Ravinia's 2019 presentation of iconic conductor Leonard Bernstein's little-seen music theater masterwork Mass will be shown as an installment of the PBS series Great Performances on Friday, May 15, at 9 p.m. on PBS ( including on Chicago's WTTW, Channel 11 ), PBS.org/gperf and the PBS Video app.
The presentationfeaturing more than 200 onstage artists, including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Vocality, a cast of "street singers," and even a local high school marching bandwas a repeat performance from the previous year, when Ravinia President/CEO Welz Kauffman and Chief Conductor/Curator Marin Alsop first unveiled it.
A virtual "panel discussion" will be livestreamed on Ravinia's Facebook page just prior to the broadcast, beginning at 8:15 p.m. For this talk, Alsop and Kauffman will be joined by Tony-winning singer/actor Paulo Szot ( South Pacific ), who starred in the central role of the celebrant in both Ravinia performances, as well as Chicago Children's Choir Artistic Director Josephine Lee and Highland Park High School Band Director Joshua Chodoroff. WFMT Vice President and General Manager George Preston will moderate the panel.