music Insti- tute faculty debuts in . PAVILION 7:00 PM SUNDAY, JULY 2, 2023 THE YACHT ROCK TOUR AMBROSIA † – – STRAIGHT NO CHASER † † Ravinia debut AMBROSIA Ambrosia, the band known and loved by a multitude of fans since the s, is now more alive and compelling than ever. is ve-time Grammy-nominated ensemble is exploring new territory and bringing exceptional mu- sic to stages everywhere. In , four young musicians from the South Bay of Los Ange- les—Joseph Puerta, Christopher North, Da- vid Pack, and Burleigh Drummond—came together to create a new moving and invig- orating style of music. Today, Ambrosia is three of the original members with the addi- tion of guitarist Doug Jackson, contributing keyboardist Mary Harris, and powerful lead vocals of Kipp Lennon (from the band Ven- ice). Always exploring the possibilities of progressive, classical, and global in uences—with tan- gled roots of soul, rhythm, and blues—Ambrosia is engaging original fans and newer audiences alike. Originally labeled as America’s answer to the progressive invasion of English acts Yes and King Crimson, the group quickly proved itself with a unique blend of aural landscapes. eir musical style attracted collaboration with Leonard Bernstein, Kurt Vonnegut Jr., Alan Parsons, Bruce Hornsby, Michael McDonald, Edgar Winter, Dave Mason, Gary Wright, Al Stewart, and others. Ambrosia had toured extensively with Fleetwood Mac, Heart, and the Doobie Brothers. Between and released ve albums—their rst two, Ambrosia and Somewhere I’ve Never Travelled , each earned Grammy nominations, attracting Warner Bros. Records to sign them for their top- hit Life Beyond LA . e disc also produced the band’s rst gold single in “How Much I Feel,” itself their rst top- hit since their debut single, “Holdin’ On to Yesterday.” Two of the biggest hits of came from Ambrosia’s One Eighty , “Biggest Part of Me” and “You’re the Only Woman (You & I),” and the band earned their next three Grammy nominations from the collection. at same year, they contributed “Outside” to the lm Inside Moves . eir nal studio album, Road Island , appeared in , but multiple live albums and anthologies followed in the s and s. In the group released a new single, “Hopes and Dreams,” which was featured on the Fox TV series e Sparrows . Ambrosia is making its Ravinia debut. STRAIGHT NO CHASER With nothing more than microphones in hand, grins ear-to-ear, witty banter on point, and an uncanny ability to belt out R&B smooth jams, holiday staples, or stadi- um anthems with style, swagger, and spirit, Straight No Chaser bring audiences to their feet anywhere in the world, but nonetheless may have the most unlikely and unexpected underdog story in all of music. n , orig- inal member Randy Stine uploaded a performance of “ e Days of Christmas” to YouTube, simply with the motivation to share a bit of the glory days with his buddies from Indiana University. But chance put the video in front of Atlantic Records’ Craig Kallman, who became enchanted by chemistry of the a cappella group and sought out the guys to sign a record deal. roughout the ensuing decade-plus, the group surpassed a series of remarkable milestones to usher a cappella into the mainstream, bursting on the scene before pop culture phenoms like e Sing- O and Pitch Perfect . eir unassuming rise would be highlighted by album sales topping . million in the US alone, ticket sales of over million worldwide, million-plus YouTube views, dozens of major television performances, three PBS specials, collabora- tions alongside everyone from Sir Paul Mc- Cartney and Sir Elton John to Stevie Wonder and Kristen Bell, and a pair of gold-certi ed albums, ’s Holiday Spirits and ’s Christmas Cheers . Continuing to forge ahead, they ascend to new benchmarks with each move. A er the successful holiday albums, SNC began releasing both “Six Pack” EPs and full-length albums of contemporary pop hits from the likes of Amy Winehouse, Jason Mraz, Madonna, Weezer, Beyoncé, and Cold- play. On their album Under the In uence , many of the covers featured guest vocals from the original artists, including Phil Collins, Dolly Parton, Stevie Wonder, and Seal. From ’s e New Old Fashioned onward, the group released albums of contemporary cov- ers and holiday standard in alternation, most recently ’s Social Christmasing , which featured a reworking of Counting Crows’ “A Long December” as a holiday song tting that pandemic year. Straight No Chaser is making their Ravinia debut. RAVINIA MAGAZINE • JUNE 6 – JULY 2, 2023