In 1904, the A.C. Frost Company created Ravinia as an amusement park intended to lure riders to the fledgling Chicago & Milwaukee Electric Railroad. The amusement park boasted a baseball diamond, electric fountain and refectory or casino building with dining rooms and a dance floor. The prairie-style Martin Theatre (then called Ravinia Theatre) is the only building on the grounds that dates back to that original construction. Over 100 years later, Ravinia Festival is the oldest outdoor music festival in North America and is lauded for presenting world-class music. The festival attracts about 600,000 listeners to some 120 to 150 events that span all genres from classical music to jazz to music theater over each three-month summer season. Over the years, the festival has hosted such luminaries as Louis Armstrong, The Ballet Russe, Luciano Berio, Leonard Bernstein, Lucrezia Bori, Dave Brubeck, Pablo Casals, Van Cliburn, Aaron Copland, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, George Gershwin, JosZÿ Greco, Jascha Heifetz, John Houseman, Janis Joplin, Yo-Yo Ma, Luciano Pavarotti, Itzhak Perlman, Oscar Peterson, Stephen Sondheim, Isaac Stern and Frank Zappa.
 

The leader of the Amelia Trio is a marvelous teacher. He stood up in front of the kids and drew large pictures with a magic marker on a large piece of paper encouraging the kids to guess who each was. The first, a smiley faced be-wigged character with 23 children (which the kids loved!) was Bach. It is hard to describe how totally enthralled the kids were as they then listed to a short Bach piece (the three instruments, piano, cello and violin having be previously demonstrated by the performers). Next came a man with an angry face, so bad with money that he lost it all in his life and when he died at 35 was buried in a pauper's grave with many others and his grave is still undiscovered. This was, of course, Mozart.

After a Mozart piece was played, a picture of a third man was shown, a few lines from Beethoven's 5th were played on the piano, and three hundred kids cried out in unison "Beethoven!" The last was Mendelssohn whose sister, we learned, was the better composer of the two. The kids really and truly enjoyed themselves. But, more importantly, they have learned to love classical music, and had obviously

learned a lot in the previous weeks with the Ravinia-provided teacher.
We are really and truly doing wonderful things! And, I must say, as a Trustee, I am very, very proud. These little kids, in the middle of a very poor, very disadvantaged neighborhood, have had a chance to reach for the stars. I suspect we have begun them on a lifetime of music appreciation. I believe deeply in the concept that these young children will soon go underground as they get old enough to be "cool", but like the 17 year cicadas, will emerge in their 30's and 40's and find their way to Ravinia or downtown to the CSO. I make quite a number of small contributions to various civic and community organizations, but none that makes me as proud as that to the Education and Community Partnerships work. Bravissimo to all those who work so hard to make this happen. And a particular kudos to Luciano who did a wonderful job of liaison with school and performers and made the entire thing come off seamlessly without a hitch.

Contact :

200 Ravinia Park Road
Highland Park, IL 60035