Encore Chamber Orchestra

The Encore Chamber Orchestra is a specialized training and performance orchestra for talented young musicians from the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestras who aspire to be career professionals. Currently led by Music Director Allen Tinkham, Encore has amazed audiences throughout the Chicago area. Performances over the last several seasons include: the Chicago Amateur Piano Competition, the City of Chicago’s CelticFest, the Chicago Humanities Festival, Ravinia Festival, Millennium Park,Chicago Cultural Center, Field Museum, Adler Planetarium, and several collaborations with the Salt Creek Ballet presenting Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker at The Center for Performing Arts at Governors State University.

The Encore Chamber Orchestra has toured internationally and was the first-ever youth orchestra to perform at the National Concert Hall in Budapest, Hungary. The orchestra has also shared the stage with violinist Rachel Barton Pine on the nationally broadcast series, From the Top. Encore helped to launch the grand reopening of the Chicago History Museum, an event that included a special performance of Aaron Copland’s Lincoln Portrait, narrated by award-winning journalist Bill Kurtis.

The Encore Chamber Orchestra has played for such dignitaries as President George H. W. Bush, Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, and Mayor Richard M. Daley.