• Our Next Concert

    Rhapsodies in Red, White and Blue

    Sun., April 19, 2026, 2:30 p.m.

    Coleridge-Taylor

    Gershwin

    Boyer
    with Jeffrey Biegel, piano

    Bernstein

    Gershwin
    with Jeffrey Biegel, piano

    Albert Cano Smit, piano
  • Support Your
    Symphony Orchestra

    The ESO Community is made up of Orchestra Members and Supporters. Join us!

  • Musical Insights

    Free Pre-Concert Preview Series!

    April 17, Friday, at 1:00 pm (Note different time!)

    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.

    MI

    Meet our soloist, Jeffrey Biegel, piano, at Musical Insights. He and our Maestro Lawrence Eckerling will explore the April concert program in depth.

    Friday, April 17
    at 1:00 pm
    Merion’s Crystal Ballroom at
    529 Davis St, Evanston.
    FREE and open to the public.

2025-2026 SERIES: The POWER of Music

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Musical Insights

Free Pre-Concert Preview Series!

April 17, Friday, at 1:00 pm (Note different time!)

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, Jeffrey Biegel, piano, at Musical Insights. He and our Maestro Lawrence Eckerling will explore the April concert program in depth.

Friday, April 17 at 1:00 pm (Note different time!),
Merion’s Crystal Ballroom at
529 Davis St, Evanston.
FREE and open to the public.
Please RSVP to 847-570-7815.

The Merion
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.

Passionate and Energetic Symphonic Dances

Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943) was born into a musical family in the rural village of Semyonovo. He studied piano and composition at the Moscow Conservatory, graduating in 1892. A famous composer and virtuosic pianist, he also spent several years conducting, becoming conductor of the Bolshoi Theatre in 1904. After the Russian Revolution, he and his family settled in New York in 1918. 

Learn More!

An Armenian National Treasure

Aram Khachaturian is an Armenian national treasure. He was born to an Armenian family in Tbilisi, Georgia, in 1903 and is considered a leading composer of the Soviet Union. According to music historian Harlow Robinson, "his proletariat origins, non-Russian ethnic origins, and Soviet training [made him] a powerful symbol within the Soviet musical establishment.” 

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A Birthday Gift

Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975), the Russian composer known for his many symphonies, chamber works, and concerti studied piano and composition at a young age. He achieved more success as a composer, and therefore his public piano performances were often of his own pieces. 

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A Passionate Pastoral Symphony

Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) was a German composer of the mid-romantic era. He was born in Hamburg but spent much of his life in Vienna. At a young age, he learned to play the violin and the basics of the cello. At age 7, he studied piano with Otto Friedrich Willibald Cossel. Cossel said Brahms “could be such a good player, but he will not stop his never-ending composing.” Brahms did in fact become a virtuoso pianist, but his compositions are what people know him best for today. 

Learn More!

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