• Announcing Our 75th Season,
    2021–22

    Brahms 4
    Tchaikovsky 4
    Beethoven 9
    Dvořák Cello Concerto

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    Save more than 30%and get the best seats

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    Download Brochure

  • Our Next Concert
    Brahms 4

    Sunday, November 7, 2021, 2:30 p.m.
    at Evanston Township High School

    Wagner, Mendelssohn

    Brahms

    with Arnold Sussmann, violin

    Arnold Sussmann

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  • Evanston Symphony Holiday Concert

    Sunday, December 12, 2021 — 3:00 pm

    Make sure your holiday season starts with the best holiday event in Evanston!

    Special rates for a family package of 2 adult tickets and 3 children’s tickets.

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2021–2022 SERIES: 75th Season

Download the 2021–2022 Season Brochure!

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Musical Insights

Free Pre-Concert Preview Series!

Friday, November 5 at 1:30 pm

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, Arnaud Sussman, at Musical Insights. He and our Maestro Lawrence Eckerling and David Ellis will explore the November concert program in depth.

The Merion
Friday, November 5 at 1:30 pm,
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

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

Celebration Of Life: Ed Bennett

Ed Bennett

Retired ESO cellist Ed Bennett died this past March. Ed was born in Martins Ferry, Ohio, and began cello there, playing in the school orchestra until his father, an electrical engineer for U.S. Steel, was transferred to Gary, Indiana, when Ed was 15. Ed enrolled in Horace Mann High School in Gary, where he continued playing cello in the high school orchestra and also played with the Gary Symphony. His most memorable concert with the latter was on December 7, 1941; only after the conclusion of the concert were they told about the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

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ESO’s Vince Flood named 2018 Board President of the Year

Vince Flood Receives llinois Council of Orchestras Award

Evanston Symphony Orchestra is proud to announce that Vince Flood won the award for Board President of the Year 2018 from the Illinois Council of Orchestras. Vince has been a strong and effective leader, who has taken this vibrant community orchestra to new heights of performance, while also pioneering initiatives to make it a more inclusive organization that truly serves the whole of its community.

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Improved Pick-Staiger Access

Breaking news (1/19/2015): Arts Circle Drive, leading up to Pick-Staiger Concert Hall, is now fully open. You can drive all the way up to the entrance now to drop people off. Both levels of the parking garage are open, with exits at the east and west ends.

If you park on the upper level, the eastern pedestrian exit is now on the same level as Pick Staiger. There are no steps at all between the parking and the concert hall, and no hill to climb.

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An ESO Love Story

It all began in February 1989 at an Evanston Symphony Orchestra rehearsal in the band room at ETHS. Fran Zirbel, then new to the Chicago area, had just joined the second violin section of the orchestra the month before. At that particular rehearsal, she and a handsome red-haired cellist made eye contact (as Jay says “from the back of the section you can look across and see almost everything”). At the break, Fran introduced herself to Jay Foley.

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Lost and Found

You may recall a previous article in which we shared music recommendations from Evanston Symphony Orchestra members’ pandemic playlists. One musician had been listening to Violin Concerto No. 2 by Florence Price and mentioned that the printed music for the work had something of an interesting history. Indeed, there is a fascinating backstory to the manuscript itself, but there is so much more to Ms. Price’s life that merits telling. Read on to learn more about her compelling story.

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Joe Chervin – Violin – 10 Seasons

"Day Job": Assistant Attorney General – Office of the Illinois Attorney General’s Antitrust Bureau

Most memorable performance with ESO: Mahler Symphony No. 2 in C Minor on June 11, 2017. 90 minutes of complete immersion in one of the behemoths of orchestral repertoire. And we sounded great, too!

Most pleased to have accomplished during your time staying at home: Improving my cooking skills. I can make Ina Garten’s Roast Engagement Chicken in my sleep, and I’ll never order in pad Thai again now that I can make it myself!

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