Heather Headley Works Magic With a Wide-Ranging Songbook Winningly Ba…

Heather Headley performs at the Ravinia Pavilion on July 16, 2023. (Patrick Gipson / Ravinia Festival)

Whether she is performing songs from a Broadway musical, a familiar hymn or a gospel classic, Heather Headley (who was born in Trinidad, came to the U.S. in her teens and graduated from Northwestern University) possesses a voice and personality that can easily mesmerize an audience. And so she did Sunday night with a grand-scale performance that brought together a huge number of people both inside and outside the Ravinia Pavilion on an ideal summer evening.

Headley was superbly backed by the ever-exceptional Chicago Symphony Orchestra (deftly conducted by Marin Alsop), as well as by guest pianist Ron Colvard, the exuberant Voices of Trinity Mass Choir, the young singers of the Ravinia Lawndale Family Music School, and to top it all off, special guest Rodrick Dickson, the magnificent opera tenor.

But perhaps the most notable aspect of the evening was the way Headley (a recipient…