![Studio portrait of Samuel Vargas wearing a heart necklace and a satin and lace black shirt](https://www.wfmt.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Samuel-Vargas-46.jpg)
Samuel Vargas
A milestone year approaches for the Elgin Symphony Orchestra, as the ensemble announces its 75th anniversary season.
The six-program mainstage Classics Series is at the core of the orchestra’s work. All performances in the series will be held at Hemmens Cultural Center in the northwest Chicago suburb Elgin. Each will be conducted by Chad Goodman, who is currently part-way through his first season as Elgin’s music director. The announcement notes that the upcoming season is the first programmed entirely by Goodman.
Opening the season in late September is a program sampling the sounds of the Iberian Peninsula and Central America — works by Gabriela Ortiz, Manuel de Falla, and Joaquín Rodrigo culminate in Maurice Ravel’s beloved Boléro. The program features guitarist Ana Vidović.
![Joyce Yang poses dramatically with the piano](https://www.wfmt.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/yang.jpg)
Joyce Yang (Photo: KT Kim)
In November, Joyce Yang performs Grieg’s seminal Piano Concerto in a program that also features Dvořák’s Seventh Symphony.
In January 2025, the orchestra performs Tchaikovsky’s Symphony Pathétique and welcomes cellist Matthew Agnew to perform the first Saint-Saëns cello concerto.
Other Season Announcements
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June 19, 2024![Featured image for “CSO MusicNOW & Curator-Composers Announced for ’24–25”](https://www.wfmt.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/dbr-lopezbellido.jpg)
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June 5, 2024![Featured image for “North Shore Chamber Music Fest Returns”](https://www.wfmt.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/huang_169.jpg)
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May 23, 2024Stella Chen joins the orchestra in March to perform Beethoven’s Violin Concerto, to complement Vaughan Williams’s Fifth Symphony.
April sees the orchestra showcase soloist Samuel Vargas in Tchaikovsky’s legendary Violin Concerto before sharing Sibelius’s Fifth Symphony.
Closing out the season in May is a program built around Holst’s signature Planets in a program feature the women of the Elgin Master Chorale.
Audiences can expect further programming — outside the scope of the Classics Series — which will be announced at a later date.
Subscriptions are available starting February 20. For more information on the Elgin Symphony Orchestra’s current and upcoming seasons, visit elginsymphony.org. This story has been updated to include the performances’ locations.