Evanston Symphony Orchestra offering special holiday show for people with special needs, by Chris Gillock
Dec. 14 performance will welcome those who vocalize, move and have different ways of experiencing music
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Join the Evanston Symphony Orchestra for an inclusive celebration of Holiday music. Our shortened holiday concert welcomes those who vocalize, move, and have diverse ways of experiencing music.
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2025-2026 SERIES: The POWER of Music
Musical Insights
Free Pre-Concert Preview Series!
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.
Maestro Lawrence Eckerling will explore the concert program in depth.
Friday, at 1:30 pm,
Merion's Emerald Lounge 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
So Long, John Russell—and Thanks!
Retired ESO timpanist John F. Russell was born in Gloucester, England. His parents worked in a nursing home there until an American relative in Cicero offered his father work and housing. Britain was rebuilding after World War II, and good jobs were scarce, so the family packed up and came to the States when John was 4 years old.
June 2025 concert videos
Please enjoy these wonderful videos from our June concert.
Ko-Eun Yi playing Ravel's Piano Concerto in G Major.
William Grant Still: Mother and Child.
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Special Inclusive Holiday Performance
The ESO is proud to announce a new Very Special concert. Like the regular Evanston Symphony Holiday concert, this also takes place on December 14th at Evanston Township High School. This 45-minute concert welcomes those who vocalize, move, and have diverse ways of experiencing music. We also welcome their families. Click here for more details.
Charm and Passion
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was born on May 7, 1840, in Votkinsk, a small town in Vyatka Governorate within the Russian Empire. He had five brothers and one sister, with whom he was very close. He was initially educated for a career as a civil servant. Still, when the opportunity to study music arose, he took full advantage and entered the newly formed Saint Petersburg Conservatory, graduating in 1865.
Written For a Friend
Of all the pieces Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) wrote, his Clarinet Concerto is the only one of its kind that he composed shortly before his death. Often described as Mozart’s “swan song,” the concerto was written for his friend, Anton Stadler, who performed in many of Mozart’s symphonies and operas. Stadler also inspired another one of Mozart’s popular works, the Clarinet Quintet, for two violins, viola, cello, and, of course, the clarinet.
Enchanting a Mythical Forest
Stacy Garrop is a contemporary American composer whose music often tells stories drawn from myth, history, and lived experience. Based in Chicago, she has built a reputation for writing works that are both dramatically expressive and immediately accessible to audiences. Her career began in academia, with degrees from the University of Michigan, the University of Chicago, and Indiana University, followed by a long tenure teaching composition before she turned her full attention to freelancing.