The Way We Listen Now

A friend of mine just sent me the schedule for the Ravinia Festival and this item caught my eye:

https://www.ravinia.org/ShowDetails/1559/reentko-dirks

He is categorized as "classical guitar" and seems to be an up and coming artist as I have never heard of him. He has the male model looks that seem to be de rigueur these days:

But it was the description that really got to me:

A versatile virtuoso of the guitar, Reentko Dirks blends such classics as the “Love Theme” from Cinema Paradiso and Ariel Ramírez’s “Alfonsina y el mar” with rock and funk from the likes of The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, and Queen as well as flamenco and other traditional music.

I don't think there is a single item there that could be described as "classical." The Callisto Quartet are also booked, but it seems they are playing typical string quartet repertoire, Beethoven et al. For some reason I thought the Ravinia Festival was a classical music fest. Did it used to be such? Wikipedia says:

Ravinia Festival is the oldest outdoor music festival in North America and is lauded for presenting world-class music. The festival attracts about 600,000 listeners to some 120 to 150 events that span all genres from classical music to jazz to music theater over each three-month summer season. Over the years, the festival has hosted many famous artists. In addition to symphony concerts, often with guest soloists, the festival presents opera, jazz, blues, folk, rock, and popular music performances, plus ballet, drama, and educational programs which take place year-round.

So it seems that it has for a long time been a concatenation of different genres. Not that there is anything wrong with that. Reentko Dirks is not, however, playing a program that resembles in the slightest a classical guitar program. I would describe it as "lite melodic fusion funk." With chest hair.

Meeouwww!