Union League Club of Chicago honors Distinguished Musician Kurt Elling

On September 30, Kurt Elling and pianist and Ravinia Festival President/CEO Welz Kauffman were inducted as Distinguished Musicians by the Union League Club of Chicago, America’s #1 City Club.
The Union League Club of Chicago established its Distinguished Artists program in 1997. The purpose of the program is to honor select Chicago-area artists for their contributions to both the visual arts and the community. In 2002, the Club extended the program to include authors and musicians. Internationally known, the artists who have been inducted into the program choose to make Chicago their home and continue to contribute to the cultural well-being and world-class status of the community.

This year’s honorees join the ranks of prior recipients, including Nicole Cabell, Augusta Read Thomas, Nancy Gustafson, Ramsey Lewis, Rachel Barton Pine, Samuel Ramey, James Palermo, and Josephine Lee.

As the Chicago Sun-Times reported, the evening “featured performances by the Chicago’s Children’s Choir, Lincoln Trio and Ravinia Jazz Scholars — plus the world premiere of a Ramsey Lewis piano solo, played by Kauffman, and the Ravinia head honcho accompanying Elling in Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue.”

Many congratulations to these two Distinguished Musicians who’s contributed so much to Chicago — Kurt Elling and Welz Kauffman!