ESO announces 2025-26 season themed ‘Power of Music’

The Evanston Symphony has released its schedule for the upcoming season, built around the theme “The Power of Music.”

Featured composers include 20th-century favorites George Gershwin and Leonard Bernstein; American contemporary innovators Peter Boyer and Chicago-based Stacy Garrop; classical and romantic era masters Mozart, Beethoven, Schumann, Wagner and Tchaikovsky; and brilliant orchestrators Manuel Da Falla, Alexander Glazunov and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov.

The season kicks off Aug. 19 with the ESO’s annual free summer pops concert. And the symphony once again will lead its celebrated Holiday Concert on Dec. 14, showcasing an array of Evanston and North Shore dance and choral groups.

“I really like our season slogan ‘The Power of Music,’” said Music Director Larry Eckerling. “Of course, there is power in music’s loudness and energy. But there is also music’s power to bring people together and the power to draw out one’s emotions. So power can apply to all music, loud or soft, while captivating each listener. Our upcoming season has an amazing variety of music and guest artists that will reach people in all sorts of ways.”

Each of the four subscription programs features a renowned or emerging soloist. Global favorite Jeffrey Biegel will perform two piano works for the April 19, 2026 concert: Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, paired with the Illinois premiere of Boyer’s Rhapsody in Red, White & Blue. The latter was commissioned by the Rhapsody National Initiative — a consortium of orchestras that includes the ESO — inspired by the 100th anniversary of the premiere of Gershwin’s groundbreaking composition. WFMT’s LaRob K. Rafael returns to host this program. 

Other featured soloists include Chicago Symphony Orchestra Principal Clarinet Stephen Williamson playing Mozart’s beloved Clarinet Concerto; rising-star pianist Albert Cano Smith interpreting Beethoven’s heroic Piano Concerto No. 5 (The Emperor) and 2024 Sphinx Organization award-winning violinist Nathan Amaral performing Alexander Glazunov’s lyrical and virtuosic Violin Concerto in A Minor.

Concert dates and programs

All subscription concerts are on Sundays and begin at 2:30 p.m. at Pick-Staiger Concert Hall, 50 Arts Circle Drive on the Northwestern University campus.

Oct. 19, 2025
Garrop: Song of Orpheus
Mozart: Clarinet Concerto, Stephen Williamson, Clarinet
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6, the Pathétique

Feb. 8, 2026
Wagner: Prelude and Liebestod, Tristan und Isolde
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 5, The Emperor, Albert Cano Smit, piano
Schumann: Symphony No. 4

April 19, 2026, hosted by LaRob K. Rafael
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor: Petite Suite de Concert
Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue and Promenade, Jeffrey Biegel, Piano
Boyer: Rhapsody in Red, White and Blue, Jeffrey Biegel, Piano
Bernstein: On The Waterfront Suite

June 7, 2026

De Falla: Three-Cornered Hat (Suite No. 2)
Glazunov: Violin Concerto, Nathan Amaral, Violin
Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade

More information on the ESO’s 2025-26 subscription season is available at the symphony’s website or by calling General Manager Michelle Pranger at (847) 864-8804. Donations to the ESO can also be made through the website and by phone.

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