Klarinet Archive - Posting 000830.txt from 2003/07
From: GrabnerWG@-----.com
Subj: [kl] Ravinia, WolfTrap, was: Mostly Mozart
Date: Thu, 31 Jul 2003 12:00:15 -0400
In a message dated 7/31/2003 7:52:41 AM Eastern Daylight Time, tim.parks@-----.com writes:
> I had hoped to take in a Chicago symphony concert but was unhappy to learn that their concerts are outside in a band shell.>>
Ravinia Festival, where the Chicago Symphony plays their summer concerts, isn't quite a "band shell". (The Grant Park Symphony DOES play in a band shell - the Petrillo (Music Shell in the Loop).
Ravinia has a lovely pavilion. For $20 to $50 per ticket, you can have a fairly satisfactory concert experience (except for the legendary train). Last week I saw a performance of "Le Bourgeouis Gentilhomme" which was artistically satisfying and had us rolling in the aisles!!!!
Sorry to say, however, that the "lawn seating" is a disaster for serious concert goers. It is much worse than Wolf Trap, in that since there is no big downward sloping hill, the lawn audience cannot see the performers. Even worse, they are often so far away that the music is amplified by large speakers and has the feeling that you're listening to a recording.
People who sit on the lawn often set up elaborate picnics, with lawn furniture, tables, etc. I have seen people tote i candelabras, and silver service.
Much alchol is often imbibed.
In a setting like this, the music becomes only a background to the festivities. People often have long extended conversations, children run around, and so forth.
We used to try to get people around us to "hush". However, it is such a part of the culture at Ravinia that our attempets to get people to quiet down so that we could actually hear and enjoy the music only generated hostility. So we no longer go sit on the lawn. Pity,we are actually walking distance to Ravinia.
Walter Grabner
www.clarinetxpress
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