ESO named 2017 Community Orchestra of the Year
For immediate release March 15, 2017
Community Orchestra of the Year
Evanston Symphony Orchestra
Lawrence Eckerling, Music Director
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Larry: “Especially since this is a Beethoven year, this riveting finale of his String Quartet Op. 59 #3 is captured with an equally riveting video.”
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2020–2021 SERIES: 75th Anniversary
Musical Insights
Free Pre-Concert Preview Series!
Friday, October 23 at 1:30 pm
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, October 23 at 1:30 pm,
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
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.
SHOP and Support the ESO!
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.
Latest news
Improved Pick-Staiger Access
Breaking news (1/19/2015): Arts Circle Drive, leading up to Pick-Staiger Concert Hall, is now fully open. You can drive all the way up to the entrance now to drop people off. Both levels of the parking garage are open, with exits at the east and west ends.
If you park on the upper level, the eastern pedestrian exit is now on the same level as Pick Staiger. There are no steps at all between the parking and the concert hall, and no hill to climb.
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ESO videos
We are happy to share videos of previous concerts with you until we can get back to sharing live concerts with you.
Where Have I Heard This Before?
Ferdinand (Ferde) Grofé (1892-1972) was born in New York City and came from a long line of classically trained musicians. He was a part of an American orchestral music wave in the early 20th century that began to incorporate jazz, folk, and more complex harmonies into orchestral compositions. Gershwin might be the most recognizable name from this time, and Grofé and Gershwin were contemporaries and colleagues. Grofé is the orchestrater of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue.
All That Jazz
George Gershwin was already a popular Broadway songwriter by the time his Rhapsody in Blue premiered on February 12, 1924. This revolutionary work exploded onto the music scene and launched the young composer’s star into the stratosphere. Walter Damrosch, the conductor of the New York Symphony, was in the audience for that first performance, and a short time later he approached Gershwin about composing a piano concerto and serving as the work’s first soloist.
Diverse All-American Pieces and Composers
Called “riotously funky” by the Chicago Tribune, Jonathan Newman’s Blow It Up, Start Again was commissioned by the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra and premiered in 2012 at Orchestra Hall in Chicago. The piece continues to be performed by orchestras around the world. Trained as a pianist, trombonist, and singer, Newman’s music incorporates many styles from classical to jazz, and everything in between.
A New Favorite Soulful Evanston Tradition
The Evanston Symphony Orchestra is delighted to again welcome the popular Evanston Symphony Holiday Gospel Choir led by Reverend Ken Cherry for the sixth year in a row! The Evanston Gospel Choir will perform "Oh, What a Pretty Little Baby." This is the first time they will perform this piece with full orchestra. The orchestration of this piece was graciously funded by the Evanston Arts Council.