Principal Sponsor
Concert Sponsor
In-Kind Sponsor
Concert Program
Selections to be performed include:
JOHN WILLIAMS | Theme from Schindler’s List
MAHLER | Adagietto
MENDELSSOHN | String Symphony No. 10 in B minor
Matthew Sheppard, conductor
Ticket Information
Prices: Gold $65 / Red $40 / Green $20
Student ticket: $10
Youth 17 and under: Free*
*Free youth tickets limited one(1) per adult ticket purchase and not available online
Description
The ESO is proud to be involved in a community-wide collaboration, including the Gail Borden Public Library and The City of Elgin in presenting Violins of Hope. This is an international project being brought to the Chicagoland area by the Jewish Community Center of Chicago that showcases a collection of 70 restored violins owned and played by musicians in concentration camps during the Holocaust.
Violins of Hope is not only a memorial to lost culture and people, it is also an educational program that reaches young students and adults of all faiths and backgrounds. In recent years orchestras around the world have held Violins of Hope concerts. They tell the history of some of the instruments – such as the violin which was thrown out of a cattle train on the way from France to Auschwitz; the violin that was buried under the snow in Holland to save it; the violin that saved lives of people who played in camp orchestras and survived, and many more stories.
Violins of Hope aims to bring awareness and insight by telling the stories of resilience, resistance, and unity through the power of a musical experience. Rather than Holocaust statistics that, in their enormity, can be difficult to fathom, Violins of Hope uses the violins and the music to explain the sufferings and hope of Jewish people.
Join us for a pre-concert chat at 7:00 PM with Dr. James A. Grymes, musicologist and author of the book Violins of Hope.
Biographies
-
Matthew Sheppard is a Chicago-based conductor and educator. For the 2022-23 season, he is the Guest Resident Conductor at the Bienen School of Music, where he conducts the Northwestern University Symphony Orchestra. He is also the Artistic Director of the Elgin Youth Symphony Orchestra and the Hyde Park Youth Symphony, Education Conductor of the Elgin Symphony Orchestra, and Music Director of the University of Chicago Chamber Orchestra and the Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company of Chicago.
As the Artistic Drector of the award-winning Elgin Youth Symphony Orchestra, Sheppard leads a team of dedicated educators in providing a comprehensive music education to nearly 400 students and families each year. The professional repertoire and thematic curriculum explored each year is designed not only to help student musicians develop artistically and technically, but also to prepare them for a future of complex ideas, creative risk-taking, and leadership as global citizens. This approach led to EYSO being named 2021 Youth Orchestra of the Year by the Illinois Council of Orchestras (ICO) and to Sheppard being awarded ICO Conductor of the Year in 2022.
Sheppard has guest conducted orchestras in North and South America, including the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional del Paraguay, the Chicago Philharmonic, the Champaign Urbana Symphony Orchestra, the Lake Geneva Symphony Orchestra, and the Blue Lake International Youth Symphony. As a teacher, Sheppard inspires students to nurture a deep love and understanding of music and performing through his own passion, musicianship, and conducting. Sheppard currently serves as president of the IL Comprehensive Musicianship through Performance (IL CMP) Committee as it encourages teaching with intention, and performing with understanding.
Sheppard studied with Donald Schleicher as a doctoral candidate in orchestral conducting at the University of Illinois, and before that he earned his master’s degree in orchestral conducting under Gerardo Edelstein at Penn State University. Past positions include Music Director of the Sangamon Valley Civic Orchestra and Youth Symphony, Orchestra Director at Juniata College, and Assistant Conductor of the Central Pennsylvania Youth Orchestra. He holds bachelor’s degrees in Liberal Arts, Music Education, and Violin Performance from Penn State where he studied with Max Zorin.