Kelli O’Hara, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Deborah Voigt, Rufus Wainwright, et al. Set for Chicago Symphony Orchestra Residency at Ravinia Festival

Guest artists have been announced for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s 2011 summer residency at the Ravinia Festival, July 7-August 19.

Broadway stars Kelli O’Hara and Brian Stokes Mitchell, opera singer Sylvia McNair, and pianist Kevin Cole will perform at a gala benefit evening entitled The Great Gershwin–Here to Stay on July 23. James Conlon will conduct the concert.

Among the highlights of the residency is opera soprano Deborah Voigt singing major arias by Wagner, Beethoven, and Richard Strauss on July 9. Puccini’s Tosca will be performed on July 30, with Patricia Racette in the title role, Bryn Terfel as Scarpia, and Salvatore Licitra as Cavaradossi.

Singer/songwriter Rufus Wainwright will perform his original settings of Shakespeare’s Sonnets with the CSO, co-commissioned by Ravinia Festival, on August 14. The evening will also feature other music inspired by the bard as well as a fuller folk-rock concert by Wainwright.

Additional artists performing as part of the CSO residency will include Emanuel Ax, The 5 Browns, Robert Chen, Christoph Eschenbach, Leon Fleisher, Miriam Fried, Jeffrey Kahane, Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman, Alexander Romanovsky, Christoph von Dohnányi, André Watts, and the Chorus of the National Opera of Ukraine

For more information, visit www.ravinia.org.