Evanston Symphony Orchestra

Aaron Copland’s El Salón México, the first of many signature works, was completed in 1936. During the Depression, Copland traveled to Mexico and made an important friendship with Carlos Chávez, the Mexican composer. It was during his first visit to Mexico City in 1932 that Chávez took him to the colorful nightclub called El Salón México.

Tannhäuser, Wagner’s fifth opera, is based on the German legend of Tannhäuser, and its themes include the struggle between sacred and profane love and redemption through love, themes that run through most of his work.

As winter is considered the season of decay and dormancy, there is no better time to hear Richard Strauss’ Four Last Songs (Vier Letzte Lieder), which beautifully confronts the theme of death. It is soprano Michelle Areyzaga’s first time performing the piece.

The Evanston Symphony leads off 2015 with a dazzling program of late Romantic classics, starting with Brahms’ treasured Symphony No. 3 in F Major.Of Brahms’ four symphonic masterworks, the Third stands apart. It is in many ways the most personal, referencing in its opening theme Robert Schumann’s Rhenish Symphony. Schumann was Brahms’ first champion, proclaiming in print that the then 20-year-old composer was “destined to give ideal expression to the times.” The Third is also the shortest of Brahms’ four symphonies and, perhaps unique in the symphonic canon, each movement ends quietly.

Sergei Prokofiev composed his Symphony No. 5 in B flat major during a critical point in World War II. Russia was anticipating victory over Nazi Germany, and there was a tangible feeling of excitement in Russia. The Evanston Symphony will perform this dazzling orchestral work during its Oct. 26 concert in the Pick-Staiger Concert Hall at 2:30 p.m.In what is considered one of the most dramatic premieres ever, Prokofiev conducted this work on Jan. 13, 1945, in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, to an audience consisting of the most prominent people of the day.

The Evanston Symphony will kick off its 2014-15 season performing the Midwestern premiere of Mieczyslaw Weinberg’s Rhapsody on Moldavian Themes. The concert, featuring three 20th century Russian masterpieces, will be held 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 26 at Pick-Staiger Hall in Evanston.After decades of obscurity, Weinberg is increasingly being recognized as one of the outstanding composers of the second half of the twentieth century.