Hanson making Chicago Symphony debut at Ravinia Friday

Surround yourself with star power and do what you do best: Make beautiful music.

On Friday, Aug. 12, he hopes to do just that when he takes the baton at his first ever Ravinia Festival, leading the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for his first time in a concert featuring superstars violinist Joshua Bell and trumpeter Chris Botti. 

The concert marks debuts for Botti and Hanson with the Chicago orchestra; of course Bell has been a regular there for years.

And for years, he was a regular in Tucson, appearing with Hanson behind the podium on several occasions. Those were breathtaking concerts that live on in the hearts and memories of the members of the sold-out audiences.

Botti has never played with the TSO, but he was in Tucson for a show at Fox Tucson Theatre in April. 

Since leaving the TSO after 19 seasons in spring 2015, Hanson became director of the Tucson Desert Song Festival and was named in May as the permanent guest conductor and artistic advisor of Orquesta Filarmónica de Sonora in Hermosillo, Mexico. He also runs the Sunriver Music Festival in Oregon, which is on now through Aug. 18 in Bend, Oregon.

Several TSO musicians have appeared in that event. Ex-TSO Concertmaster Steven Moeckel and TSO flutist Alexander Lipay are among the musicians for this year's event.