• Our Next Concert

    Moving Movie Music

    Sun., April 7, 2023, 2:30 p.m.

    Williams

    Morricone

    Clinton
    with Holly Mulcahy, violin
    Allegrezza Singers
    LaRob K. Rafael, Narrator

    Barber

    Gershwin

    Holly Mulcahy, violino
  • ESO’s
    Share The Stage

    Share the Stage lets you sponsor a chair in the Orchestra. It’s our way of recognizing that the ESO Community is made up of Orchestra Members and Supporters.

  • Our Next Concert

    Soaring Sax and Dvorak’s 8th

    Sun., June 2, 2024, 2:30 p.m.

    Dvořák

    Dukas

    Tomasi
    with Steven Banks, saxophone

    Dvořák

    Steven Banks, saxophone

2023–2024 SERIES: Feel The Passion

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Musical Insights

Free Pre-Concert Preview Series!

April 5, Friday, at 1:30 pm

Enhance your concert experience with a sneak preview — Composers come alive and their passions take center stage when ESO Maestro Lawrence Eckerling takes you on an insider’s tour of the history and highlights behind the music.

Meet our soloist, Holly Mulcahy and Composer George S Clinton, at Musical Insights. They and our Maestro Lawrence Eckerling will explore the concert program in depth.

 

The Merion
Friday, April 5 at 1:30 pm,
Merion's Crystal Ballroom at
529 Davis St, Evanston.
FREE and open to the public.
Please RSVP to 847-570-7815.

Light refreshments will be served and casual tours of apartments will be available after the program.

Give the gift of music

Treat a friend or relative to the ESO

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.

Latest news

Young Persons' Concert on March 9

This one-hour concert at Pick-Staiger is the ideal introductory orchestral concert for children 5–13 years, but will also be fun for parents and grandparents. The concert is designed to show the wonderful storytelling nature of music.

The ESO will perform the ever-popular The Sorcerer’s Apprentice by Paul Dukas and also pieces like the Superman March by John Williams, and the delightful Mozart piece for strings only — Eine Kleine Nachtmusik.

Also on the program:

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Health & Safety

Masks, vaccinations, and testing are no longer required to attend ESO concerts. However, after discussion with our expert physician consultant and given the recent rise in COVID, flu and RSV infections in the Chicago area, the ESO encourages masking during the concert. As always, we ask that if you are sick, please stay home to prevent the spread of illness. The ESO continues to monitor COVID and will adapt this policy as needed.

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The Romance of a Bygone Era

John Williams was born in New York City in 1932, the son of a jazz drummer, Johnny Williams. The Williams family moved to Los Angeles in 1948, where John attended North Hollywood High School. He studied composition privately and for a short time at UCLA before being drafted into the U.S. Air Force. During his service, he arranged band music and began conducting.
 

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Passionate and Energetic Symphonic Dances

Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943) was born into a musical family in the rural village of Semyonovo. He studied piano and composition at the Moscow Conservatory, graduating in 1892. A famous composer and virtuosic pianist, he also spent several years conducting, becoming conductor of the Bolshoi Theatre in 1904. After the Russian Revolution, he and his family settled in New York in 1918. 

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An Armenian National Treasure

Aram Khachaturian is an Armenian national treasure. He was born to an Armenian family in Tbilisi, Georgia, in 1903 and is considered a leading composer of the Soviet Union. According to music historian Harlow Robinson, "his proletariat origins, non-Russian ethnic origins, and Soviet training [made him] a powerful symbol within the Soviet musical establishment.” 

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A Birthday Gift

Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975), the Russian composer known for his many symphonies, chamber works, and concerti studied piano and composition at a young age. He achieved more success as a composer, and therefore his public piano performances were often of his own pieces. 

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