By Matthew Makowski, Grand Valley State University
Named after Renaissance artist Pietro Perugino of Grand Rapids’ sister city Perugia, Italy, The Perugino String Quartet has performed across Michigan and at the world-renowned Julliard String Quartet Seminar at the Lincoln Center in New York City. The group is composed of violinists Eric Tanner and Christopher Martin, violinist Barbara Corbato and cellist Stacey Bosman Tanner. Together, the quartet performs classics of the string quartet repertoire, as well as a variety of new chamber works.
The Perugino String Quartet centers its appearances around Michigan, having performed at many arts-based series and events, such as the Chamber Music Festival of Saugatuck, Art Reach of Mid Michigan and Muskegon’s Feeding the Soul of the City concert series.
Arts at Noon brings nationally and internationally known musicians to Grand Valley State University for 14 performances each academic year. All Arts at Noon concerts will take place in the Cook-DeWitt Center, located on the Allendale Campus. They will begin at noon and last approximately one hour. Every concert is free and open to the public. For more information about Arts at Noon, visit gvsu.edu/artsatnoon or contact Henry Duitman, series coordinator, at duitmanh@gvsu.edu.
By Matthew Makowski, Grand Valley State University
The annual holiday concert featuring the GVSU Brass Quintet is an Arts at Noon tradition. The ensemble comprises Grand Valley State University music faculty, including Alex Wilson (trumpet), Richard Britsch (horn), Mark Williams (trombone), Paul Carlson (tuba) and visiting performing Paul Hardaker (trumpet). Each year, the quintet also performs multiple outreach concerts, and facilitates master classes and coaching sessions at high schools throughout Michigan.
When: December 6 at noon
Where: Cook-DeWitt Center, located on the Allendale Campus
Arts at Noon
Arts at Noon brings nationally and internationally-known musicians to Grand Valley State University for 14 performances each academic year. All Arts at Noon concerts will take place in the Cook-DeWitt Center, located on the Allendale Campus. They will begin at noon and last approximately one hour. Every concert is free and open to the public. For more information about Arts at Noon, visit gvsu.edu/artsatnoon or contact Henry Duitman, series coordinator, at duitmanh@gvsu.edu.
For more information about Music, Theatre and Dance Department events, contact 616.331.3484 or visit gvsu.edu/mtd.
By Matthew Makowski, Grand Valley State University
Arts at Noon brings nationally and internationally-known musicians to Grand Valley State University for 14 performances each academic year. All Arts at Noon concerts will take place in the Cook-DeWitt Center, located on the Allendale Campus. They will begin at noon and last approximately one hour.
Every concert is free and open to the public. For more information about Arts at Noon, visit gvsu.edu/artsatnoon or contact Henry Duitman, series coordinator, at duitmanh@gvsu.edu.
November 1–Grand Rapids Symphony Orchestra
Members of the Grand Rapids Symphony Orchestra will return to Grand Valley State University’s Allendale Campus for their annual Arts at Noon performance.
“As the premiere arts organization in West Michigan, the Grand Rapids Symphony provides amazing cultural and educational benefits to the region,” said Henry Duitman, Arts at Noon coordinator and GVSU Symphony Orchestra director. “Every year, the performance by the Grand Rapids Symphony during the Arts at Noon series brings the warmth of exquisitely played string and woodwind instruments to the audience in the Cook-DeWitt Center. This is always the most eagerly-anticipated performance of the semester.”
Akropolis (photo supplied)
November 15–Akropolis Reed Quintet
The Akropolis Reed Quintet takes listeners on musical adventures by performing an innovative repertoire with acclaimed precision. The quintet was founded in 2009 at the University of Michigan and became the first reed quintet to win the Fischoff Gold Medal in 2014. Championing the next generation of musicians, Akropolis delivers impactful outreach programs at schools ranging from kindergarten to conservatory.
The ensemble has released two studio albums to critical acclaim and commissioned more than 25 reed quintet works to date. Their dynamic concerts feature accessible contemporary works framed by invigorating arrangements of classical music spanning four centuries.
Nicholas Photinos (photo supplied)
November 29–Cellist Nick Photinos
Cellist Nicholas Photinos is a former and founding member of the four-time Grammy Award-winning new music ensemble, eighth blackbird. During his Arts at Noon performance at Grand Valley State University, Photinos will perform works from Petits Artéfacts, his debut recording on New Amsterdam Records. Formed in 1996, eighth blackbird performs throughout the world, with approximately 50 concerts annually, and has been featured on the 2013 Grammy Awards, CBS Sunday Morning and in The New York Times.
The group’s mission extends beyond performance to curation and education. The ensemble served as Music Director of the Ojai Music Festival (2009), enjoyed a three-year residency at the Curtis Institute of Music, and holds ongoing Ensemble-in-Residence positions at the University of Richmond and the University of Chicago. Photinos teaches at the Bang on a Can Summer Festival every July. He is a graduate of Northwestern University, the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, and the Oberlin Conservatory of Music.
Grand Rapids Symphony Violinist Megan Crawford. Credit:Terry Johnston
The Arts at Noon concert series at Grand Valley State University will kick off its 40th season with a performance by an ensemble of Grand Valley music faculty and members of the Grand Rapids Symphony.
The series will feature seven concerts this fall followed by seven performances in the winter, beginning in January. The fall series begins Wednesday, September 13, with the Dvorak String Quintet. Members of the ensemble include Grand Valley music faculty Pablo Mahave-Veglia (cello), Michael Hovnanian (bass) and Paul Swantek (viola). They will be joined by members of the Grand Rapids Symphony, including Megan Crawford (violin) and James Crawford (violin). Hovnanian and Swantek are also members of the Grand Rapids Symphony.
For this concert, the Dvorak String Quintet will perform “Antonin Dvorak String Quintet op. 77.”
All Arts at Noon concerts will take place in the Cook-DeWitt Center on the Allendale Campus, begin at noon, and last approximately one hour. Each concert is free and open to the public.
Below is a full schedule of fall Arts at Noon concerts:
The 39th season of Grand Valley State University’s Arts at Noon concert series continues Wednesday, Feb. 22, when the Hildegard Singers come to the Allendale campus.
Based in Grand Rapids, the Hildegard Singers are three professional vocalists who were convened in 2011 to celebrate the beautiful and timeless music of Hildegard of Bingen, a German Benedictine abbess, writer, composer, philosopher, and Christian mystic. The ensemble, comprised of Diane Penning, Lisa Walhout and Barbara McCargar, also perform other medieval vocal music treasures, including Gregorian chant, Spanish and French pilgrimage music, and French, German and English motets and carols.
All Arts at Noon concerts during the 39th season of the popular series will take place in the Cook-DeWitt Center on the Allendale Campus, begin at noon, and last approximately one hour. Every concert is free and open to the public.
