• Announcing Our 2023–2024 Season

    Feel The Passion

    Subscribe Today*

    Save up to $25
    and get the best seats

    *mail or phone orders only; online sales start 9/1.

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    Download Brochure

    Subscribe at Early Bird prices through June 20.

  • LAKESIDE POPS CONCERT

    Free Admission

    Thursday, August 17, 2023
    6:30–7:30 PM
    Wallace Bowl, Gillson Park
    Wilmette

    Sponsored by Optima Verdana

    FREE!

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  • 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!

May 30, 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.

Meet our soloist, Steven Banks, at Musical Insights. He and our Maestro Lawrence Eckerling will explore the concert program in depth.

The Merion
Friday, May 30 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

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.

Learn More!

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America’s Maestro

Bernstein

Leonard Bernstein is America’s maestro. He is one of the most important conductors and composers of his time, and the first American conductor to receive international acclaim. According to music critic Donal Henahan, Bernstein was "one of the most prodigiously talented and successful musicians in American history."  He was born in Lawrence, Massachusetts, the son of Ukrainian-Jewish parents who immigrated to the U.S. from Rivne, in present-day Ukraine. Unlike many famous conductors and musicians, Bernstein did not come from a musical family. He began by teaching himself piano and music theory at age 10, and the rest is history.

Learn More!

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