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Evanston Symphony Orchestra Schedules Four Live Subscription Concerts As It Begins Its Delayed 75th Anniversary Season

Evanston Symphony Orchestra Schedules Four Live Subscription Concerts As It Begins Its Delayed 75th Anniversary Season

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Sept. 21, 2021, Evanston, IL — The Evanston Symphony Orchestra is back! Following its highly successful special Pops Concert at Gillson Park’s Wallace Bowl in Wilmette, Ill., Aug. 30, the orchestra resumes its delayed 75th anniversary season with a live concert at the Evanston Township High School Auditorium Nov. 7. The concert features 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 February 13, 2021 audiences will enjoy Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No.4, which is one of the pieces the orchestra had rehearsed and prepared for its canceled March 2020 concert.  Also on this program Evanston’s own Hyejin Joo will play Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 23, and the ESO will give its first performance of a work by the African-American composer William Grant Still, his prize winning Festive Overture.

Then on April 10 the orchestra, the North Shore Choral Society and four renowned vocal soloists perform Beethoven’s iconic Symphony No. 9.  The final concert of the season on May 22 presents the local premiere of Transcend by Chinese-American composer Zhou Tian, which commemorates the completion of the transcontinental railroad. The ESO helped commission this important work. The concert will also feature cellist Arlen Hlusko in the Cello Concerto of Antonin Dvořák, the final composition of his stay in America.

All subscription concerts begin promptly at 2:30 p.m. All subscribers and attendees must show proof of vaccination for Covid-19.

ESO General Manager David Ellis wants all subscribers to know that "Everyone who purchased tickets for the 2020-21 concert series may apply that ticket value to the 2021-22 concert series. Everyone holding tickets for the canceled concerts of March 2020 and May 2020 which were exchanged into the 2020-21 concert series may also apply that ticket value to the 2021-22 series." He added that “Anyone who cannot attend this upcoming season may either donate the value of their tickets to the ESO, or carry over the ticket value to a future season.”

Those who have not subscribed can do so by visiting the ESO website at www.evanstonsymphony.org and downloading an order form or by calling 847-864-8804. Direct sales over the website will begin in mid-October. Subscribers always get the best prices and access to the best seats.   

The ESO Board of Directors and Maestro Eckerling want to the thank the entire community, and especially our orchestra members, donors and subscribers, for their faithful ongoing support during the pandemic. Your patience and gracious financial contributions during the crisis have allowed the ESO to remain financially strong and ready once again to provide the community with the joy of live orchestral music.

The ESO’s pre-concert lecture series, Musical Insights, will continue each Friday before our regular subscription concerts and is generously sponsored and hosted by the Merion. The Beethoven 9 concert is sponsored by Westminster Place. Additional support is provided by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Illinois Arts Council, the Cultural Fund of the City of Evanston and the Kiwanis Club. Donations to the ESO can be made at the www.evanstonsymphony.org or by calling 847-864-8804.