Ravinia summer 2026 season programming and pavilion updates announced

The Ravinia Festival, North America’s longest-running outdoor music festival, has announced its summer 2026 season, which includes the 90^th annual residency of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO). This season also sees the opening of the updated and redesigned Hunter Pavilion, honoring Maxine M. and Thomas B. Hunter III. The elevated design and acoustic improvements to the Hunter Pavilion will offer a new and enhanced experience for concertgoers at Ravinia. 

To inaugurate the Hunter Pavilion, Ravinia’s Chief Conductor Marin Alsop leads the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in a grand reopening gala concert on July 11 that features Yunchan Lim playing Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G major and a special appearance by Lizzo. Proceeds from the evening hosted by the Ravinia Women’s Board benefit the organization’s Reach Teach Play® programs.

The CSO’s annual six-week concert residency also features the Ravinia debut of Zell Music Director Klaus Mäkelä in concerts on August 6 and 7 featuring Strauss’ Alpine Symphony and Stravinsky’s complete score to the Firebird, a work that Mäkelä conducted in his 2022 CSO debut. Former Ravinia Festival Music Director James Conlon returns to lead the orchestra, soloists and chorus in a semi-staged production of Mozart’s The Abduction from the Seraglio on July 16 & 18 in the Martin Theatre.

Ravinia’s observance of the 250^th anniversary of America’s Declaration of Independence, includes programs that highlight a wide range of artists, genres and reflections on American music. This includes concerts across two days when Alsop and the CSO give the July 31 Midwest premiere of a co-commissioned work, Good News Mass, by composer Carlos Simon, featuring librettist Marc Bamuthi Joseph performing spoken word. And, on August 1, celebrated American pianist Emanuel Ax — who marks the 50^th anniversary of his CSO debut this year — joins Alsop and the Orchestra for John Williams’s new concerto with each movement an homage to a jazz icon.

Other soloists making their Ravinia debuts with the CSO this summer include Gramophone’s 2025 Young Artist and Instrumentalist of the Year María Dueñas in a July 19 performance of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto and Daniel Lozakovich performing the Sibelius Violin Concerto with Mäkelä and the CSO on August 6.

“The grand opening of the Hunter Pavilion marks a historic milestone for Ravinia,” says President and CEO Jeffrey P. Haydon. “It is particularly meaningful that this state-of-the-art venue will serve as the inaugural stage for our debut artists, including conductor Klaus Mäkelä, Ricky Martin, Miranda Lambert, Alabama Shakes, Rod Stewart and many others. We are finding that the pavilion’s enhanced acoustics and sophisticated production capabilities are a powerful draw for world-class talent eager to perform in a venue that doesn’t just host music but creates an atmosphere that leaves both artists and audiences equally inspired.”

"We are finding that the pavilion’s enhanced acoustics and sophisticated production capabilities are a powerful draw for world-class talent eager to perform in a venue that doesn’t just host music but creates an atmosphere that leaves both artists and audiences equally inspired.”
-- Ravinia President and CEO Jeffrey P. Haydon

Other CSO highlights this season include appearances by six-time Grammy winner St. Vincent (July 25), an evening with Broadway’s Bryonha Marie and Noah Ricketts (August 2), a celebration of legendary composer/producer Quincy Jones (August 13) and an appearance by polymathic conductor and producer Steve Hackman (August 14). The return of the Breaking Barriers Festival is curated by Alsop and composer Laura Karpman with a July 25 program that champions women who have composed music for film, including Shirley Walker, Hildur Guðnadóttir, Rachel Portman, Natalie Holt and Chanda Dancy. Capping the CSO’s 90th summer residency on August 16 is the nearly 50-year Ravinia tradition of an all-Tchaikovsky evening, including the composer’s ever-popular 1812 Overture and a performance of the Violin Concerto with Stella Chen as soloist.

In keeping with Ravinia’s longstanding tradition of presenting a wide array of artists across many musical genres, the 2026 lineup offers such legendary performers and vital contemporary voices as Paul Simon, Gladys Knight, Bonnie Raitt, Brandi Carlile and Jacob Collier, as well as acclaimed artists such as Hugh Jackman, Rod Stewart, Kool & The Gang, Chance the Rapper, Ricky Martin, Alabama Shakes and Ray LaMontagne, who make Ravinia debuts this summer.

Tickets go on sale only at Ravinia.org beginning Thursday, April 23, with donors able to request tickets as early as Tuesday, March 17.