We work to ensure that our tickets are highly affordable. Our Young Persons’ concerts have given over 120 District 65 middle school students the opportunity to perform with our orchestra musicians. Our early education program, Music in Your World, is a collaboration between Early Head Start, Head Start, Pre-K, and the ESO to bring quality music education to underserved 0–5 year olds, and is funded with community support.

The ESO created KidNotes, program notes for younger listeners which gives easy to understand explanations of the evening's concert. It encourages the development, diversity and wider participation of audiences. The Evanston Symphony Orchestra works to provide diverse, enjoyable and accessible musical entertainment that enriches the audience, orchestra and community. The ESO also won the 20 Board President of the Year Award and the 2006 Volunteer of the Year Award from Illinois Council of Orchestras. It has received numerous other awards from the Illinois Council of Orchestras, including the 1998 Community Relations Programs of the Year and the 1999 Marketing Program of the Year from the same organization. The Evanston Symphony Orchestra received the 2001 Evanston Mayor’s Award for the Arts. David Ellis was named General Manager of the Year in 2012. Vince Flood was named Board President of the Year 2018. The ESO was named Orchestra of the Year in 2017. In 2014, Maestro Eckerling was named Conductor of the Year. The ESO has won numerous awards from the Illinois Council of Orchestras. The ESO continues to enjoy the support of Evanston and the surrounding communities as a leader in the arts. In June 2003, Maestro Lawrence Eckerling, of Glenview, was appointed as new Music Director.įrom its beginning, the ESO has been a volunteer-managed and operated organization. Schornick’s retirement, the ESO searched for a year for a new Music Director. In 1996 he was awarded the Conductor of the Year award by the Illinois Council of Orchestras.

Maestro Lynn Schornick was the Music Director of the ESO from 1983 to 2002. He groomed the amateur musicians into a highly accomplished, community orchestra, which it remains today. In 1962, Frank Miller, principal cellist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra became the ESO's conductor, bringing his expertise of working with the great Toscanini and Pablo Casals. In 1961, the orchestra officially became the Evanston Symphony Orchestra with its incorporation as an Illinois not-for-profit organization. Feller graduated from Northwestern University. Ryan was associated with NBC in Chicago and persuaded Elwyn Owen, the NBC radio organist, to become the full-time conductor after Mr. Lucille and Jack Ryan, along with Timothy Fetler as conductor, were the founders. The Evanston Community Orchestra was established in 1945 as an offshoot of the Northwestern University Orchestra, when returning GIs and others looked for an outlet for their musical talents. A Brief History of the Evanston Symphony Orchestra

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