• Our Next Concert

    Brahms’ German Requiem.

    Sun., April 6, 2025, 2:30 p.m.

    joined by the North Shore Choral Society, Josefien Stoppelenburg, Soprano and Evan Bravos, Bass-Baritone

    Mozart

    Brahms

    April 2April 1
    North Shore Choral Society
  • 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.

  • Our Next Concert

    The American-French Connection

    Sun., June 8, 2025, 2:30 p.m.

    Holland

    Still

    Ravel
    with Ko-Eun Yi, piano

    Debussy

    Copland

    Ko-Eun Yi, piano

2024-2025 SERIES: Soul & Inspiration

  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  

Musical Insights

Free Pre-Concert Preview Series!

April 4, 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.

Meet our soloist, Josefien Stoppelenburg, soprano, at Musical Insights. She and our Maestro Lawrence Eckerling will explore the April concert program in depth.

 

The Merion
Friday, April 4 at 1:30 pm,
Merion's Emerald Lounge 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.

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!

Passionate Expression

Hector Berlioz (1803-1869) was a French composer of the romantic era best known for his piece Symphonie Fantastique. In 1843, Berlioz wrote Roman Carnival Overture, reworked from his 1838 opera Benvenuto Cellini. While the opera was decidedly unpopular, his overture was an immense success and became an independent concert piece. Berlioz said of his compositions “the prevailing characteristics of my music are passionate expression, rhythmic animation, and unexpected turns.”

Learn More!

A Change of Heart

The Russian Romantic composer, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893), wrote his Piano Concerto No. 1 in B Flat Minor over a span of four months between 1874 and 1875. He wanted his colleague Nikolai Rubinstein to play the piece for its premiere; however, Rubinstein did not like the piece and refused to play it unless it was heavily edited. Tchaikovsky did not want to make any significant changes to his work, so he reached out to Hans von Bülow instead. The German pianist not only liked the composer’s music, but Tchaikovsky enjoyed von Bülow’s concert performances in Moscow.

Learn More!

Pages