On the morning of the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony's 2025-26 season launch earlier this month, principal violinist Allene Chomyn wasn't holding a bow.

Instead, she was holding a can of hairspray while perfecting a Kitchener bride's updo.

"I was styling hair for a wedding in the morning and performing at night."

The orchestra filed for bankruptcy in 2023 and abruptly cancelled its season just four days before it was set to begin, leaving Chomyn and other musicians out of work.

As a result, Chomyn said, she "ramped up" her hairstyling business.

She had done freelance hairstyling for over a decade, mostly in summers when the symphony wasn't in session. But when the bankruptcy hit, she called PearlGirlMakeup. The Waterloo business, which had once invited her to join, took her on right aw

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