Wednesday’s (8/6) Violin Channel includes an article that reports, “The flagship Symphony Orchestra from the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestras (CYSO) performed a landmark 45-minute solo evening set at Lollapalooza 2025 in Grant Park last weekend. This performance was the first time in Lollapalooza history that an orchestra performed solo on one of the festival’s main stages, which have routinely featured hip-hop, techno, and alternative rock performers. Previously, in 2007, CYSO had become the first orchestra to perform at Lollapalooza, accompanying rock band My Morning Jacket. Led by Music Director Allen Tinkham, the orchestra preceded the headliner and played for its biggest ever audience in works including Strauss’s Also Sprach Zarathustra, the Star Wars theme, and Symphonypalooza—a mash-up of previous headliners’ songs from Lollapalooza…. ‘They asked us to participate in the festival, and we said, “Who do you want us to back up?” They said, “No, no, no. We want to do something different—we want to tell a story about music education in Chicago and creating the next generation of leaders … That is actually our mission,’ Tinkham told WGN9…. CYSO trumpeter Bennett King said, ‘Being able to bring classical music [to Lollapalooza] was exciting, as it brought a new genre of music to the festival.’ ”
