Ravinia Festival

Ravinia Festival
One of the entrances to Ravinia Festival
Location(s)	Highland Park, Illinois
Coordinates	42°9′29″N 87°46′37″W / 42.15806°N 87.77694°W / 42.15806; -87.77694[1]
Years active	1904–present
Founded by	Chicago and Milwaukee Electric Railroad
Website	www.ravinia.org

Ravinia Festival is an outdoor music venue in Highland Park, Illinois.^[2] It hosts a series of outdoor concerts and performances every summer from June to September. The first orchestra to perform at Ravinia Festival was the New York Philharmonic under Walter Damrosch on June 17, 1905, with the Chicago Tribune praising its "musical entertainment so satisfying in quality and so delightful in environment."^[3] It has been the summer home of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) since 1936.^[4] Located in the Ravinia neighborhood, the venue operates on the grounds of the 36-acre (15 ha) Ravinia Park, with a variety of outdoor and indoor performing arts facilities, including the architectural prairie style Martin Theater. The Ravinia 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.^[2]

The Ravinia neighborhood, once an incorporated village before annexation in 1899, is actively maintained by the Ravinia Neighbors Association, who work to enhance and preserve Ravinia's architecture, history, and environment.^[5] The business district on Roger Williams Ave., within walking distance from the Ravinia Festival grounds, includes neighborhood service businesses and restaurants.^[6] Ravinia takes its name from the numerous steep-sided ravines that slice the shoreline near Lake Michigan.^[5]