MIRIAM FRIED SAYS FAREWELL TO RAVINIA’S PIANO & STRINGS

Ravinia Steans Music Institute (RSMI)—Ravinia Festival’s distinguished summer training program for young professional voice, jazz, piano, and string musicians—enters its 36th season this June on a bittersweet note, saluting world-renowned violinist Miriam Fried for her 30-year leadership of the Program for Piano & Strings as she prepares to step down as program director of the artistic oasis for classical instrumentalists at summer’s end.

The Program for Piano & Strings is an international destination for young professional pianists and string players devoted to honing and advancing their talents as collaborative artists. The five-week tuition-free program, which takes place between June 18 and July 22 this summer, provides life-changing studies and performance opportunities with a rotating faculty of some of the world’s leading classical musicians, including Fried.

For more than 20 years, Fried has selected a handful of alumni to join her on a national tour in the spring to showcase the “uncommon polish and energy” (Washington Post) that arises from each artist after their RSMI fellowships, focused on timely, emotive works in the ever-growing chamber music repertoire. This March, the tour resumed with its first performances since 2019, featuring Fried with five award-winning alumni in concerts on their home stage at Ravinia, as well as at Carnegie Hall in New York and the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.

Over the decades, Fried has trained numerous musicians who have gone on to distinguished, often award-winning, careers and credit her as an integral part of their training and success.

“We’re pleased to salute our own Miriam Fried, the director of the Steans Music Institute Piano & Strings program, who concludes her three-decade-long tenure in that role this summer,” says Ravinia Festival President and CEO Jeff Haydon. “We look forward to honoring Miriam and her countless contributions to the world of classical music in a special tribute concert on July 20, with a salon of favorite music and memories from RSMI alumni, including the Ariel Quartet, pianist Henry Kramer, violinist Ayano Ninomiya, and cellist Karen Ouzounian.”

Fried herself will be featured on other Ravinia Festival dates this summer, including as the leader of a master class on June 28, on a program of Ultimate Brahms and Haydn with fellow RSMI faculty on July 1, and as a soloist on Brahms’s concerto with Marin Alsop and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra on July 15.

Fried has been recognized for years as one of the world’s preeminent violinists, with accolades like the grand prizes of the Paganini and Queen Elisabeth Competitions. A consummate musician—equally accomplished as a recitalist, concerto soloist, and chamber musician—she has been lauded for her passion and technical mastery. Fried has played with virtually every major orchestra in the United States and Europe and has been a frequent guest with the principal orchestras of Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, New York, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh, as well as with the Israel Philharmonic, the London Symphony, the Royal Philharmonic, and the Vienna Symphony.

For a complete listing of Ravinia’s summer concerts and more information about Fried’s appearances, visit ravinia.org.