2014 Holiday Concert Press Release

ANNUAL ESO HOLIDAY CONCERT CONTINUES BELOVED TRADITION OF BRINGING TOGETHER LOCAL ARTS GROUPS TO CELEBRATE THE SEASON

EVANSTON, IL – The Evanston Symphony will continue its revered tradition of collaborating with arts groups from throughout Evanston and the North Shore to celebrate the holiday season.

“The annual Evanston Holiday Concert is one of the year’s most enjoyable and thoroughly inclusive arts events of the year, bringing together hundreds of local instrumentalists, singers and dancers to put on a wonderful show designed to entertain people of all ages,” said Evanston Mayor Elizabeth Tisdahl.

This year’s Holiday Concert returns to Evanston Township High School at 3 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 7 and features the symphony in collaboration with the North Shore Choral Society, Elements Contemporary Ballet, Evanston Children’s Choir and the ede2 troupe of the Evanston Dance Ensemble.

Even Santa will get into the act, leading the audience in a sing-along of favorite Christmas carols.

Orchestral numbers will include James Stephenson’s Holiday Overture, with delightful arrangements of Deck the Hall, Oh Chanukah, I Have a Little Dreidel, O Christmas Tree, Away in a Manger, Jingle Bells, Up On the Housetop and Good King Wenceslas.

The orchestra will also perform an arrangement of Mel Torme’s “The Christmas Song” (known more familiarly as “Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire”), and Leroy Anderson’s famous Sleigh Ride, the exhilarating romp that concludes with the well-known horse-whinnying trumpet.

The North Shore Choral Society will join the ESO in Stephenson’s new “Magnificat” and Handel’s always crowd-pleasing “Hallelujah Chorus” from Messiah. And the NSCS and the ESO will be joined by the Evanston Children’s Choir in a version of “O Holy Night.”

Elements Contemporary Ballet, accompanied by the ESO, will dance to orchestral selections from Handel’s Messiah.

The Evanston Children’s Choir will perform the jazzy choral piece Five-Sided S’vivon (Dreidel) and accompany the ESO in the “Waltz of the Snowflakes” from Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Ballet.

The Evanston Dance Ensemble’s ede2 group will perform Mozart's “Sleigh Ride” and the audience will join the orchestra for Finnegan’s “Sing-a-long” of beloved Christmas songs, led by none other than Santa himself.

The Evanston Symphony Holiday Concert takes place 3 p.m. Sunday, Dec 7 at Evanston Township High School auditorium, 1600 Dodge Ave. in Evanston. For more information, and to take advantage of early pricing discounts by ordering tickets in advance, visit www.evanstonsymphony.org or call 847-864-8804.

Editors: Journalists are welcome to tape and photograph the concert dress rehearsal, at which all the participating arts organizations will be practicing, starting at 7:15 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 2, in the auditorium of Evanston Township High School, 1600 Dodge Ave. in Evanston. Please call ESO General Manager David Ellis at the above number to confirm.