Music Director Allen Tinkham and the CYSO onstage at Lollapalooza 2025 (Photo: Forestt LaFave)
On a perfect summer evening, the backstage of the Petrillo Music Shell was overrun by red t-shirts. Amidst DJ sets, generator hums, and the steady murmur of migrating concert goers, a group of young musicians unpacked cases of orchestral instruments. Some chatted excitedly with peers; others walked back and forth, running through their trickiest passages.
It’s a scene these kids are used to, not dissimilar from their typical orchestral concerts. You’d never guess by looking at them that they were about to play one of the biggest music festivals in the United States.
The night of August 2, 2025 marked the very first time an orchestra played a solo, mainstage set at Chicago’s Lollapalooza. And the Symphony Orchestra of the CYSO was the group to do the honors. Lollapalooza, a four-day music festival, attracts an estimated 400,000 people every year and often hosts the biggest names in contemporary music. Headliners this year included Olivia Rodrigo, Doechii, and even Korn.
Lollapalooza honored the orchestra by giving them one of the festival’s most desirable timeslots: 7:30 pm on Saturday night, golden hour, playing right before international K-pop sensation TWICE. It was by far the largest crowd the CYSO has ever played to: music director Allen Tinkham was given an estimate of 60 to 70 thousand people in the audience half an hour before the group took the stage.
CYSO ensemble members pose with Japanese songwriter Fujii Kaze, who played prior to the orchestra’s set. (Photo: Forestt LaFave)
This performance at Lollapalooza was the culmination of the CYSO’s incredibly busy summer, coming off a season finale at Symphony Center, a free concert at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion, and multi-city tour of Spain. Rehearsals for Lollapalooza spanned multiple hours, yet even during the group’s dress rehearsal, energy was electric. “I love having the chance to bring classical music to such a large audience, especially in a context they might not be used to” 17-year-old violist Chloe Cohen beamed to WFMT. Certain alumni of the CYSO’s program were also invited back for this unique chance to perform at Lolla, as well as alumni of WFMT’s Introductions: pianist/composer Zachary Guo, pianist/cellist Angelika Wang, and violinist Clara Frantzen, to name just a few.
One of the most difficult aspects of the CYSO’s preparation for Lollapalooza was the physical setup, explained program manager Reanna Panlilio. Between taping out the stage, moving lighting rigs, and setting up dozens of microphones, it’s no easy task to accommodate an orchestra on a stage normally meant for solo or small groups. “We only have about 30 minutes to make the transition,” remarked Reanna, “so every detail had to be as efficient as possible.” Any worries turned out to be unrealized however; Saturday brought with it some of the best weather of the festival, and staff moved methodically to get the orchestra situated onstage.
Curious concertgoers started filtering in as the 7:30 pm start time approached. Then, trumpets sang out the first few notes of Richard Strauss’s iconic Also sprach Zarathustra, immediately capturing everyone’s attention. The crowd quickly grew in size and volume, cheering every time the orchestra hit an epic, drawn out chord. It set the mood for a different sort of orchestral concert experience, one in which claps and hollers during moving melodies fueled the orchestra’s performance.
Throughout the night, the Symphony Orchestra of the CYSO moved through an ambitious program, combining excerpts from classical music’s greatest hits alongside lesser known compositions and contemporary works. Jonathan Bailey Holland, Dean of the Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University, gave a few words to the crowd regarding his piece Party Starter, which the orchestra played following the Montgomery Variations by Margaret Bonds.
Music Director Allen Tinkham and the CYSO onstage at Lollapalooza 2025 (Photo: Forestt LaFave)
Perhaps most surprising was the hushed quiet that came over the crowd during Barber’s Adagio for Strings. Music Director Allen Tinkham chuckles recalling the pushback he had initially received for adding the piece to the program. “Barber? People were asking me — how’s that going to work at a rock’n’roll concert with all the nuance [it requires].” But Tinkham had the perfect comeback. “I would tell people, every band has their power ballad. And this is ours. I think people will dig it.” And dig it they did, with voices and hands being raised in appreciation of the piece’s beautiful climax.
The orchestra demonstrated its versatility — and reached out to its audience — by venturing past purely classical rep. Tinkham wanted to prepare a special piece, one reimagining music from past Lollapalooza lineups. “The thing I was most concerned about on this program was not the classical music… but not to be lame,” laughed the CYSO Director. “There’s nothing lamer than an orchestra playing a weak arrangement. I knew Brian Baxter would be able to get the job done.” Baxter, a composer who has long worked with CYSO, cooked up a pop medley that the group debuted to raucous applause. Audiences recognized snippets from Lollapalooza’s biggest headliners: Lady Gaga, Metallica, and even Chappell Roan, which brought on some of the biggest cheers of the night. As soon as the audience recognized the first few notes of Roan’s hit “Hot to Go!” people young and old burst out in song: “H-O-T T-O G-O…”
It’s a moment the CYSO Board of Directors started dreaming about 10 years ago. When the orchestra and festival organizers finally met for the first time in 2024, they quickly found a common desire: to create a show that would uplift Chicago’s own. “They worked very hard to find a slot that would put the ensemble on the pedestal they deserved,” mentioned CYSO’s Artistic, Education, and Innovation Officer Saurab Bhargava. “We were really humbled and awed at their efforts to make sure that the students had a world-class moment.”
By the time the orchestra approached their final work, the sun had set, and large swathes of people hovered around the periphery of the crowd. Yet even those intent on simply passing by couldn’t help but turn their heads when the orchestra launched into their grand finale. Phones came out and cheers rippled through the crowd as audience members recognized the iconic opening lines of John Williams’s suite from Star Wars.
As the first orchestra to perform its own Lollapalooza show, the CYSO did more than just warm up the crowd for a long night of music and partying — they were a reminder for many that classical music, often overlooked in mainstream settings, can be just as exciting and diverse as other genres on the festival stage.
WFMT listeners can tune in for classical music highlights from the program, as well as interviews with some of the students, on a special episode of Introductions August 23rd at 11 am CT.
