Welcome to Over The Rainbow Association

"She's almost too good to be true—a vital artist, a beautiful woman, a regal presence," proclaimed the Washington Post about mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves. "Always a gorgeous eyeful," raved The Boston Globe. ". . . a remarkable mezzo . . . a singer whose tones run from the depths to the peaks, unforced, unpushed," said The Financial Times of London.

Denyce Graves’ clear, powerful voice and brilliant smile continue to charm critics and audiences alike, wherever she performs. This year, the tremendously exciting vocalist makes her fifth appearance in a CELEBRATION concert on behalf of Over The Rainbow Association.

Ms. Graves has won legions of fans in the great opera houses and recital halls on four continents. Her acclaimed performances of the title roles in Carmen and Samson et Dalila have made her the world’s most sought-after mezzo. She has sung these signature roles at the Metropolitan Opera, Vienna State Opera, Royal Opera-Covent Garden, San Francisco Opera, Opera National de Paris, Lyric Opera, The Washington Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Zurich Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Dallas Opera, Los Angeles Opera, and elsewhere.

Ms. Graves’ 2003–04 schedule includes September appearances at the Los Angeles Opera (in La damnation de Faust with Samuel Ramey) and at Santa Fe in a solo recital. In October, she travels to the Opera de Puerto Rico and sings in recitals at several prominent U.S. universities. In November, Ms. Graves will sing recitals at Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center and with the Los Angeles Philharmonic; and will sing Carmen in Munich. December through April, she will perform in Prague, Dallas, Ottawa, London, Berlin and Palm Beach.

Samuel Ramey

Samuel Ramey’s magnificent bass voice has been thrilling CELEBRATION audiences since his first appearance in 1998. He enjoys equal renown around the world. Following a recital by Mr. Ramey at Carnegie Hall, a review in the New York Daily News read, “It’s doubtful anyone else today could sing such extensive and demanding numbers . . . with such beauty of tone, interpretative acumen and staying power.” Of his portrayal of Olin Blitch in Susannah at the Metropolitan Opera, The Record asserted, “If dark chocolate had a sound, it would be Ramey’s voice.”

The 2003–04 season finds Mr. Ramey at the Los Angeles Opera performing with Denyce Graves and in a gala season-opening concert at the New York Philharmonic. He also performs at the San Francisco Symphony, in Boston (for a duo recital with Frederica von Stade), at the San Francisco Opera, Seattle Symphony, Metropolitan Opera (in Tosca and Nabucco), the Opera de Paris (in La damnation de Faust and Bluebeard’s Castle), and in Tosca at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden. Most notably for Chicago fans, Mr. Ramey will sing Faust at the Lyric Opera in November and December.

The frequently recorded Mr. Ramey has collaborated with every major conductor of his generation, including Claudio Abbado, the late Leonard Bernstein, James Conlon, Sir Colin Davis, Valery Gergiev, James Levine and the late Sir Georg Solti. His performances are frequently televised on “Live from the Met,” “Live from Lincoln Center” and other PBS presentations.

Richard Leech

The charismatic American tenor Richard Leech returns to CELEBRATION after a year’s interruption. But few in the 2001 audience will forget his diversion from the classical and popular repertoire, for which he is best known. When he emerged with guitar to demonstrate his mastery of the folk genre, he not surprisingly brought down the house.

Richard Leech has been called “A National Treasure” in the press. His interpretations of demanding roles of the Italian and French repertoire are legendary. Since his 1994 Carnegie Hall debut, Mr. Leech’s career has soared. In 1989, he first sang at the Met in La Boheme, after which the New York Times exclaimed, “Mr. Leech’s warm, sunny lyric tenor is the genuine article.”

With the Lyric Opera, he has sung Madame Butterfly, Tosca, Carmen and Faust. When he sang Faust with Renee Fleming, Dmitri Hvorostovsky and Samuel Ramey, the Chicago Tribune termed the cast “The Dream Team.” Mr. Leech has sung leading roles in virtually every major opera house across the United States, Europe and Japan under the baton of the world’s greatest conductors. He sings the operas of Verdi, Puccini, Donizetti, Gounod, Bellini, Berlioz, Bizet, Boito, Offenbach and Johann and Richard Strauss. In orchestral performances, his range includes Bach, Handel, Mozart, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, among many others.

One of Mr. Leech’s most popular endeavors is his tribute to Mario Lanza, in which he sings “Because You’re Mine,” “Be My Love,” “Without a Song,” “O sole mio,” and many more beloved Neapolitan songs. Bravo on the return of Richard Leech to CELEBRATION.

Nancy Gustafson

Were it not for soprano Nancy Gustafson, CELEBRATION concerts would be an elusive dream. For it is she who has brought friends from the world of opera to Evanston for the past 13 years to sing in celebration of Rainbow’s services to men and women with physical disabilities.

Ms. Gustafson has frequently traveled from engagements abroad to appear in CELEBRATION. She is in demand by Europe’s major opera companies, including the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, La Scala, Naples, Turin, the Bastille Opera, Vienna, Hamburg, Frankfurt, Munich and Barcelona, among others. She also has sung with the BBC Symphony Orchestra. In the U. S., Ms. Gustafson has appeared in leading roles at the Metropolitan, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Houston and Lyric Operas.

Ms. Gustafson has won rave reviews in concert, with performances of Idomeneo, Strauss’s Four Last Songs and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the London Symphony Orchestra. Her recordings include Das Rheingold under Christophe Von Dohnanyi, Mahler’s Symphony No.2 under Zubin Mehta, La Boheme under Kent Nagano, and Pavarotti and Friends 2. She recently recorded The Czarevitch and, with past CELEBRATION favorite Jerry Hadley, The Land of Smiles.

During 2003–04, Ms. Gustafson will sing in a new production of Nicholas and Alexandra with Placido Domingo and M. Rostopovich at the Los Angeles Opera. She will make concert appearances in Geneva with the Suisse Romande, in Munich with the Bavarian Radio Orchestra, and in Germany and the Canary Islands with Frederic Chaslin. She will perform in recital with Kristin Okerlund at Mt. Holyoke College and also sing major roles in Pique Dame and Dialogue des Carmelites in Hamburg.

Nathan Gunn

The CELEBRATION audience enjoyed an up-close and personal glimpse of Nathan Gunn, who in 2002 sang for the first time to benefit Rainbow. Everyone agreed that the rising young baritone left them begging for more.

Chicago Tribune’s music critic John von Rhein wrote this of Mr. Gunn’s University of Chicago recital in April: “It was good to discover that Nathan Gunn is as comfortable in the intimate world of German lieder as he is in playing hunky operatic leads. His beautiful, softgrained baritone poured from him without a hint of forcing, while his German diction was good enough to fool a native speaker. Vocally, Schubert’s narrative cycle . . . fit his voice like a lambskin glove.”

Mr. Gunn made his Lyric Opera debut in the title role of Billy Budd and later sang the role of Anthony in Sweeney Todd at the Lyric. Other recent performances include the title role of Thomas’ Hamlet at Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Marcello in La Boheme in a Hollywood Bowl concert, Guglielmo in Cosi fan tutte at the Opera Company of Philadelphia, Demetrius in A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Met, and Harlekin in Ariadne auf Naxos at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden. He also has performed at the Glyndebourne Festival and has frequently collaborated with the late Robert Shaw—at Carnegie Hall, in Minnesota and Cincinnati and abroad.

Mr. Gunn’s recordings include Cantata Profana, Grammy-winner Dona nobis pacem, A German Requiem with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, and American Anthem, which includes folk music by young American songwriters.

Accompanist Kristin Okerlund

Kristin Okerlund has been a solo coach/accompanist at the Vienna State Opera since 1993 and currently teaches at the Vienna Conservatory of Music. She collaborates regularly with soprano Nancy Gustafson, among other major opera stars, and the day before Rainbow’s CELEBRATION 2003 she will accompany Ms. Gustafson in concert at Mt. Holyoke College.

Ms. Okerlund studied at the St. Louis Conservatory of Music, the University of Illinois and the Vienna Conservatory of Music. She is a sought-after soloist, chamber musician and accompanist who has performed in the U.S., throughout Europe, and in Japan and Nigeria. Recently she recorded with Heidi Brunner, Bertrand de Billy and the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra and appeared in a chamber music series with members of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. Rainbow welcomes this outstanding musician to CELEBRATION.

BENEFIT CHAIR SCOTT HARDING LENDS ENERGY, DIVERSITY TO EVERY EFFORT

As co-founder, chairman and CEO of Newspaper Services of America, Outdoor Services and the Wahlstrom Group, Scott Harding oversees the country’s leading newspaper, out-of-home media and yellow pages buying agencies. Founded in 1991, the company places more than $1.8 billion in advertising annually.

As CELEBRATION 2003 Chair, Mr. Harding says, “With Rainbow on the threshold of a new barrier-free apartment building, this event must be a great artistic and financial success that will partially fund Rainbow’s present and future developments. We look forward to introducing to CELEBRATION a wider audience of concert-goers, donors and advertisers.”

Over The Rainbow Association enthusiastically welcomes the leadership of Scott Harding.

NEW TECHNOLOGY TO FACILITATE GREATER INDEPENDENCE

For twelve years, Hill Arboretum residents have worked at wheelchair-accessible workstations within Arboretum Business Center, a facility attached to the apartment building. There the residents have learned to use sophisticated technology, enabling the Business Center to provide personalized business services to numerous clients.

Now Rainbow is going to offer wireless, highspeed Internet technology to individual apartments for residents’ personal and business use. Helping people with physical disabilities to help themselves is a constant goal of Over The Rainbow Association.


Val Nora	Roger Campfield

As Rainbow Executive Director Eric Huffman continued to pursue new apartment project opportunities for Over The Rainbow Association, two deeply appreciated, summertime fundraisers lent financial support to the pre-development process.

LAKE FOREST RESIDENTS INVITE FRIENDS TO CONCERT BY SYLVIA MCNAIR IN PRIVATE HOME

Lake Foresters Susan Sharpe and Ken Lock and Beth and Brad Busscher surprised Rainbow with a great idea. To build support for Rainbow projects, Susan and Ken offered to open their spectacular home on July 15 to a group of 140 friends and neighbors who would come to hear soprano Sylvia McNair sing an outdoor recital of popular American song by Jules Styne, George Gershwin, Richard Rodgers, Leonard Bernstein and Jerome Kern. As shown in these photos, it was a grand night for singing.


Co-chairs Ken Lock, Susan Sharpe, Beth and Brad Busscher, with Sylvia McNair (center).	Rob Thomson, Peg Thomson, Marguerite Hark and Lucy Thomson.

Beth and Brad Busscher, with David and Kathy Kennedy.	Sylvia McNair, accompanied by Ted Taylor, singing to a rapt crowd.

WHAT A FESTIVE NIGHT AT RAVINIA!

A very special evening was made possible by a generous donation from Newspaper Services of America. Friends of Rainbow gathered under the stars at the Ravinia Festival for wonderful food, wine, and music on June 21.

Following a reception and sumptuous buffet dinner, guests proceeded to the pavilion to hear a performance of Beethoven’s Triple Concerto and Corigliano’s Symphony #1, featuring Rachel Barton on violin. A huge thanks to NSA and to all the patrons who made this glorious evening such a great success.