Evanston Symphony Orchestra

With the COVID-19 Omicron variant affecting all of Northern Illinois and the United States, the Evanston Symphony Orchestra and Music Director Lawrence Eckerling have decided to postpone the scheduled Feb. 13 subscription concert. The new date is June 19 and will feature Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4, Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 23 with soloist Hyejin Joo, and Beethoven’s Egmont Overture. The rescheduled concert will be held at the Evanston Township High School Auditorium. All tickets will be honored. The Auditorium features open seating and will open at 2 p.m.

BREAKING NEWS: We caught up with Santa at his North Pole workshop, preparing for Christmas. But he was happy to take a few minutes out of his busy schedule to talk to us about this year’s Evanston Symphony Holiday Concert. 

“Ho, ho, ho. It’s that time of year again, folks. And one of the great pleasures of the holiday season is the Evanston Symphony’s annual Holiday Concert, which will take place at 3 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 12 at Evanston Township High School.

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.

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.

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.

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.

It was March 13, 1845, in Leipzig, Germany, and after six years in development, Mendelsohn’s Violin Concerto in E Minor made its premiere. Musical premieres are not always warmly received, but this concerto was immediately popular. Its development famously began in a letter from Mendelssohn to his concertmaster, Ferdinand David, in which he stated, “I should like to write a violin concerto for you next winter.

Richard Wagner is widely lauded as the premier composer of German opera with a place in the history of music that cannot be denied. In addition to ushering German Romantic opera to its highest point, Wagner created the new genre of music drama, in which the music is continuous throughout each act rather than being divided into concrete arias, recitative (speech-singing that carries the story forward), or other set numbers.

ESO’s 75th Anniversary celebration begins on Nov. 7 with a concert at the Evanston Township High School Auditorium. The program includes Johannes Brahms’ monumental Symphony No. 4, Mendelsohn’s beloved Violin Concerto in E Minor, featuring Arnaud Sussmann, and Wagner’s Overture to Die Meistersinger.The remaining three subscription concerts of the 75th season, planned by Music Director Lawrence Eckerling, will be held as usual at Northwestern University’s Pick-Staiger Hall. On Feb. 13, 2022, audiences will enjoy Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No.

Putting together our Lakefront Pops Concert requires the efforts, expertise, and consideration of many individuals and entities. It all begins with our artistic director, Maestro Lawrence Eckerling, and his care-filled selection of the program. Audience favorites, coupled with pieces to challenge and inspire the orchestra, create a successful balance to please all those involved. From Rossini to Rogers and Hammerstein to John Williams to the 1812 Overture to Sousa, there is something for everyone!