Ravinia 2026 Issue 1

On July 19, Marin Alsop reunites with María Dueñas for Beethoven’s Violin Concerto and the soloist’s Chicago Symphony Orchestra debut, having toured Korngold’s concerto together with the Philharmonia Orchestra in January 2025. your arms around. He said to me, ‘All I really want to do is go to a mountaintop and play my piano.’ He’s just devoted to the music and his instrument. I’m so glad I could talk him into coming back for this special event.” Alsop’s second Ravinia concert, an all-Beethoven program July 19, marks the Ravinia/CSO debut of another ascendant artist, Spanish violinist María Dueñas. The concert opens with Beethoven’s “Pastoral” Symphony No. 6 , and Dueñas will be the soloist in the composer’s Violin Concerto. Alsop grew acquainted with her performing on the London-based Philharmonia Orchestra’s tour last year; Alsop is the ensemble’s Principal Guest Conductor. “María is super-talented and one of the up-and-coming young soloists,” said Alsop. “She does her own cadenzas, which is quite impressive as well.” Since 2018 Alsop and the CSO have been working their way through Gustav Mahler’s nine symphonies. On July 23, she leads the CSO in the composer’s Symphony No. 6, leaving only Nos. 3 and 7 for future seasons. “The CSO is legendary of course,” she said, “and this is their repertoire—re- ally meaty and deep and complex. And the symphonies for me are so symbolic of the world we’re living in right now. They’re filled with darkness, but also that glimmer of hope that we all need.” Early in Alsop’s career, Leonard Bernstein, the legendary conductor re- nowned for championing Mahler’s mu- sic, became a mentor and close friend. “Mahler was such an important composer to my teacher,” said Alsop, “and we talked a lot about Mahler, so I’ve enjoyed working on the Mahler symphonies with the CSO.” She is in the process of recording a complete Mahler symphony cycle with the Vienna Radio Symphony for release on the Pentatone label. She was the orchestra’s chief conductor for six seasons and was appointed an honorary conductor of the ensemble at the end of her tenure. “The lovely part of it is that we’re recording in the Musikverein,” said Alsop, referring to the fabled Vienna theater where Bernstein made some of his famed Mahler recordings. Mahler regularly revised his sympho- nies, and arguments rage over the order of the Sixth Symphony’s movements and the number of hammer blows in the final movement. The symphony is one of Mahler’s most turbulent and tragic, and the blows have come to signify fate’s unpredictable cruelty. Mahler originally included five blows, then cut it back to three and eventually two. Most conduc- tors choose three, but Alsop is planning on two, which Mahler called for in the symphony’s final revision. “That’s what Mahler arrived at himself,” she said. “Perhaps, for the time we’re living in, we should do more,” she added with a rueful smile. The July 24–25 weekend also marks the fifth annual installment of Breaking Barriers, a project Ravinia and Alsop introduced to explore fields where wom- en’s contributions have been historically overlooked. This year’s focus is women film composers. On July 24 Alsop con- ducts a concert that opens with a “mini master class” using video to illustrate how different music can change our perception of a single movie scene. The concert includes excerpts from film scores by women, including Encanto and Cider House Rules , along with the Symphonic Suite from Bernstein’s score for On the Waterfront . The concert closes with the premiere of a Ravinia commission, Unsung, by composer Lau- ra Karpman. The piece combines music RAVINIAMAGAZINE • JULY 11 – JULY 19 , 2026 20 RAFAMARTIN/IBERMÚSICA(DUEÑAS)