Broadway Legend Barbara Cook To Perform At Martin

Broadway legend Barbara Cook performs two shows in the Martin Theatre as part of Ravinia Festival's Martinis at the Martin series celebrating the Great American Songbook at 7 p.m. on Sunday, July 6, and at 8 p.m. on Monday, July 7. Tony and Grammy Award-winning Cook began her career onstage in musicals from Oklahoma! to Show Boat and is now one of the most successful solo performers of her generation. In 2006 New York's Metropolitan Opera Company presented Cook in her solo concert debut, making her the first female pop singer to be presented by the Met in the company's 123-year history.

 America's oldest college chorus (founded in 1858), the Harvard Glee Club performs at Ravinia for the first time since 1964 at 8 p.m. on Saturday, July 5, in the Martin Theatre. Many of the students and conductors of the 65-member famed ensemble have become leaders in American music, including John Adams, Virgil Thomson, Elliott Carter, Leonard Bernstein, Irving Fine, John Harbison and Hugh Wolf.

The Mendelssohn String Quartet returns to Ravinia at 8 p.m. on Thursday, July 3, in the Martin Theatre for an all-Beethoven program. The quartet, comprising violinists Miriam Fried and Nicholas Mann, violist Daniel Panner and cellist Marcy Rosen has been quartet-in-residence at Harvard University as well as the Eastern Shore Chamber Music Festival and Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, and has performed at such venues as Carnegie Hall, Washington D.C.'s Kennedy Center and Library of Congress, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and Wigmore Hall in London. A free preview concert featuring musicians from Ravinia's Steans Institute for Young Artists will take place at 5:45 p.m. in Bennett • Gordon Hall.

A Prairie Home Companion, the Saturday evening mainstay on National Public Radio since 1974, returns to the festival for a live broadcast in the pavilion at 4:45 p.m. on  Saturday, July 5. Hosted by Minnesota-born Garrison Keillor, the broadcast features sketches and monologues, such as "Guy Noir" and "The News from Lake Wobegon," as well as live musical guests including Suzy Bogguee, Sam Bush, Howard Levy and Jearlyn Steele.

 At 2 p.m. on Tuesday, July 1, violinist Igor Ozim presents a free master class in Bennett ∙ Gordon Hall.

Ravinia Festival is located at Lake-Cook and Green Bay roads in Highland Park. For concert information or to purchase tickets online, please visit www.ravinia.org. Tickets can also be purchased with all major credit cards by calling the box office at (847) 266-5100. Ravinia Festival is a not-for-profit organization.

Tuesday, July 1, 2:00 p.m. — Bennett • Gordon Hall
Master Class
Igor Ozim

Thursday, July 3, 5:45 p.m. — Bennett • Gordon Hall
 Preview Concert
Artists from Ravinia's Steans Institute

Thursday, July 3, 8 p.m. – Martin Theatre
Mendelssohn String Quartet
Beethoven:      String Quartet in C Minor, Op. 18, No. 4
String Quartet in F Major, Op. 135
String Quartet in E Minor, Op. 59, No. 2
Tickets: $50-30/Lawn $10/Park opens at 5 p.m.

 Saturday, July 5, 4:45 p.m. – Pavilion
Live National Broadcast
A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor
Sponsor: Camping World
Tickets: Pavilion SOLD OUT/Lawn $10/Park opens at 3 p.m.

Saturday, July 5, 8 p.m. – Martin Theatre
Harvard Glee Club
Tickets: $40-25/Lawn $10/Park opens at 3 p.m.

Sunday, July 6, 7 p.m. – Martin Theatre
Martinis at the Martin
Barbara Cook
Sponsor: Hewitt Associates LLC
Tickets: $75/Lawn $10/Park opens at 4 p.m.

Monday, July 7, 8 p.m. – Martin Theatre
Martinis at the Martin
Barbara Cook
Sponsor: Merle Reskin
Tickets: $75/Lawn $10/Park opens at 5 p.m.

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