RAVINIAⓇ HEATS UP AUGUST WITH MUST-SEE SUMMER CONCERTS


RAVINIAⓇ HEATS UP AUGUST WITH MUST-SEE SUMMER CONCERTS

HIGHLAND PARK, IL — Ravinia’s 2024 summer lineup boasts over 100 concerts spanning rock/pop, R&B, classical, jazz, country, Latin, and movies with live orchestra. August promises a vibrant celebration of excellence across many genres, offering a mosaic of unforgettable performances of Black music. Explore some of August’s offerings below.

August 8: Angélique Kidjo, called "Africa's premier diva" and named one of the most influential people in the world in 2021 by Time Magazine, makes her return to Ravinia to co-headline the Pavilion with Ravinia first-timer Meshell Ndegeocello. The two artists have collaborated together in tribute to salsa legend Celia Cruz, recording the song "La Vida Es Un Carnaval." Kidjo is a Beninese-French singer-songwriter with five Grammy Awards to her name, and is known for her cross-pollinating the West African traditions of her childhood in Benin with elements of American R&B, funk, and jazz as well as influences from Europe and Latin America. Ndegeocello won the 2021 Grammy for Best R&B Song with "Better Than I Imagined," and the American singer-songwriter, rapper, and bassist has "lent her unique blend of spacious melodies, rooted grooves and intricate fingerpicking to tracks by everyone from Madonna to Herbie Hancock and Robert Glasper" (The Guardian). "Across her own albums," The Guardian continues, "Ndegeocello has been honing this sound to create soulful music that interpolates R&B and hip-hop as much as the virtuosity of jazz.”

August 14: Two artists make their Ravinia debuts as Robert Glasper and J. Ivy are in the spotlight at the Pavilion. Grammy Award-winning Glasper is a pianist, songwriter, and producer whose jazz and R&B influences have seen him collaborate with artists like Kanye West, Kendrick Lamar, Q-Tip, and Common. J. Ivy is a Grammy and Peabody Award winner whose poetry is pioneering and trendsetting in the arenas of music and television.

August 24: Experience a genre-blurring night of hip hop at Ravinia as The Roots, Digable Planets, and Arrested Development take the stage at the Pavilion. Founded by Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter and Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson, The Roots blend hip hop with live instruments, jazz, and improvisatory pop. Known for Grammy-winning hits like "You Got Me" and their collaboration with John Legend on Wake Up!, they’ve also been Jimmy Fallon's house band since 2009. Joining them, Digable Planets, composed of Ishmael "Butterfly" Butler, Craig "Doodlebug" Irving, and Mary Ann "Ladybug Mecca" Vieira, brought a jazz-infused style to hip hop with their Grammy-winning "Rebirth Of Slick (Cool Like Dat)" and the gold-certified album Reachin’ (A New Refutation of Time And Space). Rounding out the lineup, Arrested Development merges African sounds with hip hop, winning multiple awards with their album 3 Years, 5 Months and 2 Days in the Life of.... They continue their mission of cultural consciousness and empowerment through social activism.

August 25: 24-year-old jazz phenom Samara Joy makes her Ravinia debut following the release of her first album on Verve Records, Linger Awhile. That record reached number one on the Billboard Jazz Albums chart, after Joy won the Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition and was named Best New Artist by JazzTimes. "Listening to Joy's approach is a revelation," says All About Jazz. "The ease with which her voice moves, her ability to sing with and without vibrato ... Her phrasing is always spot-on." Joy's distinct vocal stylings have already earned her fans like Anita Baker and Regina King.

August 30: Ravinia hosts the world premiere of The Voice of Whitney: A Symphonic Celebration, an original tribute concert celebrating the “most awarded female artist of all time” (Guinness World Records), Whitney Houston. This dynamic production celebrates the singer’s astounding musical legacy with new, original orchestrations of her sweeping catalog performed by Chicago Philharmonic. From her legendary Super Bowl XXV performance of “The Star Spangled Banner” to timeless hits “I Wanna Dance With Somebody,” “Higher Love,” “I Will Always Love You,” and “How Will I Know,” among many others, audiences will be immersed in the world of Whitney as the evening weaves through her iconic songbook, film performances, intimate home videos, and rare never-before-seen photos and footage.

August 31: R&B supergroup TLC and Jamaican dancehall icon Shaggy join forces for a night of their decades of multi-Grammy-winning hits, from T-Boz and Chilli’s chart-toppers “No Scrubs,” “Unpretty,” “Creep,” and “Waterfalls” to the reggae fusion artist’s “It Wasn’t Me,” “Boombastic,” and “Angel.” With over 85 million records on their ledger worldwide, TLC is the best-selling American ‘girl group’ of all time and highlighted by Billboard as the seventh most successful artist of the 1990s. They became the first female group to earn a Diamond Award in record sales with 1994’s CrazySexyCool. Similarly, Shaggy is the only Diamond-selling dancehall artist in music history with more than 40 million albums moved. Including 2000’s number-one Hot Shot, four of his albums have been top-40 hits, and he ranks among the top three streamed reggae artists on Spotify.

For more information, visit Ravinia.org.

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