Elgin Symphony Orchestra

The Elgin Symphony Orchestra, four-time winner of Orchestra of the Year!

ESO in the News

Fridays on the Farm Tickets Announcement

Tickets for Elgin Symphony Orchestra’s (ESO) new Summer Festival “Fridays On The Farm”, featuring Music Director Andrew Grams, go on sale Friday, Feb. 26, 2021 at 10 a.m. The summer outdoor series will be held at The Venue at Goebbert’s in Pingree Grove. Tickets will be available at www.elginsymphony.org, as well as by phone from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, at 847-888-4000.

“Fridays on The Farm” performances will include:

May 21 at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.: The Four Seasons, with violin soloist Karen Gomyo and conducted by Andrew Grams, features the work of Astor Piazzolla and Pyotr Ilych Tchaikovsky. The program will begin with Piazzolla’s The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires, which seamlessly blends classical music with tango. It concludes with Tchaikovsky’s famous Serenade for Strings.

July 2 at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.:  American Masters. Join Maestro Andrew Grams and internationally acclaimed Soprano Joelle Harvey for a night of music by three of our nation’s greatest composers: Leonard Bernstein’s Symphonic Dances from West Side Story; Samuel Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915; and George Gershwin’s An American in Paris.

August 6 at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.:  From Darkness to Light. In four short notes, Ludwig van Beethoven opened his fifth symphony and changed classical music forever. In Maestro Andrew Gram’s final performance with the Elgin Symphony Orchestra, listeners will be taken on a journey from impenetrable darkness to blazing light as the Elgin Symphony Orchestra performs Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 and Robert Schumann’s virtuosic, yet poignantly sensitive, Symphony No. 2.

The tented space at The Venue at Goebbert’s allows for an elegant, socially distanced evening of music. Attendees will be grouped by party and socially distanced, in the performance tent, which has open sides for ventilation.

Fridays on the Farm: Q&A with Maestro Andrew Grams

Q & A with Maestro Andrew Grams
Friday, February 26th, 7:00 PM

It has been a busy week at the Elgin Symphony Orchestra! We have had virtual interviews with stars in the world of opera and composition, a new program broadcast on WFMT Radio in collaboration with the Ravinia Festival and on Friday evening, February 26th, Maestro Andrew Grams hosts a Question-and-Answer session to discuss our newly announced summer festival “Fridays on the Farm!” Tune in on Zoom or Facebook Live. (Here is the ZOOM url: https://zoom.us/j/93027623184)

Have questions for the Maestro? Be prepared to put them in the chat box or send them in advance to e.malmquist@elginsymphony.org.

Listeners Club is Back!

ESO Listeners Club is Back!

The Elgin Symphony Orchestra (ESO) invites classical music aficionados and those who would like to learn more about this musical genre to join them in a free, four-part online series in February. The ESO Listeners Club will feature live-streamed discussions with notable contemporary vocalists, composers, and musicians to discuss the historic and contemporary musical works to be featured in soprano Nicole Heaston’s God & Love concert. The concert, featuring Elgin Symphony Orchestra principal players and co-presented by the Ravinia Festival, will be aired on WMFT 98.7 FM on Thursday, Feb. 25 at 8 p.m. CST and streamed through the WFMT app and at wfmt.com. The concert was recorded at Ravinia’s Bennett Gordon Hall, and features works by Frans Liszt, Franz Schubert, George Frederick Handel, Jessie Montgomery and Henry Purcell.

To enrich the performance, the Listeners Club will highlight a different aspect of the concert each week in its live, online discussions. To take part, simply tune in on the ESO Facebook page at the appointed time.  If you prefer to participate via Zoom, register here.

The series includes the following discussions:

Kyle Masson

Kyle Masson discusses “George Frederic Handel — More than just The Messiah!”

Monday, February 8, 2021
7:00 PM 

George Frederic Handel may be most known for The Messiah, but he didn’t start composing English choral works until mid-way through his career. Join Kyle Masson, Ph.D. candidate in Historical Musicology at Princeton University, for a discussion of Handel’s evolution from his early days composing Italian opera to his success with English oratorios. An active performer himself, Masson will also talk about the art of singing Handel’s music in a captivating presentation on “Tu del ciel ministro eletto” from Il trinfo del tempo e del disinganno, George Frederic Handel’s first ever oratorio.

The aria will be performed by ESO string principals and soprano Nicole Heaston on February 25, 2021 at 8:00 p.m. CST on The WFMT Radio Network in collaboration with the Ravinia Festival.

Benedicte Jourdois presents “Romance of the French Voice”

Monday, February 15, 2021
7:00 PM

Paris native Benedicte Jourdois will discuss the musical genre of art song, the poetic melding of a single vocalist and single accompaniment, traditionally piano, to emphasize the emotion of the poet’s storytelling. She will focus on the work of Franz Liszt that will be performed by soprano Nicole Heaston in concert with the ESO in a concert broadcast on WFMT on Feb. 25, 2021 at 8 p.m. CST.

Jourdois currently serves on the music staff of the Metropolitan Opera and on faculty at the Juilliard School and Chautauqua Opera Voice Program. She has appeared as a soloist and recitalist on such stages as Carnegie Hall and Alice Tully Hall in New York and the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and has worked with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Pittsburgh Opera, Houston Grand Opera and the Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, SC.

Nicole Heaston talks with ESO Executive Director Erik Malmquist: A Life on the Stage

Monday, February 22, 2021
7:00 PM

Nicole Heaston, who grew up in Chicago, is one of today’s most sought-after sopranos. She has performed starring roles in operatic productions at the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Royal Danish Opera, Norwegian National Opera and Boston Lyric Opera, as well as concert appearances with the Baltimore Symphony, National Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony and Houston Symphony, with whom she appeared as the soprano soloist for their recently released album of Haydn’s Creation.

In this live-streamed conversation, ESO Executive Director Erik Malmquist will speak with Heaston about her musical journey from her youth in Chicago, to studying music and voice in Ohio, to her long-standing relationship with the Houston Grand Opera, to performing worldwide. They will also talk about Heaston’s upcoming God & Love performance, featuring principal players from the ESO, which will be broadcast on WFMT on Feb. 25, 2021 at 8 p.m. CST.

Jessie Montgomery: “The Next Generation of Composition”

Wednesday, February 24, 2021
7:00 PM

Join ESO Executive Director Erik Malmquist as he interviews acclaimed composer, violinist, and educator Jessie Montgomery. The recipient of the Leonard Bernstein Award from the ASCAP Foundation, Montgomery’s works are performed frequently around the world by leading musicians and ensembles. Her music interweaves classical music with elements of vernacular music, improvisation, language, and social justice, placing her squarely as one of the most relevant interpreters of 21st-century American sound and experience. The Washington Post described her works as “turbulent, wildly colorful and exploding with life.”

Her composition of “I Want to Go Home” can be heard, performed by Nicole Heaston and members of the Elgin Symphony Orchestra, on February 25, 2021 at 8:00 p.m. on WFMT.

God & Love – Recital with Nicole Heaston

One of the definitive sopranos of our generation, Nicole Heaston has starred in productions at such revered theaters as the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Glyndebourne Festival, Norwegian National Opera, Staatsoper Hamburg, Royal Danish Opera and Houston Grand Opera, and has appeared as the soprano soloist on numerous orchestral recordings over the past two decades.

This February 25th at 8:00 pm, the Elgin Symphony Orchestra and Ravinia Festival are thrilled to co-present Ms. Heaston in a recital, recorded specifically for broadcast on the WFMT Radio Network. The program, titled “God & Love” will highlight rapturous music from 15th Century English master Henry Purcell to one of today’s most acclaimed living composers, Jessie Montgomery.

Personnel

Nicole Heaston – Soprano

Gene Collerd – Clarinet
Isabella Lippi – Violin
Eleanor Bartsch – Violin
Daniela Folker – Violin

Amanda Grimm – Viola
Matthew Agnew – Cello
Timothy Shaffer – Bass

Shannon McGinnis – Piano
Mark Shuldiner – Harpsichord
Brandon Acker – Theorbo

Program

Franz Liszt Four Songs 
(Ms. Heaston / Ms. McGinnis)
Comment, disaient-ils 
Oh, quand je dors  
S’il est un charmant gazon 
Enfant, si j’étais roi 

Franz Schubert Der Hirt auf dem Felsem  D 956 
(Ms. Heaston / Ms. McGinnis / Mr. Collerd)

George Frederick Handel Tu del ciel ministro eletto from Il trionfo del Tempo e della Verità  
(Ms. Heaston / Mr. Shuldiner / Mr. Acker / Ms. Lippi / Ms. Bartsch / Ms. Folker / Ms. Grimm / Mr. Agnew / Mr. Shaffer)

Jessie Montgomery I Want to Go Home 
(Ms. Heaston / Ms. Lippi / Ms. Folker / Mr. Agnew / Mr. Shaffer)

Henry Purcell The Blessed Virgin’s Expostulation   
(Ms. Heaston / Mr. Shuldiner / Mr. Acker / Mr. Agnew)

Videos

Meet the Musician: Sharon Chang, Assistant Principal Violin II

Hailed for her, “instantaneously arresting …sweet, clear, vital” sound (The New York Sun), violinist Sharon Chang maintains an active career as a chamber musician, orchestral musician and as a teacher. Ms. Chang has won numerous first prize awards in competition and has had the privilege of performing, as a soloist, with orchestras including the North Suburban Symphony, Waukegan Symphony, and Camerata Chicago.  

As a chamber musician, Ms. Chang has performed on the Wednesdays at One series in New York City’s Alice Tully Hall, and performed in collaborations resulting in radio broadcasts on From The Top and on Chicago’s classical station 98.7 WFMT. A recipient of a Farwell Scholarship from the Musicians Club of Women, Ms. Chang has held positions in several orchestras, including the Akron Symphony, Canton Symphony, and Cleveland Pops Orchestras.  She currently holds the Assistant Principal Second Violin position with the Elgin Symphony Orchestra, and is a substitute violinist with several orchestras nationwide.  

Ms. Chang has studied with Stephen Clapp at The Juilliard School, and with William Preucil and Joel Smirnoff at the Cleveland Institute of Music.  Ms. Chang maintains a private violin studio, and has served as violin faculty at the Music Institute of Chicago.

Elgin Symphony Orchestra Announces Redesigned 2021 Spring Schedule

The Elgin Symphony Orchestra (ESO) today announced an amended spring 2021 schedule amid continued state-mandated gathering restrictions surrounding COVID-19.

“We have proactively reimagined our performances to ensure we can continue to provide a world class symphonic experience in a way that keeps our musicians, guests and staff safe,” said Erik Malmquist, executive director, Elgin Symphony Orchestra.

Previously planned spring concerts at The Hemmens have been cancelled and are being replaced with ‘Fridays on the Farm’: a new, three-concert, outdoor spring and summer festival to be held at The Venue at Gobbert’s Pumpkin Patch and Apple Orchard in Pingree Grove. The tented space allows for social distancing to comply with state guidelines. ESO subscribers have been notified by mail of the cancellation and the option to exchange or donate tickets.

“We are excited to celebrate Maestro Andrew Grams’ final season with the ESO at this beautiful location,” Malmquist said.

Grams, a protégé of Franz Welser-Moest, has conducted orchestras around the world. He was appointed music director of the ESO in June 2013 after a two-year, international search, and was named Conductor of the Year by the Illinois Council of Orchestras in 2015.

The Fridays at the Farm symphonic performance schedule includes:

  • A chamber orchestra concert on May 21;
  • A full orchestra performance on July 2; and,
  • Maestro Grams’ farewell concert featuring the full ESO orchestra on Aug. 6.

The ESO was founded in 1950 and became a fully professional ensemble in 1985. Over its history, the ESO has featured a roster of legendary soloists including classical music legends Yo Yo Ma, Kathleen Battle, Itzhak Perlman, Pinchas Zucherman, Sir James Galloway and James Ehnes. The ESO has been named Orchestra of the Year four times by the Illinois Council of Orchestras (1988, 1999, 2005 and 2016).

A community organization that draws its creativity and artistry from the Elgin area, the ESO is dedicated to giving back to the areas it serves. Ensemble members regularly perform at local hospitals and hospice centers, offer music education programs within local schools, and provide free experiences through the Listeners Club and open-to-the-public rehearsals.