• LAKESIDE POPS CONCERT

    Free Admission

    Wednesday, August 24, 2022
    6:30–7:30 PM
    Wallace Bowl, Gillson Park
    Wilmette

    FREE!

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  • Announcing Our 2022–2023 Season

    Spotlight on Women Artists

    Subscribe Today*

    Save more than 30%
    and get the best seats

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    Download Brochure

  • 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.

     

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2022–2023 SERIES: Spotlight on Women Artists


Evanston Symphony Announces Auditions for Principal Horn

The Evanston Symphony will hold auditions for principal horn of the Evanston Symphony Orchestra on September 8, 2022.

Learn More and Apply today!

Download the 2022–2023 Season Brochure!

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Musical Insights

Free Pre-Concert Preview Series!

, 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 take you on an insider’s tour of the history and highlights behind the music.

Maestro Lawrence Eckerling will explore the concert program in depth.

The Merion
Friday, at 1:30 pm,
Merion's Emerald Lounge at
1611 Chicago Avenue at Davis Street, 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.

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.

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Latest news

In Memoriam: David Ellis

David Ellis in 2012, receiving an award

It is with sad and heavy hearts that we announce that David Ellis, the ESO’s General Manager, passed away on July 26, 2022, following heart complications. Our sympathy and care go out to Marcia, his wife, and their sons, Michael, Matthew, and Peter, for the depth and pain of their loss.

David was our General Manager for 18 years. He knew all of our musicians and all of our patrons, including their seat numbers! His knowledge of classical music was second to none and his love of this music was always appreciated at our Musical Insights lectures.

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Celebrating Wilmette’s 150th birthday with a free outdoor concert

Summer 2021 ESO Pops Concert, Wilmette

Wednesday, August 24th, 6:30 pm — Wallace Bowl, Gillson Park, Wilmette.

The Evanston Symphony Orchestra is teaming up with the Wilmette Sesquicentennial committee to perform another free outdoor pops concert on the lakefront. Bring your whole family for this hour-long concert featuring show tunes, movie music, a hoe-down and Sousa’s Washington Post. We even have a piece arranged by Percy Faith, once one of Wilmette’s illustrious residents. Baker Demonstration School is partnering with us to provide free children’s activities before and during the concert, including an instrument petting zoo. Come along and enjoy the music on our beautiful lakefront.

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Health & Safety

The Evanston Symphony Orchestra (ESO) has adopted protocols to protect your health and safety at performances. These policies are in effect as of September 2021 for 2021-2022 ESO subscription series concerts and will be reviewed regularly to follow the latest public health mandates and recommendations.

  • Proof of Vaccination and Boosters Required
  • Children under 12 may attend Holiday Concert if accompanied by a vaccinated adult.
  • Mask Requirement
  • Distancing
  • Risk Assumption
  • Exchange Policy

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Evanston Symphony Announces Auditions for Principal Horn

The Evanston Symphony will hold auditions for principal horn of the Evanston Symphony Orchestra on September 8, 2022.

There are some important things to know before you audition.

We rehearse on Tuesday nights 7:30-10pm.  We expect attendance at all rehearsals.

Rehearsals of concert week are Tuesday, 7:15-10 pm, and Saturday, usually at 12:30-3:30 pm. These rehearsals are mandatory.

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Pen Pals

When Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) began composing Symphony No. 4 in F Minor between 1877 and 1878, he wanted to dedicate the piece to Nadezhda von Meck, a patron of the arts who supported him financially. The two never met in person, but they would write letters to each other discussing Tchaikovsky’s music as their friendship developed over their correspondence. While Tchaikovsky was typically a harsh critic of his own works, he was very proud of Symphony No. 4, as indicated by his letters to von Meck. In fact, Tchaikovsky wrote, “dedicated to my best friend” on the piece.

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Mozart and the Golden Age of Music in Vienna

The middle of the 18th century was a magical time for music in the city of Vienna. By the 1780s, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Josef Haydn, and Christof Gluck had ushered in Vienna’s first golden age of music. When Mozart wrote his 23rd piano concerto there in 1786, the city was bustling and alive with music. Beethoven and Schubert would carry this golden age into the next century.

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The Composer and the Poet

In 1809, Ludwig van Beethoven received a commission from Joseph Hartel, manager of the Court Theaters in Vienna, to compose the overture and incidental music to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s tragic play, Egmont. Hartel sought to bring plays by Goethe and Schiller to the theater, and Beethoven was only too eager for the opportunity to set a work by the leading German intellectual of the time and one of the composer’s personal heroes to music.

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