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gpmf.org2 0 1 6 G R AN T PA R K MU S I C F E S T I VA L
TODAY’S GRANT PARK
MUSIC FESTIVAL
Look around at tonight’s
concert and you’ll see a rich
rainbow of concert-goers
from all over.
You’ll see Chicagoans who
work in the Loop and
tourists who just happened
upon Millennium Park and
decided to stay for the
concert. There are families
with toddlers getting their
first taste of classical music;
picnickers on a first date
and couples who have been coming to the Grant Park Music Festival since its earliest
days on the south end of Grant Park.
Today, in the beautiful, state-of-the-art Jay Pritzker Pavilion, the Festival is indeed a
gathering place for residents and visitors in the heart of downtown Chicago. They’ll
share the setting with the Festival’s Artistic Director Carlos Kalmar, Chorus Director
Christopher Bell and the Grant Park Orchestra and Chorus, who offer ten weeks of
diverse and innovative symphonic programming…all for free.
The Grant Park Music Festival is also an incubator for emerging talent, and each
year it expands its professional training programs for young musicians. As part of its
Festival Connect
initiative,
Project Inclusion
fellows and
Apprentice Chorale
singers
are mentored and provided with performance opportunities, both on the Pritzker
stage as well as in the neighborhoods.
The orchestra and chorus also head out to the parks each summer, as part of Mayor
Emanuel’s
Night Out in the Parks
program, and will no doubt play to packed houses
at the South Shore Cultural Center and Columbus Park Refectory in July.
Whether in the neighborhood parks, or downtown at the Pritzker Pavilion, over
300,000 people will gather each summer to hear the music presented by the Grant
Park Music Festival. For those
who can’t make it, eleven
concerts will be broadcast on
98.7WFMT and streamed live
online. Once again, the Grant
Park Music Festival will create a
shared community, connecting
people of all backgrounds to
symphonic music.