Elgin Youth Symphony Orchestra

Grape Expectations flavors Friday, Nov. 13, as the annual fall fundraiser for the Elgin Youth Symphony Orchestra. It unfolds from 7 to 10 p.m. at Fox Valley University and Business Center on the campus of Elgin Community College, 1700 Spartan Drive, Elgin.
 
About 30 red and white wines will be offered for tasting from WineStyles in Lake in the Hills, along with homemade and hand-dipped chocolates from Graham’s Chocolates of Geneva. The chocolate tasting was a new addition last year. The event also features appetizers; silent auction; cash raffle; and musical performances by EYSO ensembles. Silent auction items include sports memorabilia, gift baskets and special events.

While packing your picnic supplies for the holiday weekend, tune your radio to WFMT 98.7 to hear the broadcast of a recent Elgin Youth Symphony Orchestra performance titled “Lincoln Portrait — A Bicentennial Musical Tribute: 1809-2009” at 11 a.m. Saturday, July 4, and repeated at 10 p.m. Thursday, July 9. The recording also will be broadcast via live streaming at www.wfmt.org.

The March 15 concert, led by EYSO music director and youth symphony conductor Randal Swiggum, features narration of Aaron Copland’s “Lincoln Portrait” by Illinois Circuit Court Chief Judge F. Keith Brown (son of media personalities Betty and Floyd Brown of Elgin).