Ravinia to Celebrate Audience with Customer Appreciation Day, 5/18

Ravinia kicks off the summer with Customer Appreciation Day from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday, May 18, a day filled with discounts and the chance to purchase limited added Pavilion side seating to sold-out concerts, as well as promotions and samples from Ravinia's supporters and sponsored advertisers. This is the first day that Ravinia's Box Office is officially open for walk-up sales, and all in-person purchases will be discounted by 20 percent (discounts are not available for the July 27 Gala Benefit Evening), making reserved seats for some shows as low as $8. The $7 service fee for ticket orders will also be waived for in-person purchases on May 18. Gates open at 8 a.m. but the Ravinia Box Office opens at 9 a.m.

A limited number of additional, temporary seats will be added to the sides of the Pavilion for sold-out events, and tickets for those seats will be sold exclusively on May 18 to in-person customers on a first-come, first-served basis (limited to four per buyer).

The opening-day festivities will be broadcast live from the park grounds by 98.7 WFMT, the official classical music station of Ravinia. Ravinia President and CEO Welz Kauffman will join WFMT host Carl Grapentine on the air to discuss the summer season beginning at 9 a.m. and continuing until 1:30 p.m. in the Mirabelle restaurant located inside Ravinia's dining pavilion. The broadcast will feature glimpses of the complete Ravinia season and will include live interviews with artists appearing during the 2013 season as well as live performances at 9:45 a.m. by Lincoln Trio, which celebrates its 10th anniversary in 2013, at 9:45 a.m.; jazz trumpeter and Ravinia's Steans Music Institute alumnus Marquis Hill at 10:30 a.m.; accomplished pianist Jorge Federico Osorio at 11:30 a.m.; and 2005 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World soprano Nicole Cabell at 12:30 p.m. All performances are open to the public.

Also in the Mirabelle and in front of the dining pavilion will be Ravinia's supporters and vendors distributing free souvenirs and promotional items from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. including food samples from Levy Restaurants. Ravinia Gifts, located on the first floor of the dining pavilion, will feature Ravinia apparel, picnic accessories and gift items up to 50 percent off. Families can engage in an "instrument petting zoo" where kids can experience and play instruments. Guests can also get free lindy dancing lessons from Big City Swing which will be located in the Martin Theatre plaza.

Ravinia's 2013 season, which celebrates the 25th anniversary of its summer music conservatory, Ravinia's Steans Music Institute, packs in more than 120 separate events from June 6 to Sept. 15, featuring classical, chamber music, rock, R&B, jazz, country, dance, world, family programming and the summer residency of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. The season features more than 80 debuts by such artists as Roberto Alagnaand Latonia Moore in Verdi's Aida, OneRepublic, Heart, Jewel, ShaRon Jones and the Dap-Kings, The Knights, Melissa Etheridge, Willie Nelson, Gin Blossoms, David Byrne & St. Vincent, Alabama and more. Returning favorites include piano superstar Lang Lang, Jackson Browne, Itzhak Perlman, Tony Bennett, Yo-Yo Ma, Anita Baker, Leon Fleisher, Juilliard String Quartet, Indigo Girls, Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Buddy Guy, Emanuel Ax, Pilobolus and many others.

Tickets to Ravinia events are currently available online, prior to Customer Appreciation Day, at Ravinia.org. Phone sales begin on May 20 at 847-266-5100. A $7 service fee is added to all online and phone ticket orders.

Ravinia welcomes all festival fans to follow, connect and interact online at backstage.ravinia.org, facebook.com/RaviniaFestival and twitter.com/raviniafestival. Ravinia is a not-for-profit organization.

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