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2016-17 Season of the Evanston Symphony Orchestra | Evanston Illinois’ Community Orchestra playing classical music concerts at Pick Staiger Hall

  • Our Next Concert
    Blockbusters of 1830

    Sunday, March 5, 2017

    Chopin

    Berlioz

    with Kate Liu, Piano

    Kate Liu, Piano

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2025-2026 SERIES: The POWER of Music

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Musical Insights

Free Pre-Concert Preview Series!

October 17, 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.

Adrian Munive, ESO Principal Clarinet, will be featured at Musical Insights.

Friday, October 17 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.

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.

Songs of the Season

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow once wrote, "Human voice is the organ of the soul." Every ESO holiday concert includes the human voice. Voices lift us up and inspire us, and when many voices come together, it’s one of the most moving things a person can hear.  

This holiday concert will once again feature the Evanston Symphony Holiday Gospel Choir and the North Shore Choral Society. The Evanston Symphony Gospel Choir is a hometown favorite, led by Evanston’s own Reverend Kenneth Cherry, and the Northshore Choral Society brings together singers from all around Evanston.

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The Return of the Tap Dancing Reindeer

Everyone’s favorite tap-dancing reindeer from the Evanston Dance Ensemble (EDE) return to join the Evanston Symphony Orchestra performing Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, but that’s not all! It wouldn’t be the holiday season without the Nutcracker, and this year the EDE will be dancing the Overture and Peanut Brittle Brigade (March) from Duke Ellington’s Nutcracker, a jazzy version of the classical holiday favorite.

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Holiday Concert Features Symphonic Splendor

What better way to ring in the concert and the season than with James M. Stephenson’s Holiday Fanfare Medley, which brings together some of the oldest and most beloved Christmas carols (Il est Né, le Divin Enfant; Bring a Torch, Jeanette, Isabella; We Three Kings; Pat-A-Pan; Come All Ye Shepherds; Good King Wenceslas). These bright renditions full of brass and bells will evoke the magic of the season, yet even these ancient tunes do not reflect the oldest of the holiday traditions.

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First Impressions Are Not Always Correct

Before the premiere of Symphony No. 4 in October 1885, Brahms played the piece for some close friends and critics on the piano. Their reactions were far from positive and encouraged the composer to make significant changes to the piece. Naturally, Brahms became overwhelmed with self-doubt and was not confident his final symphony would survive beyond its premiere. Brahms was a perfectionist and would discard pieces he composed because he didn’t think they were good enough. Thankfully he kept Symphony No. 4 and the piece premiered as is.

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