Ravinia 2026 Issue 4

CHRISTOPHERDRAGON Australian conductor Christopher Dragon is the Music Director of the Philly Pops and the Greensboro Symphony Orchestra, as well as Resident Conductor of the Colorado Sympho- ny, recently extending his tenure with the lat- ter through a er having rst joined the orchestra as Associate Conductor in . For three years before his Colorado appointment, Dragon held the inaugural position of Assistant Conductor with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra, where he worked closely with Asher Fisch. He is also a former music director of the Wyoming Symphony Orchestra. Dragon has a versatile portfolio, ranging from live-to-picture performances—including Nightmare Before Christmas , Toy Story , and Star Wars: Return of the Jedi —and a wide variety of collaborations with such artists as the Wu-Tang Clan, Cynthia Erivo, and Joshua Bell, to standard and contemporary orchestral repertoire such as Danny Elfman’s Percussion Concerto. Recent highlights include his sold-out symphony tour with Gregory Alan Isakov, including two performances at New York’s Radio City, and the present tour culminating at the Hollywood Bowl, as well as collaborations with Jon Ba- tiste and Idina Menzel and his debut with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Dragon is highly sought a er as a guest conductor, having worked with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Diego and San Francisco Symphonies, National Symphony Orchestra, and Cincinnati Pops in the US, and interna- tionally with the WDR Funkhausorchester and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, among many others. In Australia, he has guest conducted the Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, and West Australian Symphony Orchestras. His debut performance at the Sydney Opera House with John Pyke and the Sydney Symphony was released on album by ABC Music and won an ARIA the following year. Dragon began his conducting studies in , working with such distiguished mentors as Christopher Seaman, Leonid Grin, Paavo and Neeme Jarvi at the Jarvi Summer Festival, Fabio Luisi at the Paci c Music Festival, and Jorma Panula. Christopher Dragon is making his Ravinia debut. GREGORYALAN ISAKOV Born in Johannesburg, South Africa, and now calling Colorado home, horticulturist/musician Gregory Alan Isakov has cast an impressive presence on the indie-rock and folk worlds with his six full-length studio albums: at Sea, e Gambler ( ), is Empty Northern Hemi- sphere ( ), e Weatherman ( ), Gregory Alan Isakov with the Colorado Symphony ( ), Evening Machines ( ; nominated for a Gram- my Award for Best Folk Album), and Appaloosa Bones ( ). Isakov tours internationally with his band, and has performed with several major symphony orchestras across the United States. On his latest record, Appaloosa Bones , Isakov wanted to pare it all back, arrangement-wise, keeping things simple and a pendulum swing away from Evening Machines : “I set out to make a record that was really bare-bones. I wanted to go backward a little bit, because Evening Ma- chines was such a deep dive into arrangements. I wanted to have more of a raw experience with this one.” Isakov played many of the instruments on Appaloosa Bones himself. He recorded in a studio tucked away in a barn on his Starling Farm outside of Boulder, CO, where he helps grow produce for CSA members, local restau- rants, and an area food bank. e resulting al- bum is intimate and hushed, but maybe not as spare as what Isakov initially had in mind. e songs on the album are full of lush vocal har- monies and layers of instrumental textures that blend guitar, banjo, piano, and various other keyboards. ere are even some songs with a classic repeating chorus, which isn’t always a standard feature in Isakov’s music. “I’m always the camp re song ruiner. I love a chorus, I’m a huge pop music fan, but I don’t usually think of songs like verse-chorus-bridge. ey’re sort of just a ride, you know? I hope they take the listener some place di erent than where they started.” Gregory Alan Isakov is making his Ra- vinia debut. HUNTERPAVILION 7:30 PMWEDNESDAY, AUGUST 19 , 2026 GREGORYALAN ISAKOV † with CHICAGO PHILHARMONIC CHRISTOPHER DRAGON, conductor † † Ravinia debut RAVINIAMAGAZINE • AUGUST 17 – AUGUST 23 , 2026 64 REBECCA CARIDAD (ISAKOV);JOHN CHRISTOPHER (DRAGON)