On Thursday night, votive candles dotted the workstations at branding company Gerard Design. See-through damask wallpaper covered the windows to its conference rooms, and feathery chandeliers hung above its fax machines and copiers. For the company’s holiday celebration for 150 clients and employees, principal Carolyn...

Two new restaurants are slated to open in the Civic Opera House on September 30. On the ground floor, a former bank will house the Sarah and Peer Pedersen Room. Spruced up with Art Deco flourishes, the 72-seat venue—named after Peer Pedersen, a member of...

At Saturday evening’s Ravinia gala, hosted by the music festival’s women’s board, some 800 guests joined the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in singing the “Star-Spangled Banner.” The patriotic moment kicked off a performance of another all-American composition, Aaron Copland’s “Lincoln Portrait,” and underscored the evening’s “Bicentennial...