"My favorite song by Leonard Bernstein that not too many people know."
Enhance your concert experience with a sneak preview — Composers come alive and their passions take center stage when ESO General Manager David Ellis and ESO Maestro Lawrence Eckerling take you on an insider’s tour of the history and highlights behind the music.
Meet our soloist, Kariné Poghosyan, at Musical Insights. She and our Maestro Lawrence Eckerling and David Ellis will explore the October concert program in depth.
Friday, Postponed TBD,
The Merion Crystal Ballroom at
1611 Chicago Avenue at Davis Street, Evanston.
FREE and open to the public.
Please RSVP to 847-562-5318.
Light refreshments will be served and casual tours of newly renovated apartments will be available after the program.
Give the gift of music by ordering directly from our website and purchasing a custom gift certificate in any denomination of your choice! Certificates may be redeemed for single ticket or season subscriptions for any of our concerts.
You will receive an electronic gift certificate or we can mail the certificate to you or directly to the recipient.
Are you looking to buy a gift for someone at Amazon? Need to stock up on supplies from Amazon?
Amazon has a special program called Smile, where the company donates a small amount of your purchase to your designated charity. Once you select the ESO as your Smile recipient, just point your browser to smile.amazon.com each time you want to shop at Amazon and the Evanston Symphony will benefit. It won’t cost you a thing!
Thanks, and happy shopping.
June 25, 2020, Evanston, IL —With the COVID-19 pandemic continuing throughout the US and the world, the Evanston Symphony Orchestra and Music Director Lawrence Eckerling have announced changes to the 2020-2021 season.
The Illinois Council of Orchestras is pleased to announce the 2020 recipients of its annual awards for excellence in the field of music performance and for support of musical organizations. An awards panel of judges drawn from the Illinois Council of Orchestras Board of Directors and independent professional conductors and musicians reviewed nominations representing orchestras, youth orchestras, and chamber ensembles from throughout Illinois.
…Community Relations of the Year, Evanston Symphony Orchestra
All of us at Evanston Symphony Orchestra hope that you, our generous and loyal patrons, are safe and well. As you likely have heard by now, the Evanston Symphony Orchestra announced the cancellation of the remainder of our 2019–2020 season on March 26th. We take the safety and health of our artists, staff and especially our audience very seriously, yet this was an incredibly difficult decision, as we were very excited to present our March and May concerts.
If you have never been to one of our regular concerts and are anxious about the cost, do ask at the main Evanston library for tickets to our concerts that can be 'checked out' at no cost. We hope you enjoy our concerts and come back regularly after that.
The Evanston Symphony Orchestra now offers three different program books at our subscription concerts so all can enjoy the concert to the full. We have KidNotes to help younger audience members learn about the concert and include puzzles and other 'fidget-reducing' activities. We also offer large-print programs for patrons with reduced eyesight, and then our regular program books, all of which contain so much information to help you enjoy the concert.
We are happy to share videos of previous concerts with you until we can get back to sharing live concerts with you.
Since April, the Evanston Care Network—a collaboration between the Evanston Community Foundation, Evanston 311, the Evanston Public Library, and the City of Evanston—has worked to address pandemic-related problems in our community, with one group focused on problems affecting seniors that are intensified by shelter-in-place protocols: social isolation, depression, monotony, boredom. An idea developed by the group was a senior activity packet to be delivered electronically or in printed form.
All ESO subscription concerts are free for children 12 and under—a great opportunity to develop appreciation of symphonic music at an early age. Tickets for kids over 12 and college students with ID are $5. The original idea for KidNotes came from the desire of the ESO Board to encourage parents to bring kids to concerts. Recognizing the need to address the potential “fidget factor” in grade- and middle-school students during concerts, KidNotes started in 1997 as an eight-page booklet.
Rick Greene’s big sister was a horn player and music major at St. Olaf College, so it was no surprise he followed in her footsteps. Rick started horn lessons in fifth grade and when it was clear that he loved the instrument, his father bought him his own horn. “Learn to play that well,” his father said, “and you’ll be playing for a lifetime.” Prophetic words indeed!
What is or was your "day job”? Retired from medical practice 22+ years ago and from music teaching one year ago.
Most memorable performance with ESO: Too many to name just one.
Biggest challenge during the COVID-19 lockdown: Dealing with the sameness, restriction, and boredom of living in a gated retirement community.
It has been my privilege and pleasure to be a member of ESO this past decade. Looking toward a 15th commemoration.
