Schedule update regarding COVID-19 concerns

All of us at Evanston Symphony Orchestra hope that you, our generous and loyal patrons, are safe and well. As you likely have heard by now, the Evanston Symphony Orchestra announced the cancellation of the remainder of our 2019–2020 season on March 26th.  We take the safety and health of our artists, staff and especially our audience very seriously, yet this was an incredibly difficult decision, as we were very excited to present our March and May concerts.

The impact of these lost performances is large, but your understanding can make a difference. This is an exceedingly uncertain time for artists and non-profit community arts organizations like ours and your ongoing support and advocacy is crucial. Although our orchestra members are volunteers, we are committed to mitigating the financial impact of these cancellations on our few paid artists, staff and instructors to the best of our abilities by still paying out contracted fees.

We are thankful for the support and trust of our audiences. We are committed to our mission and to supporting our community outreach programs. Over 70% of you have donated back the tickets you held for our March and May concerts. By converting your cancelled tickets to a donation, you invest in the future of live classical music performances, in ESO as an institution, and in the artists and staff that make it all possible. Your donation now does more than support ESO in a difficult moment — it is a bold act of solidarity in the face of adversity.

We already miss sharing beautiful music with you. However, it is with great anticipation that we are turning our focus to a magnificent 75th Anniversary Celebration next season and our return to the stage to perform great works by Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Mozart, Mahler and others. Click here to see the details and to download the season brochure.

While the world continues to fight COVID-19 and all performance venues are called upon to respond to necessary health guidelines, we acknowledge that our concert schedules may need to change. We additionally recognize that your lives are also subject to unexpected changes as the situation evolves. With many unknowns ahead, we are renewing our commitment to all concertgoers and responding by adjusting our ticket policies for the coming concert season.

• We pledge to be flexible and empathetic, accommodating ticket exchanges, credits, and refunds should you be unable to safely attend an event.
• If an event needs to be rescheduled or cancelled, we will let you know as soon as possible, providing you with the choice of a ticket exchange, credit, donation, or refund.
• We remain committed to bringing the best in music to our stages, while keeping our audiences, artists, and staff safe.

Again, we wish you health and safety as we navigate through these unprecedented times together—but with appropriate “social distancing”! We look forward to seeing you in person at performances next season and can’t wait to join together to celebrate ESO’s first 75 years of music making by and for our community! 

Current season ticket holders notice: 

If you still hold tickets for the current (2019-2020) season, we encourage you to consider donating the value of your ticket or transferring it to a future performance.

As a subscriber or single ticket holder, you may choose what to do with your unused tickets:

• Donate your tickets. Convert your tickets to a tax-deductible donation and receive a tax receipt by email. You may choose to do this at any time. We will waive the normal $5 handling fee on your next ticket purchase as long as you purchase by phone, mail, or email. 
• Exchange your tickets for future ESO performances. The value of your exchanged tickets will go into an account which you may redeem immediately for subscriptions to the 2020-2021 season. If you wish to use your account for single tickets, you may let us know at any time which concerts you want.  We will fill single ticket orders after August 31, 2020. If you prefer to wait, you may exchange for any concerts at a later date. We will waive the $5 handling fee on all exchanges.
• Refund your tickets. The fiscal year for the ESO ends on June 30, and due to various accounting and reporting requirements we must process all cash refunds by that date. If you do not reply prior to June 30, you may still donate the tickets or use the value of the cancelled tickets for future concerts. (The ESO is unable to offer waivers of handling fees for refunds.)

To advise us of your selection, look up your ticket holdings here.

If you have questions or problems, email tickets@evanstonsymphony.org or call (847) 864-8804. Please include your concert date(s) and number of tickets.