Other highlights of Ravinia's 2007 classical season include Mahler's Fifth and Sixth Symphonies and a concert performance of Madama Butterfly starring Patricia Racette. This summer's Ravinia gala will offer a rare concert performance by Plšcido Domingo.
Now 56, Conlon is music director of the Los Angeles Opera and of the Cincinnati May Festival (the oldest choral festival in the U.S.). From 1995-2004 he was principal conductor at the Op_ra national de Paris, and over his career he has been a guest conductor at almost every major orchestra and opera company in Europe and North America. He has appeared at the Ravinia Festival dozens of times over the years, and became music director there in 2005, succeeding Christoph Eschenbach.
Located a short train ride north of Chicago, Ravinia is the oldest music festival in North America. It has been the summer home of the Chicago Symphony since 1936.