TWO LEADING WORKS of Russian Romanticism follow Dmitri Shostakovich’s vibrant and energetic Festive Overture, composed for the Bolshoi Ballet in 1954. Sergei Rachmaninoff was recovering from debilitating writer’s block when he worked on his Piano Concerto No.2 in 1900 and 1901. He beat back his demons to compose one of the most popular - and lushly romantic - piano works of all time. Dynamic pianist Winston Choi, who heads the Piano Program at Roosevelt University, plays with the ESO. Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade, an orchestral tour de force based on tales from The Thousand and One Nights, is one of the most popular and electrifying works in the orchestral repertoire. This performance, featuring Concertmaster Julie Fischer, commemorates her decade in the chair.