Theme and Variations
2024-2025 SERIES: Soul & Inspiration
Musical Insights
Free Pre-Concert Preview Series!
November 1, 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, Maya Anjali Buchanan, at Musical Insights. She and our Maestro Lawrence Eckerling will explore the November concert program in depth.
Friday, November 1 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.
America’s Maestro
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.
Pen Pals
When Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) began composing Symphony No. 4 in F Minor between 1877 and 1878, he wanted to dedicate the piece to Nadezhda von Meck, a patron of the arts who supported him financially. The two never met in person, but they would write letters to each other discussing Tchaikovsky’s music as their friendship developed over their correspondence. While Tchaikovsky was typically a harsh critic of his own works, he was very proud of Symphony No. 4, as indicated by his letters to von Meck. In fact, Tchaikovsky wrote, “dedicated to my best friend” on the piece.