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Evanston Symphony Orchestra

Lawrence Eckerling, Music Director

Announcing Our 2026–2027 Season

For The Love of Music

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Save up to $50 and get the best seats

Celebrating Beethoven’s Brilliance
Great Romantics
Saint-Saëns Organ Symphony
A Mass for Peace

Musical Insights

Free Pre-Concert Preview Series!

Musical Insights Icon

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.

Merion’s Crystal Ballroom

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.

Latest News

Celebration Of Life: Ed Bennett

Retired ESO cellist Ed Bennett died this past March. Ed was born in Martins Ferry, Ohio, and began cello there, playing in the school orchestra until his father, an electrical engineer for U.S. Steel, was transferred to Gary, Indiana, when Ed was 15.

ESO’s Vince Flood named 2018 Board President of the Year

Vince Flood Receives llinois Council of Orchestras Award

Evanston Symphony Orchestra is proud to announce that Vince Flood won the award for Board President of the Year 2018 from the Illinois Council of Orchestras. Vince has been a strong and effective leader, who has taken this vibrant community orchestra to new heights of performance, while also pioneering initiatives to make it a more inclusive organization that truly serves the whole of its community.

ESO named 2017 Community Orchestra of the Year

 

For immediate release March 15, 2017

Community Orchestra of the Year 

Evanston Symphony Orchestra
Lawrence Eckerling, Music Director

Zhou Tian
Transcontinental Transcendence

GRAMMY-nominated composer Zhou Tian was born into a musical family in Hangzhou in 1981. His father was a composer for television shows, and Zhou often worked with him, having already begun playing piano in recording sessions and arranging music by the age of 12. The China of Zhou’s youth was one marked by economic reforms, which led to substantially increased incomes; greater availability of food, housing, and other consumer goods; and a rapid exodus of workers from traditional agriculture into manufacturing. Zhou’s own exodus, …

Ode to Joy

During Ludwig van Beethoven’s time (1770-1827), adding a chorus and vocal soloists to a symphony was never done and was considered highly unusual.

A Community of People

Since its inception in 1936, the North Shore Choral Society (NSCS) has grown to combine 120 voices in what is the preeminent mixed chorus on the North Shore. Over the years, it evolved from programming shorter works to presenting major choral compositions such as Bach’s St.