Welcome!

Thanks for joining us for Folklórico, our first-ever online performance. This concert and the last couple of months of activity that has led up to it were clearly not what we planned at the beginning of the season. With that said, I am so proud of what our team – administrative staff, conductors, coaches, donors, parents, and most of all our students – have accomplished.

As a small arts and education organization, we remain in a challenging time and we know there’s much to do to ensure we remain strong and are there for students in the future. But the tremendous support and passion people have brought to EYSO this season certainly promise a bright future ahead.

So much in our lives has been different than we expected this spring as the COVID-19 pandemic and related efforts to fight the spread of the virus have affected us all. As schools closed, and social distancing rules took force in early March, we were able to adjust quickly and smoothly to remote learning in ways that have allowed us to teach, learn, and make music together as our community does what is necessary to keep each other safe. Since then, our conductors and students have worked hard to make this happen in the ways most effective for them: video rehearsals, playing check-ins, email discussions, social media, and other forms of remote learning.

The fact that that the Folklórico concert itself was not canceled outright but reimagined into a single online performance featuring all of our EYSO ensembles, speaks volumes about what is important at EYSO.

I would also like to thank our financial supporters – from individuals to foundations to the state – who helped make this all possible. Funding from supporters like these will essentially be used for the same purposes as originally intended, but the result will take a different form.

I also thank all of you who were part of our 2020 NOTES campaign, whether by supporting your student, volunteering, or donating. You helped raise much-needed funding for EYSO.

If you, or someone you know, is interested in learning more about EYSO or supporting our mission, visit Stories Behind the Music or call me at (847) 841-7700.

With gratitude,

K. Eric Larson
Executive Director