Ravinia and Tanglewood Music Festivals to Reopen for Outdoor Concerts

After a long year of cancelations, the Ravinia Music Festival and the Tanglewood Music Festival will return to outdoor stages this summer

Ravinia will return with outdoor-only concerts held in their pavilion this July. The festival will feature its usual lineup of classical, popular, and chamber music. Ravinia has stated that along with open-air outdoor concerts, distanced seating, reserved-in-advance ticketing, lower audience capacity, and reduced artists on stage will be implemented to prioritize a healthy environment for everyone.

"Ravinia believes that music and the arts are an essential part of the personal, artistic, and economic recovery from this past year," Ravinia President and CEO, Jeff Haydon said. "Our 36 acres of outdoor space provide the perfect setting for a healthy and inspiring experience for all of our guests."

Tanglewood will also be hosting outdoor-only concerts this July, but the festival will be shortened to six-weeks with concerts being shortened to 80-minutes without intermissions. The Boston Symphony Orchestra released that the 2021 season will continue with contactless ticketing, major cleaning protocols, and mask-wearing with social distancing.

The music director of the BSO, Andris Nelsons, is hopeful the summer will be just what Tanglewood patrons need after a nearly 16-month hiatus.