The Ravinia Festival in Highland Park will undergo a $75 million, multi-year transformation of its 36-acre music campus over the course of the next several years, leading up to the outdoor venue’s 125th anniversary in 2029, it was announced Thursday.
This marks the first such all-encompassing renovation since the iconic park, with its Prairie School architecture and sprawling lawn/picnic areas, opened in 1904 as a summertime “high-end amusement park” and music-venue escape from the congestion of Chicago at the turn of the century.
Phase one of the project, already underway, includes a complete renovation of the 3,500-seat pavilion. While its signature roof will remain, a new stage, seating, lighting and state-of-the-art acoustics system are planned. Backstage areas/amenities will also be renovated and updated. The new pavilion, designed by Chicago-based Lohan Architecture (which has designed the entire project), is set for completion in 2026.
An artist’s rendering details the new Ravinia Hunter Pavilion’s seating and stage.
Funding for the project will come from a “Setting the Stages” campaign, which has already received a $10 million gift from the Hunter Family Foundation for what will be the new Hunter Pavilion, and a $21 million donation from the Negaunee Foundation for the new Negaunee Foundation Artist Center backstage/artists’ area. Another $20 million in funding has been received through efforts of the board of trustees, said Ravinia CEO and President Jeffrey P. Haydon, when reached by phone Thursday.
The remaining on-site venues — the Sandra K. Crown Theater, the Martin Theatre, Bennett Gordon Hall, and the outdoor Carousel —will undergo their own renovations in successive years, and will include new stages and upgraded patron amenities.
“The construction projects will be done in two phases,” Haydon explained. “Currenty we are working on all the behind-the-scenes infrastructures including the loading docks. Audiences [out front] will notice one big improvement this season, which are the updated restrooms on the stage left side of the pavilion. All the really big changes will be visible and in place for the 2026 season.”
A 2026 season opening night concert by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra with Ravinia’s chief conductor and curator Marin Alsop on the podium will officially inaugurate the new pavilion.
To accommodate the pavilion project’s timeline, the 2025 season will close out at the end of August, a few weeks earlier than usual, which “hopefully buys us an extra month of good construction weather in Chicago,” Haydon said with a chuckle. The 2026 season will have a delayed start until July of that year to allow for an additional six weeks of good construction weather that spring.
Haydon also noted that the old pavilion seats will be sold off (much like ballparks have done in the past), and pieces of the stage’s wood floor will also be available via an organized sell-off because “anybody who’s anybody has stood and performed on that stage.”
In subsequent phases the North Lawn will be updated with a new giant video screen and improved sound system, and the dining pavilion will also see improvements.
Haydon praised Lohan Anderson architect Michael Barnes, whose design for the pavilion will be taking shape over the next few years.
“[Michael] studied under the school of Mies van der Rohe and has been very thoughtful about looking at the architectural language of Ravinia Park. … He’s created a breathtakingly beautiful design for the pavilion, which respects the history and iconic shape of it but elegantly brings it into the 21st century in a classic way.”
The park hosts more than 400,000 fans each year attending more than 100 concerts celebrating multiple genres of music, from classical and jazz to pop and country. Ravinia has long-been the official “summer home” of the CSO as well. This year’s season runs June 1- Aug. 31.
