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Evanston Symphony Orchestra | Evanston Illinois’ Community Orchestra playing classical music concerts at Pick Staiger Hall

  • Our Next Concert
    RODRIGO GUITAR CONCERTO

    Sunday, February 4, 2018, 2:30 p.m.

    Chabrier

    Rodrigo

    Ginastera

    Moncayo

    Piazzolla

    Rimsky-Korsakov

    Bernstein

    with Jason Blair Lewis, guitar

    Jason Blair Lewis, guitar
  • 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.

  • Give the gift of music

    Treat a friend or relative to the ESO

    Give the gift of music by purchasing a custom gift certificate in any denomination of your choice!

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.

Celebrating the Bernstein Centennial with Chichester Psalms

Although Bernstein is probably best known for West Side Story, the composer, conductor, and pianist composed many pieces of music throughout his life including Chichester Psalms, an orchestral work with choir and boy treble. The ESO will be joined by the North Shore Choral Society and William Lewis, boy solo, to perform this Bernstein masterpiece.

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Symphonic Satire and Beautiful Moments in an Obscure Opera

If something becomes popular, it will be made fun of. Gordon Jacob’s The Barber of Seville Goes To The Devil is a prime example of musical parody. Gioachino Rossini’s original opera, The Barber of Seville has been massively popular since it was first performed in 1816. Anyone marginally aware of the opera can hum tunes featured in the overture to the opera. In 1960 Jacob composed The Barber of Seville Goes To The Devil as a humorous homage to Rossini’s original.

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A Popular Concerto and a Suite with Two Versions

Haydn composed his Trumpet Concerto in E Flat in 1796 for his friend Anton Weidinger, who was also the developer of the keyed trumpet that could play chromatically. Unlike the natural trumpet, the keyed trumpet had four to six holes or keys similar to the flute; however, the keyed trumpet was ultimately not successful due to its poor sound quality. (Trumpets used today are called valved trumpets and were first introduced in the 1830s.) In fact, the piece is considered one of Haydn’s most popular concertos and is a favorite of trumpet players and classical music lovers everywhere.

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