By Jeffrey Kaczmarczyk
Grand Rapids Symphony
Bach and Handel, two of the biggest composers who ever put quill to parchment, wrote music that, nearly 300 years later, still is well known and much loved.
Skeptical? Highlights of Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 can be heard in the 1988 film Die Hard starring Bruce Willis and the 1997 film Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion with Mia Sorvino and Lisa Kudrow, not to mention in Boxing Helena (1993) and Hannibal (2001) among other films. Here’s the Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 on YouTube.
Excerpts from Handel’s Music for the Royal Fireworks is featured in the soundtracks of the 2003 film Johnny English starring Rowan Atkinson and the 2001 movie The Affair of the Necklace with Hilary Swank, along with A Smile Like Yours (1997) and, not surprisingly, The Madness of King George (1994). Here’s Music for the Royal Fireworks on YouTube.
Multiple Grammy nominee Julian Wachner, Artistic Director of the Grand Rapids Bach Festival, returns to West Michigan to lead the Grand Rapids Symphony in “The Glory of the Baroque,” on Friday, Jan. 31. Concerts are at St. Cecilia Music Center at 10 a.m. and at 8 p.m.
Tickets start at $26 for the Great Eras series and $16 for Coffee Classics, available by calling the GRS ticket office at(616) 454-9451 ext. 4. Phone orders will be charged a $3 per ticket handling fee ($18 maximum per order). There are no fees for tickets purchased in person at the GRS ticket office at 300 Ottawa Ave. NW, Suite 100, (located across the street from Calder Plaza). Ticket office hours are 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Tickets are available at the DeVos Place box office, weekdays 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. or on the day of the concert beginning two hours prior to the performance. Tickets may be purchased online at GRSymphony.org.
