Jay Pritzker Pavilion
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Andrew Bird performed at the pavilion in September 2008.
instruction at the McCormick Tribune Plaza & Ice Rink. Among the highlights of the 2010 calendar is the screening of the BBC's nature documentary Planet Earth Live on July 21, with live Grant Park Symphony Orchestra accompaniment featuring the score by five-time Academy Award-winning composer George Fenton, who serves as conductor. Among the artists who performed with the festival at the pavilion in the first decade of the 21st Century are sopranos Karina Gauvin and Erin Wall, tenor Vittorio Grigolo, pianist Stephen Hough, violinists Rachel Barton Pine, James Ehnes, Roby Lakatos, Christian Tetzlaff, and Pinchas Zukerman, and vocalists Otis Clay, Mariza, and Maria del Mar Bonet. All rehearsals at the pavilion are open to the public and well-attended. The
festival is represented by a staff of trained guides, called docents, that field questions and provide educational talks during the rehearsals. Besides these public functions, the pavilion is available, as is the entire park, as a venue for private events year-round. The stage's glass and steel doors enable it to provide indoor space protected from the elements when necessary. In addition, the pavilion has a Choral Rehearsal Room that can be rented. Critics have said that Jay Pritzker Pavilion is the highlight of Millennium Park. Fodor's travel guide described it as the park's "showstopper" and "stunning", praising its stainless steel and sound system, as well as the variety of events it hosts. Time called the pavilion "dynamic" and recommended it as one of two must-see attractions in the park, while one New York Times writer found herself standing "agog" at what appeared to her to be a "celestial gateway to another universe" and a frame for the sky. Lonely Planet travel guide called the pavilion the anchor of the park, and the 2004 Year in Review issue of Time described it as the park's crown jewel. USA Today described the bandshell as a landmark and the centerpiece of Millennium Park. Another critic described the pavilion as the "most spectacular structure to go up in early-twenty-first-century Chicago". According to the Financial Times, the bandshell's acoustics are unparalleled compared to any contemporary outdoor venue. Critics say that musicians have
Reception