The Pavilion at Ravinia Information

Starting out as an amusement park, the Ravinia Festival started in 1911 when the local residents formed a corporation to purchase the park, making music a regular occurrence from then on. Taking its name from the ravines of Lake Michigan nearby, The Ravinia Festival holds the prestigious title of the oldest music festival in the United States, attended by around 600,000 music lovers to see the 150-200 events hosted here every year. It is also one of the longest-running, with events taking place from June through September every year. Spread out across 36 acres of arkland and lawn, the festival has three main venues: the Martin Theatre, the Bennett Gordon Concert hall, and the Pavilion.

The Pavilion at Ravinia is an open-air, covered venue with 3,400-seats. Since 1936, it has played proud host to none other than the Chicago Symphony Orchestra every summer, as well as providing a vast array of performances including opera, pop, blues, jazz, and country in addition to year-round ballet, drama and educational programmes.

Visitors should note that The Pavilion is an open-air venue. Lawn-ticket buyers will only be able to see the stage by standing at the back or along the sides of the Pavilion.

For parking information please see the The Pavilion at Ravinia parking page.

For ticket information and information on our recommended ticket provider please see the The Pavilion at Ravinia tickets page.

To view the seating configuration and find out about accessible seating, please see the The Pavilion at Ravinia seating chart.