Photo by Jean Lachat
Sophia Janevic, Digital Communications Coordinator for the Department of Music, was recently featured in UChicago News for performing at Lollapalooza this past August. Janevic was joined on stage by Molly Long, a former staff member at UChicago's Data Science Institute and current grad student at the Harris School of Public Policy. The two performed in a string quartet alongside ian, a viral rapper.
Read an excerpt of the article below, and click here to read the whole feature by Benjamin Ransom in UChicago News.
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As enthusiastic festival-goers filled Grant Park, Molly Long and Sophia Janevic stood backstage at Lollapalooza in an unexpected uniform: sweatpants and bathrobes.
Across the way, they'd watched rapper A$AP Rocky run his sound check. Now, violins in hand, they prepared to walk onstage before 10,000 festival-goers—a far cry from the quiet concert halls where they'd spent most of their classical training.
"Waiting for the song that we were featured on and going out onto stage was so out of my comfort zone, and such a cool opportunity, that I didn't feel very nervous," Long recalled. "I just felt excited to be on this big stage and see all the kids moshing in the front."
The path to this moment had begun with an email. Long, who then oversaw the Summer Lab program at UChicago's Data Science Institute, and Janevic, a marketing professional at the University's Music Department, had responded to a call for musicians that had reached Jennifer Woodrum, the department’s artistic operations manager.
One thing led to another, and they found themselves performing in a string quartet at Lollapalooza with ian, an American rapper who has recently gone viral with his blend of trap, hip-hop and hyperpop. On top of it all, ian's team chose a playful wardrobe inversion—the rapper in a suit, and the classically trained musicians in loungewear.
“It was so surreal,” said Janevic. “I've been going to festivals and concerts for nine years now, so to be on the other side of that was a really great, crazy perspective.”