Set in New York in 1982, This Is Our Youth follows forty-eight hours in the lives of three very lost young souls: Warren, a dejected nineteen year old who has just stolen $15,000 from his abusive, tycoon father; Dennis, his charismatic drug-dealing friend who helps Warren put the stolen money to good use; and Jessica, the anxiously insightful young woman who Warren yearns for.

EPSG:4326

This is Our Youth

Gwydion Theatre Company

Pianist, conductor, and scholar Jeffrey Kahane is now in the fifth decade of an expansive and eclectic career—one that has ranged from concertos with the New York Philharmonic and San Francisco Symphonies, to recitals with Yo-Yo Ma and Joshua Bell, to collaborations with the Emerson, Miró, Dover, Attacca, and Calidore String Quartets. After private studies with John Perry, he went on to become a finalist in the 1981 Van Cliburn Competition, and his piano career reached new heights with his win of the Grand Prize at the Arthur Rubinstein International Competition in 1983. In the 2023-2024 season, he conducted the opening concerts of the San Antonio Philharmonic and appeared with The Knights at Carnegie Hall for a performance of Gabriel Kahane’s Heirloom under the direction of Eric Jacobsen. Since 2017, he has served as music director of the Sarasota Festival, where he has significantly expanded the diversity of both the faculty and the programming, introducing workshops in improvisation and non-classical musical languages, while maintaining a deep commitment to the core canonical repertoire.

Jeffrey Kahane, piano

Mary B. Galvin Recital Hall

One of the most influential figures in his field, lutenist Paul O’Dette has helped define the technical and stylistic standards to which 21st-century performers of early music aspire. His performances at the major international festivals in Vienna, Barcelona, Tokyo, Melbourne, and many others have often been singled out as the highlights of those events. O’Dette is an active conductor of Baroque operas and has made more than 155 recordings, winning extensive acclaim; he is a two-time winner of the Grammy, a twelve-time winner of the Diapason d’Or, and a two-time winner of the Echo Klassik award. In addition to his activities as a performer, O’Dette is an avid researcher, having worked extensively on the performance and sources of seventeenth-century Italian and English solo song; Italian, German and French Baroque opera; basso continuo practices; and instrumental music. His program on this season’s series focuses on newly-discovered Italian lute manuscripts.

Paul O'Dette, lute

Set in rural Ontario, "Perfect Pie" follows the revisitation of the
childhood friendship between two women; one who has chosen to stay on her farm and the other who, driven by small town torment as a child, chose to
escape. While the adults are recollecting their past, the story of the girls at
both ten and fifteen drives inexorably forward to the same event which scarred and shaped the lives of the adult women. When the past meets the present, a catharsis is achieved forcing the women to re-examine their life’s decisions.

Perfect Pie

American pianist Clayton Stephenson’s love for music is immediately apparent in his joyous charisma onstage, expressive power, and natural ease at the instrument. Hailed for “extraordinary narrative and poetic gifts” and interpretations that are “fresh, incisive and characterfully alive” (Gramophone), he is committed to making an impact on the world through his music. In addition to being the first Black finalist at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 2022, he has been named a 2022 Gilmore Young Artist, a 2017 U. S. Presidential Scholar in the Arts, and a Young Scholar of the Lang Lang International Music Foundation. Recent highlights of Stephenson’s burgeoning career include appearances with the Calgary Philharmonic, Chicago Sinfonietta, and the Fort Worth, Louisville, Lansing, and North Carolina Symphony Orchestras. He has been featured on NPR, WUOL, and WQXR, and appeared in the “GRAMMY® Salute to Classical Music” Concert at Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium.

Clayton Stephenson, piano

Join the Evanston Symphony Orchestra as they open their 78th season with a captivating concert on Sunday, November 3, 2024, at 2:30 pm. This highly anticipated event, titled "ENIGMA VARIATIONS," promises an afternoon of exceptional music under the baton of Music Director Lawrence Eckerling at the prestigious Pick-Staiger Concert Hall, located at 50 Arts Circle Drive, Evanston.

The concert will feature the return of the extraordinary violin soloist Maya Anjali Buchanan, who previously enchanted ESO audiences with her performance of Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto. This time, she will bring to life Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s Violin Concerto, a masterpiece that incorporates themes from Korngold’s famous film scores into a breathtaking composition. The program also includes Jessie Montgomery’s powerful "Soul Force," Ludwig van Beethoven’s "Overture to King Stephen," and is highlighted by Edward Elgar’s "Enigma Variations."

Ticket prices for advance sales are $35 for adults, $30 for seniors, and $5.00 for full-time students. At the door, prices are $39 for adults, $35 for seniors, and $5.00 for full-time students. Children 12 and younger can enjoy the concert for free but must have an assigned seat. For ticket purchases and inquiries about children’s tickets, please call 847.864.8804 or email tickets@evanstonsymphony.org.

Enhance your concert experience by attending the Musical Insights Free Pre-Concert Preview on Friday, October 20, at 1:30 pm. This event, held at Merion's Crystal Ballroom at 529 Davis St, Evanston, offers an insider’s tour of the music on the program, led by Maestro Lawrence Eckerling. Admission is free, and light refreshments will be served.

Don’t miss this opportunity to experience the power and beauty of live orchestral music. Secure your tickets now for an unforgettable afternoon with the Evanston Symphony Orchestra.

Enigma Variations

Northwestern University

Hailed as “the next big carrier of straight-ahead jazz’s vocal tradition” by the New York Times, Jazzmeia Horn is the winner of the 2013 Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition and the 2015 Thelonious Monk Institute International Jazz Competition. She received Grammy nominations in the Best Jazz Vocal Album category for both her debut album A Social Call and its followup, Love and Liberation, and her first big-band album, Dear Love, was nominated in the Best Large Jazz Ensemble category. She continues to tour nationally and internationally while teaching and conducting outreach programs through the Jazz Horn International Vocal Initiative, and she is the author of Strive From Within: The Jazzmeia Horn Approach.

Jazzmeia Horn Quartet

The Kupinski Guitar Duo, comprised of Ewa Jablczynska and Dariusz Kupinski, has earned a growing reputation for performing with tremendous energy and artistry. As one of Europe’s most renowned guitar duos, they have been honored multiple times with prestigious awards and scholarships for artistic achievements, playing recitals in Europe, the US, Mexico, China, Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan. As a part of their passion for education, the Duo has given master classes internationally, and in 2018-19, completed an 18-month research and recording project of music by Grawemeyer Award-winning composers. Their latest CD, Kupinski Guitar Duo Goes Modern, was released in 2022 with the intention of recording new, unknown, and original pieces for guitar duo.

Kupinski Duo

Single tickets and subscriptions to the 2024-25 season of Keyboard Conversations are now available.

A Few of Our Favorite Things

Experience the enchanting sounds of the season with the Holiday Brass & Choral Concerts presented by Music of the Baroque. Under the baton of esteemed conductor Andrew Megill, this series promises an unforgettable journey through time, from the medieval age to the present. The Music of the Baroque Chorus and Brass Ensemble will fill some of Chicago’s most beautiful spaces with ethereal chant, majestic brass works, and some of the finest choral music ever composed. The repertoire includes music by Gabrieli, Praetorius, and much more, ensuring a rich tapestry of sounds that encapsulate the spirit of the holidays.

The concert series will grace various venues across Chicago, offering multiple opportunities to partake in this festive musical tradition:

- **Thursday, December 19, 2024, 7:30 PM** at Grace Lutheran Church, River Forest
- **Friday, December 20, 2024, 7:30 PM** at St. Michael in Old Town, Chicago
- **Saturday, December 21, 2024, 2:00 PM** at Faith, Hope, & Charity Church, Winnetka
- **Sunday, December 22, 2024, 2:00 PM** at Alice Millar Chapel, Evanston
- **Friday, December 27, 2024, 5:00 PM** available On Demand

Don't miss this opportunity to immerse yourself in the awe-inspiring music that has celebrated the holiday season for centuries. Subscribe and save to ensure your place at these must-attend concerts, and let the Music of the Baroque Chorus & Brass Ensemble, led by Andrew Megill, fill your holidays with joy and splendor.

Holiday Brass & Choral Concerts

St Michael Catholic Church in Old Town

Alice Millar Chapel

Concordia University Chicago

Sts Faith, Hope, And Charity Catholic Church

“The power of the Dover Quartet to communicate a work with awesome sophistication borders on the spiritual…” raves the Calgary Herald. Named one of the greatest string quartets of the last century by BBC Music Magazine, the two-time Grammy-nominated Dover Quartet is one of the world’s most in-demand chamber ensembles. The group’s awards include a sweep of all prizes at the 2013 Banff International String Quartet Competition, grand and first prizes at the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition, and prizes at the Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition. The quartet has also been honored with the Avery Fisher Career Grant, Chamber Music America’s Cleveland Quartet Award, and Lincoln Center’s Hunt Family Award. Recent collaborators include pianist Emanuel Ax, harpist Bridget Kibbey, bassist Edgar Meyer, and bass-baritone Davóne Tines, and the quartet has premiered works by Mason Bates, Marc Neikrug, and Chris Rogerson.

Dover Quartet

Grammy Award-winning composer and violinist Jessie Montgomery joins the Grammy Award-winning Chicago-based quartet Third Coast Percussion for their first performance of 2025 and the first performance of their new program "Strum, Strike, Bend."

Third Coast Percussion with Jessie Montgomery

The Danbury News-Times praises Trio Valtorna’s balance of “gentleness and power.” Bringing together the gifts of three internationally recognized artists, Trio Valtorna formed in 2011 when, after performing together at New Mexico’s Music from Angel Fire, violinist Ida Kavafian and horn player Daivd Jolley decided to extend their collaboration, inviting pianist Gilles Vonsattel to complete the ensemble. Highlights of the trio’s recent seasons include performances with Delaware’s Coastal Concerts series, the Birmingham Chamber Music Society, California’s Chamber on the Mountain, and the Auburn Chamber Music Society.

Trio Valtorna

“With phenomenal expressive flexibility, the Vertavo moved from warmest sensuality to knife-edge brittleness,” declares The Guardian. Since their founding in 1984, the Vertavo String Quartet has captivated audiences the world over, winning Norway’s Grieg Prize as well as taking First Prize, the Audience Prize, and the Critics’ Prize at the Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition. The quartet has toured extensively throughout Europe, the US, and Japan, and the group’s collaborations have included pianists Jean-Yves Thibaudet and Leif Ove Andsnes, clarinetist Sabine Meyer, and violinist and violist Isabelle van Keulen. Their 2000 recording of Debussy and Grieg quartets received the Diapason d’Or.

Vertavo String Quartet

In a recent review of the Viano Quartet, the Boston Globe proclaims, “…one stopped listening for influences and just hung on for the thrill of the ride.” Since winning First Prize at the 2019 Banff International String Quartet Competition, the group has traveled to major cities around the world, and was named the inaugural June Goldsmith Quartet-in-Residence for Vancouver’s Music in the Morning series. The quartet is also the recipient of the Grand Prize at the 2019 ENKOR International Music Competition, as well as the Haydn Prize and Sidney Griller Award at the 2018 Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition. The group’s collaborations have included pianists Marc-André Hamelin and Inon Barnatan, violinist Noah Bendix-Balgley, soprano Hila Plitmann, and clarinetist David Shifrin.

Viano Quartet

ChicagoClassicalReview.com praises the Dudok Quartet Amsterdam’s “unflappably elegant style” and “sublime, incandescent” playing. 2018 winner of the Borletti-Buitoni Trust award, the quartet has also received the coveted Kersjes Prize (The Netherlands’ highest honor for a chamber ensemble) and numerous Editor’s Choice awards from Gramophone magazine. The ensemble’s recent projects have included the world premiere of the Kaija Saariaho opera Only the Sound Remains with Philippe Jaroussky and the Dutch National Opera, as well as a collaboration with director Rosabel Huguet re-imagining Beethoven’s Op. 132 String Quartet for children. The group’s 2023 release, Circus Dinogad—a project conceived with contralto Hilary Summers and the theorbo and bass clarinet duo of Mike Fentross and Maarten Ornstein—traverses eras and genres, from Renaissance lute songs, folk songs, and lullabies to a newly-composed set of works covering the Seven Deadly Sins.

Dudok Quartet Amsterdam

Pianist, conductor, and scholar Jeffrey Kahane is in the fifth decade of an expansive and versatile career which has included concertos with the New York Philharmonic and San Francisco Symphonies, recitals with Yo-Yo Ma and Joshua Bell, and collaborations with the Emerson, Miró, Dover, Attacca, and Calidore String Quartets. Grand Prize winner of the 1983 Arthur Rubinstein International Competition, Jeffrey Kahane performs with his son Gabriel Kahane, a musician and storyteller whose work increasingly exists at the intersection of art and social practice. As a composer, Gabriel Kahane has been commissioned by many of America’s leading arts institutions, including the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Carnegie Hall, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the Public Theater, which in 2012 presented his musical February House. A frequent collaborator across a range of musical communities, Kahane has worked with an array of artists including Paul Simon, Sufjan Stevens, Andrew Bird, Phoebe Bridgers, Caroline Shaw, and Chris Thile.

Jeffrey and Gabriel Kahane Duo

Hailed for their “explosive vigor and technical finesse” by the New York Times, the Miró Quartet has garnered first prize at the Banff International String Quartet Competition and the Naumburg International Chamber Music Competition, among others. Highlights of the quartet’s 2023-24 season have included the performance and recording project Here on Earth with pianist Lara Downes, the premiere of a new version of Kevin Puts’s Credo with the Naples Philharmonic, and performances for the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts, the Saratoga Performing Arts Center, and Premiere Performances in Hong Kong.

Miró Quartet

Pianist Louis Lortie appears in the world’s most prestigious concert halls and festivals, including London’s Wigmore Hall, the Philharmonie de Paris, Carnegie Hall, Beethovenfest Bonn, and Liszt Festival Raiding. He has established long-term partnerships with orchestras such as the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre National de France, and Dresden Philharmonic in Europe, and the Philadelphia Orchestra, Dallas Symphony, San Diego Symphony, and St. Louis Symphony in the US. Lortie’s vast recording catalogue includes Liszt’s complete Années de pèlerinage, which was named as one of the top ten recordings of 2012 by the New Yorker. Lortie has studied with Yvonne Hubert, with Beethoven specialist Dieter Weber, and with Schnabel disciple Leon Fleisher. In 1984, Lortie won First Prize in the Busoni Competition and was a prizewinner at the Leeds Competition.

Louis Lortie, piano

Join us for a profound musical journey as the Evanston Symphony Orchestra commemorates the 50th anniversary of Dmitri Shostakovich's death with a stirring performance of his Symphony No. 5. This concert, taking place at 2:30 pm on Sunday, February 2, 2025, promises an afternoon of lyrical beauty and powerful emotion, capturing the essence of Shostakovich's work, which many interpret as a complex blend of despair and glory.

Under the baton of Lawrence Eckerling, Music Director, the program will also feature Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s "Variations on a Rococo Theme" with the talented Christine Lamprea on cello, bringing to life the elegance and charm of Tchaikovsky's composition. The concert will open with Jonathan Bailey Holland's "Motor City Dance Mix," a vibrant homage to Detroit that fuses classical, hip-hop, jazz, and more, showcasing Holland's innovative musical vision.

This special event will be held at the Pick-Staiger Concert Hall, located at 50 Arts Circle Drive, Evanston, with additional seating at Evanston Township High School Auditorium, 1600 Dodge Avenue, Evanston. Free parking is available for attendees.

Tickets are available for advance purchase at $35 for adults, $30 for seniors, and $5.00 for full-time students. At the door, prices are $39 for adults, $35 for seniors, and $5.00 for full-time students. Children 12 and younger can attend for free but must have an assigned seat. For ticket purchases and inquiries, please call 847.864.8804 or email tickets@evanstonsymphony.org.

Enhance your concert experience by attending the Musical Insights Free Pre-Concert Preview on Friday, February 9th, at 1:30 pm. This event offers an insider’s look at the concert program, featuring discussions with Maestro Lawrence Eckerling and our soloist, providing deeper understanding and appreciation of the music to be performed.

Don't miss this opportunity to experience the power and beauty of Shostakovich, Tchaikovsky, and Holland, performed by the Evanston Symphony Orchestra. Reserve your seats today for an unforgettable musical experience.

Events in Evanston, IL

This is Our Youth

Greenhouse Theater Center

Jeffrey Kahane, piano

Northwestern Bienen School of Music

Paul O'Dette, lute

Northwestern Bienen School of Music

Perfect Pie

Greenhouse Theater Center

Clayton Stephenson, piano...

Northwestern Bienen School of Music

Enigma Variations

Evanston Symphony Orchestra

Jazzmeia Horn Quartet

Northwestern Bienen School of Music

Kupinski Duo

Northwestern Bienen School of Music

A Few of Our Favorite Thi...

Northwestern Bienen School of Music

Holiday Brass & Choral Co...

Music of the Baroque

Dover Quartet

Northwestern Bienen School of Music

Third Coast Percussion wi...

Northwestern Bienen School of Music

Trio Valtorna

Northwestern Bienen School of Music

Vertavo String Quartet

Northwestern Bienen School of Music

Viano Quartet

Northwestern Bienen School of Music

Dudok Quartet Amsterdam

Northwestern Bienen School of Music

Jeffrey and Gabriel Kahan...

Northwestern Bienen School of Music

Miró Quartet

Northwestern Bienen School of Music

Louis Lortie, piano

Northwestern Bienen School of Music

Shostakovich 5th

Evanston Symphony Orchestra