Ravinia_2018_Issue_2_Week

KEITH LEVENSON,

conductor

Equally comfortable on the concert or recording

stage as behind the scenes, Keith Levenson has

worked in a diverse range of roles in creating

and presenting memorable musical experiences.

He was recently the music director and conduc-

tor for a national tour of

Annie

, having previous-

ly held the same roles in productions at the Al

Hirschfeld

eatre and the

eatre at Madison

Square Garden, and he has also led the music for

national tours of

e Bridges of Madison Coun-

e Best Little Whorehouse in Texas

(with

Ann-Margret),

Jesus Christ Superstar

(with Carl

Anderson and Ted Neely), and

Peter Pan

(with

Cathy Rigby). Levenson’s stage credits also in-

clude orchestrating and conducting a concert

presentation of

e Wizard of Oz

at Avery Fisher

Hall starring Jewel, Jackson Browne, Roger Dal-

trey, Nathan Lane, and Debra Winger, as well as

conducting Broadway productions of

Dream-

girls

and

Grease

. He was the composer for

Flowering Peach

, which played on Broadway at

the Lyceum eatre, and episodes of the PBS se-

ries

Great Streets

featuring Randy Newman and

Brian Stokes Mitchell. Additionally, he was the

lyricist of

Star-Crossed

with Jeanine Tesori and

Alexa Judge, which was produced at Connecti-

cut’s Goodspeed Opera House. Levenson has led

several tours of e Who’s

Tommy

as music di-

rector and conductor, and he has also arranged

and conducted music for “ e British Rock

Symphony,” which has toured worldwide with

Peter Frampton, Paul Rodgers, Alice Cooper,

Roger Daltrey, Darlene Love, Gary Brooker, and

others. is is his rst appearance at Ravinia.

ROGER DALTREY

Growing up in the Shepherd’s Bush area of west

London, Roger Daltrey became deeply involved

with music in his mid-teens, gigging with a

band called

e Detours by night and working

with sheet metal by day, even cra ing guitars

for the band when time allowed. He recruited

schoolmates bassist John Entwistle and guitar-

ist Pete Townsend into the band and became its

leader, driving a sound ranging from ’ s rock

and roll standards to R&B, including covers that

the band would perform for decades to come.

e band was renamed

e Who in

, and

with its rst hit original single, “I Can’t Ex-

plain,” emerging the following year, Daltrey

ceded leadership to songwriter Townsend and

devoted himself to developing the voice of the

band—his voice. Daltrey had asserted himself as

an iconic rock singer by the time of the land-

mark

rock opera

Tommy

, and he cement-

ed that place in history with

’s

Who’s Next

and

’s

Quadrophenia

. While the band was

completing the latter record, Daltrey launched

a parallel solo career with a self-titled disc and

quickly made a mark with “Giving It All Away,”

featuring a markedly di erent sound from the

edgy Who tracks on which he rose to prom-

inence. Two years later, he starred in the title

role of Ken Russell’s lm adaptation of

Tommy

kickstarting another parallel career in acting,

which also included portraying Franz Liszt in

Russell’s

Lisztomania

that same year and pro-

ducing and starring in

’s

McVicar

. e latter

lm’s soundtrack was essentially Daltrey’s fourth

solo album, bringing his sound closer to that of

e Who, which would retire from touring just

a couple of years later. Daltrey followed up with

four more albums before focusing on screen and

stage appearances, including a

concert at

Carnegie Hall that was, at the time, its fastest

sellout event. He also starred as the Tin Man in

e Wizard of Oz

at Lincoln Center the follow-

ing year and as Scrooge in

A Christmas Carol

Madison Square Garden in

. His rst solo

album in over years,

As Long as I Have You

released earlier this month, also marks Daltrey’s

return to his soul-music beginnings. Roger Dal-

trey is making his Ravinia debut.

RAVINIA FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA

Violins

Michèle Lekas

Concertmaster

Florentina Ramniceanu

Principal Second

Bernardo Arias

Lori Ashikawa

Jennifer Cappelli

Lisa Fako

Sheila Hanford

Kiju Joh

Carmen Kassinger

David Katz

Helen Kim

Je Yang

Violas

Carol Cook

Principal

Claudia Lasare -Mirono

Aurelien Pederzoli

Benton Wedge

Cellos

Matthew Agnew

Principal

Margaret Daly

Mark Lekas

Victori Mayne

Basses

Collins Trier

Principal

Gregory Sarchet

Doug Johnson

Flutes

John orne

Principal

Karin Ursin

Piccolo

Karin Ursin

Oboes

Deborah Stevenson

Principal

Judith Lewis

English Horn

Judith Lewis

Clarinets

Linda Baker

Principal

Elizandro Garcia-Montoya

Bass Clarinet

Elizandro Garcia-Montoya

Bassoons

John Gaudette

Principal

Peter Brusen

Contrabassoon

Peter Brusen

Horns

Steven Replogle

Principal

Daniel O’Connell

Sharon Jones

Jeremiah Frederick

Trumpets

Robert Parton

Principal

Brent Turney

Michael Brozick

Trombones

Timothy Co man

Principal

Steven Duncan

Bass Trombone

Tom Matta

Tuba

Charles Schuchat

Principal

Timpani

Robert Everson

Principal

Percussion

Michael Folker

Principal

Michael Kozakis

Jon Johnson

Harp

Marcia Labella

Principal

Music Librarian

Danielle Ray

Personnel Director

Terrell Pierce

JUNE 18 – JUNE 2 , 2018 | RAVINIA MAGAZINE

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