Former "Rising Star" pianist Jade Simmons Plans for Magical Return to Ravinia

On August 16th, Jade Simmons, described by the Washington Post as a "clear, powerful pianist with a magnetic personality...worth seeing any time" hopes to bring some of that magnetism to Bennett Gordon Hall as she returns to Ravinia.
By: Jade Media PR
 
July 23, 2012 - PRLog -- On August 16th, pianist Jade Simmons will make her return to the prestigious Ravinia Festival in a riveting program designed to tickle the fancy of Classical connoisseurs and musical adventure seekers alike. Simmons has more than a few strong ties to Chicago. She received her undergraduate degree in Piano Performance from Northwestern University where she co-founded the school's crazily popular percussion and dance ensemble Boomshaka. While there she went on to become Miss Chicago, Miss Illinois and ultimately 1st runner-up at the 2000 Miss America pageant choosing the issue of youth suicide prevention as her national platform. Jade has performed with the Chicago Sinfonietta in Symphony Hall and served as Artist-in-Residence at the University of Chicago where her younger sister and volleyball standout, Isis Smalls, led the team for the first time in the school's history to the NCAA tournament during both the 2010 and 2011 seasons.  But it was in 2008 that Jade made her debut on the Ravinia Rising Stars Series in a concert that Chicago Magazine predicted would be "hot stuff". Now in 2012, she returns to the storied festival to show that her star has risen indeed.

Thursday, August 16th at 6pm marks Jade's return to the Bennett Gordon Hall stage where she'll be putting her trademark eclectic programming style on display. Under the theme of The Paganini Project, Simmons will show off her dazzling command of mood and color in a virtuosic program that both embraces and stretches the boundaries of Classical music. From the stage, she'll give commentary on her program that highlights three sets of Paganini variations by Franz Liszt, Robert Muczynski and Fazil Say surrounded by Rachmaninoff warhorses, including his Corelli Variations and the infamous C-sharp Minor Prelude. The boundary-pushing part of the program is the concluding portion featuring an original work for piano and electronics called Electronic Improvisations on a Tune by Rachmaninoff (featuring sketches from the aforementioned Prelude in C-sharp Minor) performed by Jade on piano controlling the electronics from her Macbook.

Jade's appearance is in partnership with Ravinia's Teacher's Institute. A serious advocate for the arts in education, Jade will present to a group of classroom teachers who have been participating in the Institute's Musical Discovery Program. Her topic will be "Effortless Arts Integration in the Mainstream Classroom".

Often recognized for her innovative and engaging use of social media, Simmons and Ravinia will join forces to host a unique social media meet-up immediately following her Ravinia performance. For more info on the meet-up, check Jade Media for details soon: http://jademedia.org/. See the full detailed concert listing here on the Ravinia website: http://www.ravinia.org/ViewDate.aspx?show=448

Simmons maintains a diverse career with a balance of traditional recitals, orchestral appearances, residencies and creative concept concerts in alternative venues. In 2011, she served as artist-in-residence at Georgia Tech University, was the webcast host for the legendary Tchaikovsky International Music Competition in St. Petersburg, Russia and ended the year with a performance at the White House. She maintains a variety of blogs including Emerge Already! about career-building for emerging artists and writes on the arts for the Huffington Post. She'll return in 2013 as the face of the XIV Cliburn Piano competition's webcast in Ft. Worth, TX next May. Most recently, Jade launched her own record label called Superwoman Records and will release a genre-smashing EP called Playing with Fire featuring works for Piano/Wurlitzer and Electronics in September 2012. Currently, the first single off of the EP, Boss's Nova, is available as a free download here: http://www.cdbaby.com/AlbumDetails.aspx?AlbumID=jadesimmo...

Purchase tickets for Jade's Ravinia concert here: http://www.ravinia.org/ViewDate.aspx?show=448
 
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