"Virtuosic Piano. This short arrangement and performance are stunning spectacles, both musically and technically. It was often used as an encores by Gyorgy Cziffra, who created the arrangement!"
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, Postponed TBD,
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 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.
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.
June 25, 2020, Evanston, IL —With the COVID-19 pandemic continuing throughout the US and the world, the Evanston Symphony Orchestra and Music Director Lawrence Eckerling have announced changes to the 2020-2021 season.
The Illinois Council of Orchestras is pleased to announce the 2020 recipients of its annual awards for excellence in the field of music performance and for support of musical organizations. An awards panel of judges drawn from the Illinois Council of Orchestras Board of Directors and independent professional conductors and musicians reviewed nominations representing orchestras, youth orchestras, and chamber ensembles from throughout Illinois.
…Community Relations of the Year, Evanston Symphony Orchestra
All of us at Evanston Symphony Orchestra hope that you, our generous and loyal patrons, are safe and well. As you likely have heard by now, the Evanston Symphony Orchestra announced the cancellation of the remainder of our 2019–2020 season on March 26th. We take the safety and health of our artists, staff and especially our audience very seriously, yet this was an incredibly difficult decision, as we were very excited to present our March and May concerts.
If you have never been to one of our regular concerts and are anxious about the cost, do ask at the main Evanston library for tickets to our concerts that can be 'checked out' at no cost. We hope you enjoy our concerts and come back regularly after that.
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.
We are happy to share videos of previous concerts with you until we can get back to sharing live concerts with you.
For more than 16 years, the Evanston Symphony Orchestra has provided free music education—Music In Your World (MIYW)—to pre-schoolers aged 3–5 in District 65’s Head Start and Pre-K programs. More recently, we expanded MIYW to our youngest and most vulnerable residents from 6 weeks to 3 years and their families in District 65’s Early Start program. ESO classes use music, movement, and experience with musical instruments. Singing develops important pre-literacy skills for these young students while building teamwork and cooperation, and instilling joy into their lives.
The Evanston Symphony’s principal flute, James Donahue, had to navigate through his students’ initial disappointment over canceled concerts, summer camps, and competitions and his own sadness at the missed opportunity to say goodbye to his graduating students, many of whom he had taught since elementary school. However, James quickly adapted to teaching via Zoom and Facetime, and he appreciates that the virtual lessons offer a great way for his students to keep up their skills.
Anne McTighe, a member of the second violins, is orchestra director for Highcrest Middle School and assistant director of string ensembles for Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestras. Among her innovative adaptations to online teaching, Anne has her students working on virtual concerts to share with family and friends, including a special performance by the sixth graders at Highcrest to help introduce the fourth graders to the sounds and instruments of the orchestra.
These days, many of us have struggled to adapt to new technology as we work from home and participate in meetings via video conference. The music teachers who contribute their considerable talents to the ESO have faced similar hurdles, and some unique obstacles. Paula Fischer, longtime Evanston Symphony assistant principal second violin, has had to take a novel approach to teaching in an environment where she must communicate the feeling of correct playing through words rather than physical contact.
