| Grant Park Symphony Orchestra | |
|---|---|
| Symphony orchestra | |
 Grant Park Music Festival at thePritzker Pavilion | |
| Short name | Grant Park Orchestra |
| Founded | 1944 (1944) |
| Location | Chicago, Illinois |
| Principal conductor | Carlos Kalmar |
| Website | Official website |
TheGrant Park Symphony Orchestra or simply theGrant Park Orchestra is a publicly sponsoredsymphony orchestra that provides free performances in theGrant Park Music Festival during the summer months inMillennium Park inChicago, Illinois.[1] Its sister organization is theGrant Park Chorus; the orchestra andchorus hold both joint appearances and separate performances.
The orchestra was founded in 1944 and the chorus in 1962.[2] In 1944, the orchestra was formed under the direction of Walter L. Larsen andChicago Symphony Orchestra manager George Kuyper.Rudolph Ganz conducted the first concerts.[3] In 1978, when thePetrillo Music Shell was relocated, the Orchestra became part of a tradition ofIndependence Day Eve concerts accompanied byfireworks and attended by well over 100,000 spectators.[4] Their rendition ofPyotr Tchaikovsky's1812 Overture marked the culmination of the event and was choreographed to be synchronous withhowitzer blasts and acrescendo of fireworks.[5]Chicago MayorJane Byrne wanted to put an end to the large Independence Day Eve concert in order to reduce costs and differentiate herself from her predecessors, but was convinced not to by Grant Park Music Festival concert manager Steven Ovitsky.[6] One year, Byrne celebrated the event withMuhammad Ali at her side.[7]
In 2000, the Festival reached an agreement withCedille Records to record the Grant Park Orchestra. It produced six CDs during the decade:[8]
At the end of the Grant Park Music Festival season in August, the Orchestra andCarlos Kalmar presentedPulitzer Prize-winning composerJohn Adams'On the Transmigration of Souls, which was written at the request of theNew York Philharmonic to honor the victims of theSeptember 11 attacks. Adams won the Pulitzer Prize in 2003 for that particular work.[15]
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