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Evanston Symphony Orchestra

Lawrence Eckerling, Music Director

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Performance & Reception

Friday, October 23 at 7:00 pm

ESO & All That Jazz

Featuring Lawrence Eckerling & Don Cagen

Tickets on sale now ($50)

A fundraising concert and reception featuring Music Director Lawrence Eckerling on piano, and Principal Trumpet Don Cagen on trumpet leading a quartet in a concert of jazz favorites to support ESO community outreach programs.

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AKAR AUDITORIUM @The Church
2715 Hurd Ave. Evanston, IL

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October 18, 2026

Celebrating Beethoven’s Brilliance

February 14, 2027

Great Romantics

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April 4, 2027

Saint-Saëns Organ Symphony

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May 23, 2027

A Mass for Peace

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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. Get a chance to see and hear our guest soloist for each concert!

Merion’s Crystal Ballroom

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.

Orchestra News

The view from the back of the stage

Jennifer and Peter Schmeiser moved to Evanston from Florida in 2017 for better jobs, better weather, and, as it turns out, a better orchestra!

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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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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.

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Musical Notes

Emotional Romanticism in Musical Form

Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 4 in F minor, Op. 36, was written in 1877, a momentous year for the composer. Tchaikovsky dedicated his Symphony No. 4 to his patroness, the heiress Nadezhda von Meck. He had begun composing the symphony not long after Meck had entered his life.

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Tickets for our concerts that can be 'checked out' at the library

If you have never been to one of our regular concerts and are anxious about the cost, do ask at the Evanston Public Library main branch or Robert Crown branch, as well as at the Skokie Library, for tickets to our concerts that can be 'checked out' at no cost.

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