Inside Grant Park Music Festival's Annual Advocate For The Arts Award Benefit

By Elizabeth Desir By Elizabeth Desir | March 16, 2023 | Parties Culture

Music reigned supreme at the Grant Park Music Festival’s annual Advocate for the Arts Award Benefit fundraiser hosted at the Fairmont Chicago, Millennium Park.

More than 450 guests attended, including notables like Grant Park Music Festival artistic director and principal conductor Carlos Kalmar; former ABC7 TV anchor Ron Magers and his wife, Elise; Emmy Award-winning writer/producer and former Chicago Tribune journalist Howard Reich; and more. Guests were treated to live performances conducted by acclaimed pianist Michelle Cann and the festival’s 2022 string and vocal fellows, such as Gabriela Lara, Jesus Linarez, Wilfred Farquharson and Lindsey Sharpe.

Educator and pianist Norman Malone and national law firm Epstein Becker Green were honored for their contributions and support of Chicago’s art and cultural communities at the event. Over $800,000 was raised to benefit the festival’s 10-week season of free classical music concerts at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park and to support Festival Connect, education and community engagement programs in Chicago and the surrounding areas.

String fellows performed for the rapt audience.