• Our Next Concert

    Russian/Armenian Dances

    Sun., February 11, 2024, 2:30 p.m.

    Khachaturian

    Shostakovich
    with Rick Ferguson, piano

    Rachmaninoff

    Rick Ferguson, piano
  • Free Young Persons’ Concert

    Sunday, March 9, 2024
    2:30 pm, Pick Staiger Concert Hall

    Music by John Williams, Paul Dukas, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Daniel Dorff followed by Flying Theme from E.T. by Williams plus The Wild Western Frontier and Double Trouble performed by Evanston District 65 orchestra students playing side-by-side with Evanston Symphony musicians

    FREE!
    Donations Requested

     

    Learn More

  • 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.

2023–2024 SERIES: Feel The Passion

  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  

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 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.

 

The Merion
Friday, 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

Health & Safety

At this time, masks, vaccinations and testing are no longer required to attend ESO concerts. To prevent the spread of any illness, if you are sick, stay home. You may contact our General Manager, Michelle Pranger, on 847-864-8804 to reschedule your tickets for another concert this season. The ESO continues to monitor COVID, and adapt this policy as needed.

Learn More!

Program notes for all ages

The Evanston Symphony Orchestra now offers three different program books at our subscription concerts so all can enjoy the concert to the full. We have KidNotes to help younger audience members learn about the concert and include puzzles and other 'fidget-reducing' activities. We also offer large-print programs for patrons with reduced eyesight, and then our regular program books, all of which contain so much information to help you enjoy the concert.

Learn More!

ESO receives generous bequest

The Evanston Symphony Orchestra has received a generous bequest from the estate of Anne Dow Weinberg. Ms. Weinberg regularly attended our concerts and was a good friend of Rick Greene, one of our longest serving French Horn players. Ms Weinberg is now a member of our KeyNote Society. Membership in the KeyNote Society is a reflection of the highest individual commitment to the future of the Evanston Symphony Orchestra.

Learn More!

Pages

A Passionate Pastoral Symphony

Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) was a German composer of the mid-romantic era. He was born in Hamburg but spent much of his life in Vienna. At a young age, he learned to play the violin and the basics of the cello. At age 7, he studied piano with Otto Friedrich Willibald Cossel. Cossel said Brahms “could be such a good player, but he will not stop his never-ending composing.” Brahms did in fact become a virtuoso pianist, but his compositions are what people know him best for today. 

Learn More!

An Exuberant Masterwork

Symphony No. 41 in C Major was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s (1756-1791) longest symphony and the last one he composed. It made a powerful and lasting impression and was tellingly nicknamed “Jupiter"—it conveys an allure, exuberance, and grand scale reminiscent of the most powerful Roman deity, Jupiter.

Learn More!

Let Your Spirit Soar

When you hear the Evanston Symphony play Pictures at an Exhibition, you will experience the beauty and originality of the paintings of Russian artist Viktor Hartmann (1834–1873) as interpreted by his good friend and composer Modest Mussorgsky (1839–1881). The piece will take you on a stroll through a late 19th-century gallery at St. Petersburg’s Imperial Academy of the Arts.

Learn More!

Pages