Yu Long and Shanghai Symphony Orchestra perform on Ravinia Festival Photo: Courtesy of Shanghai Symphony Orchestra

Ravinia Festival magazins covered with Yu Long on the shelf in the Ravinia Park in Chicago Photo: Courtesy of Shanghai Symphony Orchestra

Audiences of Ravinia Festival in Chicago on August 15 Photo: Courtesy of Shanghai Symphony Orchestra

The Shanghai Symphony Orchestra made their debut at the Ravinia Festival in Chicago on Thursday.

The Ravinia Festival is one of the most famous outdoor classical music festivals in North America. Many famous musicians including, Leonard Bernstein, Isaac Stern, Luciano Pavarotti and Yo-Yo Ma have performed at the festival. Chinese pianist Lang Lang shot to fame overnight after he performed at the festival in 1999 at his age of 17.

This was the orchestra's second stop on its 140 Anniversary World Tour. Similar to its first stop at the Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts in Vienna, Virginia, the orchestra, under the baton of Chinese conductor Yu Long, kicked off its performance with Wu Xing by Chinese composer Chen Qigang, followed by Cello Concerto in B minor, Op. 104, B. 191 by Antonín Dvořák and Symphonic Dances by Sergei Rachmaninoff.

Yu, also the orchestra's music director, once conducted the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at the Ravinia Festival in 2007. He praised the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, saying it had helped introduce classical music to China and Asia.

"The Chicago Symphony Orchestra has visited Shanghai several times. This time, I want to help audiences in Chicago get to know the 'sound of Shanghai,'" Yu told media before the Chicago performance.