Experience the enchanting allure of the classical ballet, Sleeping Beauty. Grand Rapids Ballet will perform the cherished tale at DeVos Performance Hall Feb. 23-25.
A traditional tale come to life
Sleeping Beauty shares the traditional tale of Princess Aurora.
From her birth, a curse by the evil fairy Carabosse foretells Aurora’s demise on her sixteenth birthday. Aurora enters a profound slumber, only to be awakened by true love’s kiss, as orchestrated by the benevolent Lilac Fairy.
(Courtesy, Kansas City Ballet / Brett Pruitt & East Market Studios)
With Devon Carney’s exquisite choreography that pays homage to Marius Petipa, the production will be accompanied by a live Grand Rapids Symphony performance of Tchaikovsky’s exceptional score.
Gorgeous costumes, sumptuous sets, and breathtaking dancing are a hallmark of this family-friendly classical ballet performance.
Come and celebrate!
In addition to the ballet, Sleeping Beauty’s Birthday Party will be held on Feb. 25 at DeVos Performance Hall.
(Courtesy, Kansas City Ballet / Brett Pruitt & East Market Studios)
The memorable royal gathering will be held from 12-1 p.m. Party guests can create enchanted crafts to take home, enjoy sweet treats, and meet Grand Rapids Ballet’s Sleeping Beauty.
Party wear, crowns and sparkles are encouraged to help celebrate Princess Aurora’s sweet sixteen.
The Amway River Bank Run returns to downtown Grand Rapids, and it looks like the rain will hold off just in time for everyone to stay dry.
Please check the latest weather forecast if you have something to do Saturday afternoon. We’re supposed to have some strong winds. Be careful.
What does that mean for other activities going on this weekend? Let’s get to my Top 5, which you can find exclusively on WKTV Journal.
Gonzo’s Top 5
5. Tulip Time Festival
Speaking of the weather, let’s hope things go well for the finale of Tulip Time in Holland. The big Volksparade is scheduled for 1 p.m. on Saturday (May 14) and fireworks are planned for later in the evening. Country artists Chase Bryant perform at 7 p.m. That show is indoors. Go to tuliptime.com for the latest updates.
4. Stars on Ice
Some of my favorite memories as a kid was seeing Stars on Ice and all of the Olympic stars who come out to entertain. You can experience the best of the U.S. Figure Skating team, starting with the 2022 Olympic Gold and Silver Medalist, three-time World Champion, and six-time and reigning U.S. Champion Nathan Chen. Others include 2022 Olympic Silver and Bronze Medalists, three-time World Medalists and three-time U.S. Champions Madison Hubbell & Zachary Donohue, as well as Madison Chock & Evan Bates, Karen Chen, Alexa Knierim & Brandon Frazier; Vincent Zhou and many more. The show is at 7:30 tonight (May 13) at Van Andel Arena. Details at vanandelarena.com.
3. Middleville Spring Fest
If you want something to do tonight,the Middleville DDA and community partners will feature live music, free art-based activities, a downtown scavenger hunt, the Middleville Market season kick-off, and much more. Attendees also will be able to help create murals and paint pianos. The event is from 3-7 p.m. Check out the Facebook page for more info.
Circle Theatre presents “RENT” in May. (Supplied)
2. Rent
Circle Theatre is back with “Rent,” a Pulitzer Prize-winning musical by Jonathan Larson, which follows a year in the lives of a group of friends, artists, and musicians. It is set in the East Village of New York City during the height of the HIV/AIDS epidemic and explores love, happiness, and the struggles to survive. Performances are set at the Aquinas College Performing Arts Center through May 21. More details at https://circletheatre.org/.
The Grand Rapids Symphony will be in concert at Meijer Gardens later this year. (Supplied/Grand Rapids Symphony)
1.Revolution: Music of The Beatles – A Symphonic Experience
Relive all the classic Beatles songs in this Grand Rapids Symphony performance led by conductor Bob Bernhardt. This Beatles symphonic experience is transcribed and arranged from original multi-track Abby Road masters. It includes a “magical, musical tour with singers, projected images, and surprises from The Beatles archives,” according to press material. Performances are Friday and Saturday (May 13-14) at DeVos Performance Hall in Grand Rapids. Ticket availability at https://www.grsymphony.org/revolution.
That’s it for now.
As always, I welcome your input and recommendations for events to include in my Top 5 list. If you have something for me to consider, just send me an email at michigangonzo@gmail.com.
Have a great, safe weekend.
John D. Gonzalez is a digital journalist with 30-plus years of experience as a food, travel, craft beer and arts & entertainment reporter based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He also co-hosts the radio show and Podcast “Behind the Mitten,” which airs at 6 p.m. Sundays on WOOD-AM and FM. Follow him on his journey to discover what’s next. You can find him on Twitter as @MichiganGonzo, on Instagram @MichiganGonzo and Facebook at @GRGonzo. He also relaunched his YouTube Channel. Email him story ideas and tips at michigangonzo@gmail.com.
Yes, there are already more than a dozen sell-outs of the Fifth Third Bank Summer Concerts at Meijer Gardens’ 28-show July-September lineup, with Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park members-only sales continuing until open-public sales start July 10.
Preservation Hall Jazz Band. (Supplied/by Danny Clinch)
And yes, some of the usual “classic rock” suspects are among the sell-outs — The Beach Boys, Kansas, America and Pat Benatar. But, for those more inclined to the “classics” — classic jazz and classic Star Wars — yes in deed, there are still some great concerts with tickets still on the board, including an opening night with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band.
According to a spokesperson for Meijer Gardens, since members-only opening sales opened two weeks ago about 77 percent of all possible tickets have been sold during the “members only” period.
“Many venues offer pre-sale tickets to their VIP lists, club seat holders and other groups, and we’ve chosen to offer a similar benefit to our members by including early access to discounted tickets as a benefit to being a member of Meijer Gardens,” a Meijer Gardens spokesperson said to WKTV this week. “The public is welcome to purchase tickets after our member pre-sale, as well as attend the Tuesday Evening Music Club series which runs every Tuesday night in July and August from 7-9 p.m. Those concerts are included in a general admission ticket to Meijer Gardens.”
A member of the Grand Rapids Symphony. (From An undated outdoor event, supplied by GR Symphony)
Somewhat surprisingly, though, three nights when the Grand Rapids Symphony, with other acts and as the featured act, are among those ticket that remain available.
To kick off the summer concert series, Preservation Hall Jazz Band with the Grand Rapids Symphony will be on stage July 18.
Then the Grand Rapids Symphony conducted by Bob Bernhardt, principal pops conductor, have the stage all by themselves on July 22. The symphony will be performing works by some of the most popular movie composers of all time — including John Williams’ music from the Star Wars saga, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and Jurassic Park. (Music from Star Trek the Next Generation, Cinema Paradiso and Titanic, will also be on the program, we are told.)
China Forbes will be performing with Pink Martini, and the symphony (Supplied/by Chris Hornbecker)
Finally, the always popular night of partying with Pink Martini ( this time featuring China Forbes) will be accompanied by the Grand Rapids Symphony on July 29.
“We are very excited to bring the Grand Rapids Symphony back to Meijer Gardens for these special concerts,” Mary Tuuk Kuras, symphony president & CEO, said in supplied material. “Our shared mission of promoting the arts and bringing our community together makes this partnership a wonderful fit.”
Getting all ‘jazzed’ up
While all three of the symphony concerts should be great night of music, opening night with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band will likely be a night not to be missed.
The Preservation Hall Jazz Band — or just PHJB, for the in the groove — are proof that New Orleans has been the point at which sounds and cultures from around the world converge, mingle, and resurface. The group has held the torch of New Orleans music aloft for more than 50 years, “all the while carrying it enthusiastically forward as a reminder that the history they were founded to preserve is a vibrantly living history,” according to supplied material.
Preservation Hall Jazz Band. (Supplied/by Danny Clinch)
PHJB continues that march forward with So It Is, the septet’s second release featuring all-new original music. The album, according two supplied material, “redefines what New Orleans music means today by tapping into a sonic continuum that stretches back to the city’s Afro-Cuban roots, through its common ancestry with the Afrobeat of Fela Kuti and the Fire Music of Pharoah Sanders and John Coltrane, and forward to cutting-edge artists with whom the PHJB have shared festival stages from Coachella to Newport, including legends like Stevie Wonder, Elvis Costello and the Grateful Dead and modern giants like My Morning Jacket, Arcade Fire and the Black Keys.”
Take a breath, and take that in for a moment.
Details of getting the tickets
Tickets for the concerts, via Meijer Gardens’s new new ticketing partner, Etix, will be available online at Etix.com (preferred method) with handling fee of $10 per order, or by phone at 1-800-514-etix (3849), also with a handling fee of $10 per order. There will be no on-site ticket sales at Meijer Gardens.
Gate and show start times vary. Check MeijerGardens.org/concerts for details. All information is subject to change. All shows will take place rain or shine, weather delays are possible. There are no ticket returns or refunds.
Meijer Gardens has created an Insider’s Guide to Buying Tickets to help with ticket purchasing. The Insider’s Guide is available at MeijerGardens.org/concerts.
Members can continue to buy tickets during the members-only presale through midnight, July 9.
Sales to the public begin at 9 a.m., July 10. There is a limit of 8 tickets per show, per transaction. Again, there will be no on-site ticket sales at Meijer Gardens. Ticket can be purchased online at eTix.com with a handling fee of $5 per order (not per ticket) and convenience fee of $5.25 per ticket applies to all sales, or by phone at 1-800-514-etix (3849), also with a handling fee of $5 per order and convenience fee of $5.25 per ticket applies to all sales.
The Grand Rapids Symphony Society and the musicians represented by the American Federation of Musicians, Local 56, have agreed to a new one-year contract. (Supplied)
The Grand Rapids Symphonyand the Grand Rapids Federation of Musicians have ratified a one-year collective bargaining agreement, which continues economic provisions of the expiring contract while implementing several work rule changes.
The current contract between the Grand Rapids Symphony Society and musicians represented by the American Federation of Musicians, Local 56, expires August 31, 2020. The new contract will be in effect from September 1 through August 31, 2021.
Prior to the outbreak of COVID-19, management and musicians were working on a multi-year contract. The uncertainties of the present situation led both sides to agree to a one-year extension of the most recent contract.
“Planning for a multi-year contract right now is no longer straightforward,” said Grand Rapids Symphony President and CEO Mary Tuuk. “This one-year agreement is a prudent course of action that supports our talented musicians in unprecedented times. The agreement also reflects our shared commitment to advance the mission of the Grand Rapids Symphony over the next year.”
Barbara Corbató, assistant principal violist, and Mark Buchner, section double bassist, who served as co-lead negotiators, said the musicians are pleased with the agreement.
“The musicians of the Grand Rapids Symphony feel very fortunate to have the support of our Board, administration and community leaders as we all navigate these uncertain times,” Corbató and Buchner said in a prepared statement. “These negotiations were collaborative and amicable, with a shared vision of working for a strong organization. This one-year extension gives the musicians a sense of stability with the knowledge that the Grand Rapids Symphony organization will be prepared to begin performing for our audiences as soon as we can do so safely.”
Music Director Marcelo Lehninger said he’s pleased the Grand Rapids Symphony and its musicians have reached a new collective bargaining agreement months before it takes effect.
“Successfully concluding contract negotiations allows us to devote all our energies to work hard to find creative ways to keep delivering music to our audience,” said Lehninger, who has served as Music Director since June 2016. “I am extremely thankful for the support of the Grand Rapids Symphony Board, Foundation trustees, and donors, who allow us to care for our musicians in such challenging times. It makes me proud to be a part of such a united Symphony family and its special community.”
Musicians ratified the contract on Wednesday, May 20, and the Grand Rapids Symphony’s Board of Directors unanimously approved the contract on Thursday, May 21.
The Grand Rapids Symphony has 50-full-time, contracted positions, and about 30 per-service positions on its roster.
The Metro Health Farm Market kicks off the summer season by opening Thursday, May 14. Due to COVID-19, the market will be a little different in that social distancing guidelines will be adhered to and those attending are asked to where masks and leave the personal shopping bags at home. The market will be open form 9 a.m. – 2 p.m. For more on the Metro Health Farm Market and other farmers markets, click here.
Music for Quarantine
Now on Blue Lake Public Radio: the Grand Rapids Symphony (Supplied)
Every Sunday in May, area residents can tune into a previously recorded Grand Rapids Symphony performance. Performances are on at 1 p.m. at WBLU-FM 88.9 in Grand Rapids or click here to access Blue Lake Public Radio online. For the complete line up, click here.
Remembering the Heroes of WWII
May 7 marked the 75th anniversary of when the Germans surrendered to the Allied Forces. This week’s KDL Staff picks features a selection of World War II books from Michael Bornstein’s “The Survivor’s Club to “They Called Us Enemy” by George Takei (of “Star Trek” fame). For the complete list, click here.
Fun Facts
A botanist running around like Rambo? Well according to Tim Evans, a GVSU professor of biology, if that’s what it takes to get people to discover Michigan’s amazing natural beauty, well why not? We’re all for it. Here is Evans’ first in a series on “Dangerous Botany.” To check out Evans’ other videos, click here.
Grand Rapids Symphony Music Director Marcelo Lehninger leads the Grand Rapids Symphony in its 2019-2020 opening performance. (Supplied)
In this time of social distancing, we need music now more than ever. While concert halls, movie theaters, restaurants and pubs are closed, the Grand Rapids Symphonyis reaching into its archivesto bring you concerts performed live in DeVos Performance Hall.
Listen to Blue Lake Public Radioevery Sunday afternoon in May and hear your Grand Rapids Symphony in a past concert originally performed live and unedited, so it’s almost like being there in the audience in DeVos Hall.
Tune in at 1 p.m. Sundays to Blue Lake Radio at WBLU-FM 88.9in Grand Rapids or WBLV-FM 90.3in Muskegon or go online to Blue Lake Radio here.
Over the next four Sundays, you can hear music by Gustav Mahler, Piotr Tchaikovsky, Johannes Brahms and Frederic Chopin among other great composers plus such eminent soloists as Grand Rapids’ own Grammy winningmezzo soprano Michelle DeYoung; 2015 International Tchaikovsky CompetitionGold Medal-winning cellist Andrei Ioniță; Grand Rapids Symphony concertmaster and violinist James Crawford; and GRS Music Director Marcelo Lehninger’smother, pianist Sônia Goulart.
The Grand Rapids Symphony performs in DeVos Performance Hall. (Supplied)
Here’s the schedule for Grand Rapids Symphony concerts on Blue Lake Public Radio in May:
Sun., May 3 – Marcelo Conducts Mahler
Originally performed April 12-13, 2019
MAHLER:Symphony No. 3
Marcelo Lehninger, conductor
Michelle DeYoung, mezzo-soprano
Grand Rapids Symphony Women’s Chorus
One of his most popular orchestral works of all, Mahler’s sunny, Symphony No. 3 was named the “10thGreatest Symphony of All Time” in a poll of professional conductors for BBC Music Magazine. A lover of nature, Mahler spent summers in the countryside outside of Salzburg where he composed his Third Symphony in a tiny shed, built at the edge of a meadow, near the shore of a lake, with a view of the mountains beyond. Grammy Award-winning mezzo soprano Michelle DeYoung, who was born in Grand Rapids, is soloist in the work whose slow movement was arranged for a small orchestra and performed in New York City on the 10thanniversary of 9/11.
Sun., May 10 – Mother’s Day with Maestro
Originally performed May 17-18, 2019
RAVEL:Mother Goose Suite
CHOPIN:Concerto No. 2 for Piano
BRAHMS:Symphony No. 2
Marcelo Lehninger, conductor
Sônia Goulart, piano
Marcelo Lehninger’s mother, pianist Sônia Goulart, joins her son to celebrate Mother’s Day 2019. One of the most prominent Brazilian artists of the past 30 years, Goulart makes her Grand Rapids debut performing Chopin’s Piano Concerto in F minor, an idiomatic and highly personal work that only could have been composed by one of the greatest pianists of all time. Johannes Brahms spent nearly 20 years struggling to compose his First Symphony. With that behind him, the great German Romantic composer dashed off his Symphony No. 2 while on a summer vacation. A friend who was among the first to hear it before its premiere told Brahms, “It is all rippling streams, blue sky, sunshine and cool green shadows.”
Sun. May 17 – All Tchaikovsky
Originally performed February 8, 2019
TCHAIKOVSKY:At Bedtime
TCHAIKOVSKY:Variations on a Rococo Theme for cello and orchestra, Op. 33
TCHAIKOVSKY:Nocturne for cello and orchestra
TCHAIKOVSKY: Symphony No. 4
Marcelo Lehninger, conductor
Andrei Ioniță, cello
Grand Rapids Symphony Chorus
Tchaikovsky was one of the greatest composers of melody who ever lived. In his late 30s, the unabashed romantic truly hit his stride. In just four years from 1875 to 1879, Tchaikovsky premiered his First Piano Concerto, his Violin Concerto in D Major, his ballet Swan Lake, and his opera Eugene Onegin.Nestled among these are his deeply emotional, fateful Symphony No. 4 and his exquisite Variations on a Rococo Theme. Andrei Ioniță, winner of the Gold Medal at the 2015 International Tchaikovsky Competition, is soloist in Tchaikovsky’s only major work for cello and orchestra.
Sun. May 24 – Elgar’s Enigma Variations
Originally performed March 1-2, 2019
SAWYERS:Valley of Vision(US Premiere)
WALTON: Concerto for Violin
ELGAR: Enigma Variations
David Lockington, conductor
James Crawford, violin
The British are coming, the British are coming, led by English-born conductor David Lockington.
Edward Elgar mysteriously composed each of his 14 Enigma Variationswith a particular friend in mind. The exquisite “Nimrod” Variation, performed for the opening of the 2012 Olympic Games in London, is heard at the end of the 2017 film Dunkirk. James Crawford, Concertmaster of the Grand Rapids Symphony, is soloist on William Walton’s Concerto for Violin, written for and premiered by the great American virtuoso Jascha Heifetz. Grand Rapids Symphony has previously performed several works by Philip Sawyers, a childhood friend of Lockington’s.
Sun. May 31 – Brahms’ Symphony No. 4
Originally performed Oct. 24-25, 2014
PONCHIELLI: Il Convegno
BRAHMS: Symphony No. 4
Kynan Johns, guest conductor
David Shiffrin, clarinet
Suzanna Dennis Bratton, clarinet
Composed at the height of his career as a composer, Brahms’ Symphony No. 4 was an immediate hit at its premiere in October 1885. Much like Mozart’s “Jupiter” Symphony, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, and Schubert’s “Great” Symphony, Brahms’ last symphony has achieved the immortality and enduring popularity of the final symphonies of those composers. The 19thcentury composer Amilcare Ponchielli is little remembered today apart his “Dance of the Hours” from his opera La Giaconda. But the prolific Italian composer wrote many works for orchestra and bands including Il Convegno, a virtuoso showpiece for two clarinetists, featuring dazzling technical brilliance from both guest clarinetist David Shiffrin and GRS principal clarinetist Suzy Bratton.
The Grand Rapids Symphony and Chorus perform “Hallelujah”. Sound mixing done by Jay Round. Video editing by Glen Okonoski and Steve Secor. (Grand Rapids Symphony)
Though the concert halls are empty, the musicians of the Grand Rapids Symphonyand Symphony Chorus have not been silent.
More than 70 musicians of the orchestra and chorus have banned together to create a virtual performance of the “Hallelujah” Chorus from Handel’s Messiah.
The production led by Music Director Marcelo Lehninger debuted Thursday evening. You can see “Hallelujah for Hope: From Our Homes to Yours” here on the Grand Rapids Symphony’s website as well as on its Facebook page and YouTube page.
More than 70 musicians of the Grand Rapids Symphony and Grand Rapids Symphony Chorus each recorded his or her performance in their own homes, and all of the individual tracks were brought together in the nearly 5-minute performance unveiled on April 9.
“During these extraordinary circumstances, we need music more than ever. Music sustains us and nourishes us. It gives us comfort when we’re troubled and offers hope for renewal,” Lehninger said. “Beethoven said it best: ‘Music can change the world,’ and we agree.”
Grand Rapids Symphony and Chorus members recorded their pieces from home.
The very first performance of Handel’s Messiah was given in April 1742 as a benefit concert to raise money for two hospitals in Dublin. The “Hallelujah” Chorus may be 278 years old, but its message of comfort still rings true, and its promise of hope is just as relevant for us today.
Grand Rapids Symphony selected the most famous chorus from the best-known oratorio in the English language because it’s so well-known and because it uses both orchestra and chorus.
“Because of its message of hope, as well as the importance of expressing joy for the gift of music, we believe this would be a powerful piece of music to share as a gift to our community,” said Mary Tuuk, President & CEO of the Grand Rapids Symphony, who also participated in the virtual performance.
In response to the outbreak of COVID-19, the Grand Rapids Symphony began cancelling concerts and events on Thursday, March 12. The GRS offices closed as of Monday, March 16 with staff continuing to work from home.
Two weeks later, the Grand Rapids Symphony launched From Our Homes to Yours featuring daily solo performances by musicians throughout the Grand Rapids Symphony family. The series debuted March 27 with a video featuring Principal Cellist Alicia Eppinga and Music Director Marcelo Lehninger on piano.
Through the end of April, you can enjoy a new performance every morning at 9 a.m., seven days a week, on the Grand Rapids Symphony’s Facebook page or YouTube page. You also can view the entire lineup of videos already posted on the Grand Rapids Symphony’s From Our Home to Yours page on YouTube.
“In challenging times, we need music more than ever,” Lehninger said. “So our talented musicians will continue to perform from their homes to yours.”
To maintain operations, the Grand Rapids Symphony has launched a fundraising campaign titled Music More Than Ever: From Our Home to Yours. All donations to the campaign (up to $5,000) will be matched dollar for dollar by generous friends and supporters who have pledged $50,000 in matching funds.
“Although the Grand Rapids Symphony isn’t performing, our musicians and staff still are being paid,” Lehninger said. “You can help us by supporting our Music More Than Ever campaign.”
In response to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s directive that Michiganders remain at home for at least three weeks to slow the spread of coronavirus, the Grand Rapids Symphony is canceling all concerts previously scheduled for mid-April and early May. Canceled concerts include:
Concerto for Orchestra, the ninth concert of the 2019-20 Richard and Helen DeVos Classical series, originally scheduled for Friday and Saturday, April 17-18.
The Pianists, a special event with pianist Orli Shaham, on Sunday, April 19.
The final concert of the 2019-20 season, Mahler’s Resurrection, remains scheduled for performances on Friday and Saturday, May, 15-16, in DeVos Performance Hall.
“The Grand Rapids Symphony has been monitoring the global outbreak of COVID-19 and planning for a variety of contingencies as the virus has spread,” said Mary Tuuk, President and CEO of the Grand Rapids Symphony. “Our highest priority is to ensure the health, safety, and wellbeing of every member of the Grand Rapids Symphony family and Western Michigan community.”
Two weeks ago on March 12, the Grand Rapids Symphony canceled all scheduled performances from that date through Saturday, April 11.
Gov. Whitmore’s order, which took effect on Tuesday, March 24, closed all non-critical businesses and directed Michiganders to remain at home unless employed in critical jobs, engaged in necessary tasks such as shopping, or caring for family members or pets. All public and private gatherings of any number outside a household were banned.
Free Picnic Pops tickets available to healthcare workers
In recognition of the extraordinary sacrifices healthcare providers are making to keep us safe and healthy, the Grand Rapids Symphony is offering two free tickets per healthcare worker to a 2020 D&W Fresh Market Picnic Pops concert.
The Grand Rapids Symphony closed its office on Mon. March 16, and the office will remain closed indefinitely with the staff working remotely. However, we have the ability to answer ticket inquiries and requests by phone on a limited basis and will get back to you as quickly as possible regarding your needs.
Ticket Policy for Cancelled Concerts:
We encourage you to exchange your cancelled concert tickets for upcoming concerts through May 2021. We are happy to exchange your tickets based on comparable value and availability and encourage you to mail your exchange requests as follows:
Ticket Exchange
Grand Rapids Symphony
300 Ottawa Ave NW, Suite 100
Grand Rapids, MI 49503
All requests will be handled in the order received. If you would prefer to exchange your cancelled concert tickets via phone, please call 616-454-9451. You may also donate your tickets or request a refund. To purchase tickets for concerts after May 10, please purchase online at www.GRSymphony.org.
Though concert halls, movie theaters, restaurants and pubs are closed, in this time of social distancing, we still need to feel connected to the wider community. We need music now more than ever.
Tune in to Blue Lake Public Radio on Sunday afternoons and hear your Grand Rapids Symphony in a concert performed earlier this season. Though Sunday’s performance isn’t live, the recording was made live and airs unedited, so it’s almost the same as being there in DeVos Performance Hall.
At 1 p.m. on Sunday, March 29, Blue Lake Public Radio airs the Grand Rapids Symphony’s concert Prokofiev Triumphant, part of the 2019-20 Richard and Helen DeVos Classical series, originally performed Friday and Saturday, Nov. 15-16.
Tune in at 1 p.m. to Blue Lake Radio at WBLU-FM 88.9 in Grand Rapids or WBLV-FM 90.3 in Muskegon or go online to Blue Lake Radio here.
Guest violinist Tai Murray joined the orchestra as soloist for Eduardo Lalo’s Symphonie espagnole. Guest conductor JoAnn Falletta, one of the world’s most prominent female conductors, also led the orchestra in two short pieces by another woman, French composer Lili Boulanger, who composed D’un soir triste and D’un matin de printemps not long before her untimely death at age 24.
Violinist Tai Murray (Supplied)
Most notably, Falletta leads the Grand Rapids Symphony in Sergei Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 5. Composed during World War II, Prokofiev’s Fifth Symphony triumphantly celebrates the Russian people’s spirit and perseverance through the darkest hours of the Second World War.
Grand Rapids Symphony’s concerts in the Richard and Helen DeVos Classical series and Holland Home Great Eras series air at 1 p.m. each Sunday on Blue Lake Radio.
Pianist Jeffrey Kahane is soloist Mozart’s magical Piano Concerto No. 22 with guest conductor Peter Oundjian leading the Grand Rapids Symphony in a Dmitri Shostakovich showpiece, the rebellious Symphony No. 11 “The Year 1905,” and Richard Strauss’ Serenade for Winds.
Julian Wachner, artistic director of the Grand Rapids Bach Festival, leads the Grand Rapids Symphony in two well-known works from the Baroque, J.S. Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 and G.F. Handel’s Music for the Royal Fireworks, plus music by French Baroque composers Marin Marais and Jean-Philippe Rameau.
Sun. April 19 – Schubert’s Great– performed Feb. 14-15 in DeVos Hall
Pianist Inon Barnatan joins the Grand Rapids Symphony to perform Suspend for Piano and Orchestra by contemporary composer Andrew Norman, who was born in Grand Rapids. Music Director Marcelo Lehninger also leads the orchestra in Brahms’ Tragic Overture and Schubert’s Symphony No. 9 “The Great.”
Soprano Larisa Martinez joined the orchestra to sing selections from Heitor Villa-Lobos’ The Amazon Forest, and Brazilian-born Music Director Marcelo Lehninger also leads the Grand Rapids Symphony in Debussy’s Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun and Beethoven’s “Pastoral” Symphony No. 6.
With the governor’s announcement or restricting events of more than 100 people, many of the local entertainment organizations are working through plans or making announcements that activities are cancelled.
Bottomline: call before you head out to attend any activity.
Grand Rapids Symphony
Grand Rapids Symphony made the announcement today that following the guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, effective Friday, March 13, the organization would be cancelling all concerts including the 10 a.m. Coffee Classics concert and the 8 p.m. Great Eras concert at St. Cecilia Music Center.
Effective Monday, March 16, Grand Rapids Symphony staff will be working remotely, and the office will be physically closed through Friday, April 10. Ticket inquiries and requests will be answered by phone on a limited basis. Tickets for cancelled concerts maybe exchanged for upcoming concerts later this season or for the 2020-2021 season. Exchanges may be mailed to:
Ticket Exchange
Grand Rapids Symphony
300 Ottawa Ave NW, Suite 100
Grand Rapids, MI 49503
All requests will be handled in the order received. Patrons may also call 616-454-9451. To purchase tickets for concerts after April 11, please purchase online at www.GRSymphony.org.
Public Museum Free Day
The Grand Rapids Public Museum has announced that it will postpone the Free Day scheduled for Sunday, March 15 for the safety and health of visitors, staff, volunteers and the community. The event will be rescheduled at a later date. Visit grpm.org to stay up to date with the latest event information.
The Museum will operate as normal with regular admission fees and hours; other events remain open as scheduled.
Golden Gloves
The West Michigan Golden Gloves Championships set to kick off this Saturday, March 14, at the DeltaPlex Arena has been postponed. The five-event series delay is resulting from the National Tournament postponement and will be rescheduled, according to a statement from organizers.
Trumpeter and composer Terence Blanchard, a multiple Grammy winner, won the 2019 Grammy for Best Instrumental Composition for his work titled “Blood and Soil.” A longtime collaborator with film director Spike Lee, Blanchard was nominated for the 2019 Oscar for Best Original Score for “BlacKkKlansman,” and his score for director Kasi Lemmons’ 2019 film “Harriet,” which is still playing in theaters. And that’s only what he’s been up to recently.
Blanchard is the special guest artist for the Grand Rapids Symphony’s 19th annual Symphony with Soulat 8 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 29, 2020, in DeVos Performance Hall.
He’ll perform music from “Malcom X,” “BlacKkKlansman” and other films. Blanchard and his band, The E-Collective, will be joined by vocalist Quiana Lynell, winner of the 2017 International Sarah Vaughan Vocal Jazz Competition. The concert also features the gospel voices of theGrand Rapids Symphony Community Chorus under the direction of Duane Davis.
Tickets for Symphony with Soul start at $18 and are available at the Grand Rapids Symphony box office, weekdays 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. at 300 Ottawa Ave. NW, Suite 100, (located across the street from Calder Plaza). Call (616) 454-9451 x 4 to order by phone. (Phone orders will be charged a $3 per ticket service fee, with an $18 maximum).
Tickets are available at the DeVos Place ticket office, weekdays 10 a.m. – 6 p.m., or on the day of the concert beginning two hours before the performance. Tickets may be purchased online at GRSymphony.org.
Full-time students of any age are able to purchase tickets for only $5 on the day of the concert by enrolling in the GRS Student Ticket program.
The Harry Potter Film Concert Series returns to DeVos Performance Hall with “Harry Potter and Half-Blood Prince” in Concert, the sixth film in the Harry Potter series. On Friday and Saturday, Feb. 21-22, Associate Conductor John Varineau conducts the Grand Rapids Symphonyin performing Nicholas Hooper’s incredible score live from “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince”™while the entire film plays in high-definition on a 40-foot screen.
In 2016, CineConcerts and Warner Bros. Consumer Products announced the Harry Potter Film Concert Series, a global concert tour celebrating the Harry Potter films. Since the world premiere of “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” in Concert in June 2016, more than 2.5 million fans have enjoyed this magical experience from J.K. Rowling’s Wizarding World, which is scheduled to include over 1,500 performances across more than 48 countries worldwide through 2020.
“When the Grand Rapids Symphony brought the Harry Potter Film Concert Series to town four years ago, we sold out three performances of ‘Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone’ in Concert,” said Mary Tuuk, President and CEO of the Grand Rapids Symphony. “Afterwards, the Symphony’s Facebook page lit up with comments from fans who said it was ‘absolutely phenomenal.’ We’re thrilled to be able to bring the Harry Potter Film Concert Series back to DeVos Performance Hall for the sixth time along with our fabulous Grand Rapids Symphony.”
As Lord Voldemort tightens his grip on both the Muggle and Wizarding Worldsä, Dumbledore is more intent upon preparing Harry for the battle fast approaching. Even as the showdown looms, romance blossoms for Harry, Ron, Hermione and their classmates. Love is in the air, but danger lies ahead and Hogwarts may never be the same again.
Any for a game of quidditch? “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” performed by the Grand Rapids Symphony Feb. 21 and 22. (Supplied)
Nominated for the 2010 Grammy Award, Nicholas Hooper returns to the Harry Potter series with this magical score that debuted at number twenty-nine on the Billboard 200 chart, thus making it the highest-charting soundtrack among all the six movie soundtracks released. Considered “emotionally churning” by Variety, Hooper’s score features soaring and unique motifs that could only represent the grandeur and scope of J.K. Rowling’s Wizarding World.
Justin Freer, President of CineConcerts and Producer of The Harry Potter Film Concert Series explains, “The Harry Potter film series is a once-in-a-lifetime cultural phenomenon that continues to delight millions of fans around the world. It is with great pleasure that we bring fans for the first time ever an opportunity to experience the award-winning music scores played live by a symphony orchestra, all while the beloved film is simultaneously projected onto the big screen. This is truly an unforgettable event.”
Brady Beaubien of CineConcerts and Concert Producer for The Harry Potter Film Concert Series added, “Harry Potter is synonymous with excitement around the world and we hope that by performing this incredible music with the full movie, audiences will enjoy returning to the Wizarding World.”
Tickets are now on sale via GRSymphony.org and 616-454-9451 ext. 4 for “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” in Concert with performances at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 21 and at 2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 22.
People in north Michigan are not different at all from people in southern Alabama. Trust me, someone who’s spent a lot of time in both places. They’re all hardworking, simple people.
The 28th Street Metro Cruise organizers announced this week that Woodland Mall will be a second main event spot for the 2020 28th Street Metro Cruise. The new location, which will be open only on Aug. 22, will feature a wide array of collector, sports, and antique cars along with other activities. Of course the main event will remain at Rogers Plaza and will include many of the activities that are popular at the 28th Street Metro Cruise. For more information, click here.
Tag teaming against cancer
Stating Jan. 1, Metro Health – University of Michigan Health, Mercy Health and Michigan Medicine launched the new initiative the Cancer Network of West Michigan. The initiative is designed to integrate cancer care services in West Michigan with the goal of bringing broader access to advanced, state-of-the-art, comprehensive diagnosis treatment and support across leading health care institutions. How will this impact patient care? Click here to find out.
Leslie Odom Jr. (Photo by Nathan Johnson)
‘Hamilton!’ Fever
If you did not get a chance to see “Hamilton!” or just did not get enough, the Grand Rapids Symphony has some great news: Leslie Odom, Jr. who originated the role of Aaron Burr in the musical will be performing with the Grand Rapids Symphony in its 2020-21 season. This and the symphony’s Classical Series lineup was announced this week. Don’t miss your shot by clicking here to learn more.
Happy Quasquicentennial!
Mackinac State Historic Parks mark its 125th anniversary this year with lots of celebrating planned throughout the year. Mackinac Island was actually the second national state park, designated in 1875. The park was turned over to the State of Michigan in 1895 at the request of then Governor John T. Rich with a condition: that the area remain a state park or the land would revert back to the United States. For more information on the 125th Anniversary activities, visit mackinacparks.com/mackinac125.
Leslie Odom Jr., the actor who originated the role of Aaron Burr in the Grammy Award-winning musical “Hamilton!” is just one of the highlights of the Grand Rapids Symphony upcoming 2020-21 season with the Classical Season being unveiled this week.
The Classical Season features a mix of popular music, world-class soloists, new music, new concert series and special events beginning in September 2020.
Highlights under Music Director Marcelo Lehninger includes performances of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, the most famous four notes in all of music, and Mozart’s Requiem, part of the climactic scenes of the 1984 film “Amadeus.” Popular music includes Mussorgsky’s “Night on Bald Mountain,” the spooky music from Disney’s “Fantasia,” and Richard Strauss’ “Also Sprach Zarathustra,” the opening music used in Stanley Kuberick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey.”
Important soloists include superstar violinist (and fashionista) Sarah Chang, legendary Brazilian pianist Nelson Freire, and flamboyant organist Cameron Carpenter, the “Bad Boy of the Organ,” who designed and travels with his own custom instrument.
Flamboyant organist Cameron Carpenter, the “Bad Boy of the Organ,” performs with the Grand Rapids Symphony’s 2020-21 Classical Series. (Supplied)
Concert goers will experience a Sitar Concerto performed by a student of the great Indian sitarist Ravi Shankar, and the first major solo work for saxophone and orchestra that DeVos Hall has seen in 38 years.
A new series, “The Pianists,” will bring two artists who once were Gilmore Young Artists of the Gilmore Keyboard Festival in Kalamazoo and who now have flourishing careers.
New music includes the debut of “Immortal Beloved” by Grand Rapids’ own Alexander Miller, inspired by Beethoven’s written testament bidding farewell to the love of his life. The GRS also will premiere a new Double Concerto for Vibraphone and Marimba, one of five pieces of music that will feature soloists drawn from the ranks of the Grand Rapids Symphony’s accomplished musicians.
Season tickets went on sale Feb. 12. Season ticket holders will have the first chance to purchase tickets for the special event featuring Odom. Single tickets will be available at a later date. The 2020-21 Pops Series will be announced in March. The 2020 D&W Fresh Market Picnic Pops Series was announced in January.
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.
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.
Stop and think about one of favorite movies – the story, characters, the settings. It won’t be long before you start humming a few bars from the musical score.
In fact, you may have thought of the main theme before anything. That’s the power of music in movies.
Grand Rapids Pops says a big “Hooray for Hollywood” with Hollywood Hits with music from blockbuster films as Gone with the Wind, Ben Hur, Dr. Zhivago, The Way We Were and Rocky on Friday Saturday and Sunday, Jan. 17-19, in DeVos Performance Hall.
Grand Rapids Symphony Principal Pops Conductor Bob Bernhardt (Supplied)
Principal Pops Conductor Bob Bernhardt leads the concerts at 7:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and at 3 p.m. on Sunday. Please note that 7:30 p.m. is a new start time this season for concerts on Fridays and Saturdays in the Fox Motors Pops series.
Visual images including movie stills and brief film clips will be part of the show.
Tickets for Hollywood Hits start at $18 adults, $5 children, 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. Full-time students of any age can purchase tickets for $5 on day of the concert by enrolling in the GRS Student Tickets program.
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.
The Grand Rapids Symphony performs Friday and Saturday, Jan. 10 and 11, at DeVos Performance Hall. (Supplied)
Let’s face it, it is the first full week of January that most people are not dealing with the holidays — unless you are still working on taking those decorations down. While the sounds of the season are officially passed, there are lots of music, and theater, to be seen and heard.
Pianist Jeffrey Kahane performs with the Grand Rapids Symphony. (Supplied)
Going Classical
The Grand Rapids Symphony kicks off 2020 with award winning pianist Jeffrey Kahane in a concert featuring the music of Mozart and Shostakovich, Friday and Saturday, Jan. 10 and 11, at DeVos Performance Hall, 301 Monroe Ave. NW.
The evening’s program will feature Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 11 in G minor, Op. 103, “The Year 1905” lead by guest conductor Peter Qundjian and Kahane will be featured on Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 22. Richard Stauss’ Serenade for Winds, Op. 7, will round out the concert.
The concerts start at 8 p.m each evening. Inside the Music, a free, pre-concert, multi-media presentation, will be held before each performance at 7 p.m. in the DeVos Place Recital Hall.
Tickets start at $18 and are available by calling GRS ticket office, 616-454-9451, ext. 4 or at the GRS ticket office, 300 Ottawa Ave. NW, Suite 100. Office hours are 9 a.m – 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Tickets are available at the DeVos Place box office weekdays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and on the day of the concert beginning two hours prior to the performance. Tickets may be purchased online at GRSymhony.org. Full-time students of any age can purchase tickets for $5 on day of the concert by enrolling in the GRS Student Tickets program.
Paws With A Cause dogs-in-training visit the cast of Grand Rapids Civic Theatre’s “A Street Car Named Desire.” (Supplied)
Stella!
The Grand Rapids Civic Theatre kicks off 2020 by opening its production of “A Streetcar Named Desire,” which runs through Jan. 26.
The famous Tennessee Williams play follows the story of Blanche du Bois who goes to live with her sister and brother-in-law Stella and Stanley Kowalski in the French Quarter of New Orleans. Blanche arrives under the pretense that she needed a break from her teaching position. Blanche finds happiness with one of Stanley’s friends but her present is difficult for Stanley to handle. He discovers Blanche’s secret for leaving her hometown, which in the end could unravel Blanche’s imaginary happiness.
Showtimes are 7:30 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $18 -$29 for adults and $16 for students. Ticket are available from the Civic box office, 30 N. Division Ave. or online at grct.org. The show is recommended for adults due to sensitive material and strong language.
Making a Change
The LowellArt Gallery opened its “The Art of Change” exhibition this week. The exhibition is of art that raises awareness of current global issues of our time in an effort to provoke positive change. Artists from Michigan were eligible to submit artwork in any media that address themes such as human rights, social justice, gender equality, an environmental stewardship.
The exhibit will be up through Feb. 15 at the LowellArts Gallery, 223 Main St., Lowell. Gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday – Friday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday.
True heroism is remarkable sober, very undramatic. It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost, but the urge to serve others at whatever cost.
American Tennis Player Arthur Ashe
We Salute
Veterans Day is Monday, Nov. 11, with several local events schedule. The City of Wyoming will host its annual Veterans Day Breakfast at the Wyoming Senior Center and the Wyoming Kentwood Area Chamber of Commerce will be at Kentwood’s AMVETS Post 23. On Wednesday, Nov. 13, the Mr. Sid’s Afternoon Video Series will be hosting a program honoring local vets. For more information, click here.
Become Civic Minded
This Sunday, Nov. 10, City of Kentwood Commissioner Emily Bridson will host a Community Conversation on Homelessness from 2 – 4 p.m. at Broad Leaf Local Beer, 2885 Lake Eastbrook Blvd. SE. Keynote speaker will be Judge William G. Kelly, the chief judge for Kentwood’s 62B District Court. For more information, click here.
The Grand Rapids Symphony performs the music of “Home Alone” as the film is shown on Nov. 12.
Stay ‘Home Alone’ or hit some craft shows
The weekend will be full of craft shows such as the one at the Byron Center High School, 8500 Burlingame Ave. SW. The show runs form 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. Kentwood’s St. Mary Magdalen Catholic Church, 1253 52nd St. SE, also will be hosting its craft show from 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. On Tuesday, Nov. 12, get into the holiday spirit as the Grand Rapids Symphony presents the movie classic “Home Alone.” The symphony will perform the John Williams’ score as the film is shown.
Fun Fact: I’m not heavy, I’m a bridge
The world’s largest and heaviest vertical-lift bridge is the Houghton Hancock Bridge, also called the Portage Lake Lift Bridge, located in Houghton, Michigan, the home of Michigan Technology University. About 35,000 tons of concrete and about 7,000 tons of steel was used in the bridge’s construction. The double-decker bridge is the major connection across Portage Lake which cuts across the Keweenaw Peninsula with a canal that links to Lake Superior. And for the beer fans, Houghton is also home to the Keweenaw Brewing Company.
Home Alone, a moderately budgeted film by a little-known director, was expected to be a minor hit for the Christmas season when it was released in November 1990. Instead, the film starring Macaulay Culkin became a holiday sensation, holding the No. 1 spot at the North American box office for 12 consecutive weekends, remaining in theaters until the following June, and spending 27 years at the top of the all-time, highest-grossing, live-action comedies in the United States.
Back by popular demand, the modern classic starring Macaulay Culkin returns to the Grand Rapids Popsstage for one night only at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 12, in DeVos Performance Hall.
Associate Conductor John Varineau will conduct the concert that’s part of the Gerber SymphonicBoomseries, which continues in December with the Old National Bank Cirque de Noelon Dec. 18-19. Gerber is the series sponsor for both programs.
For the second year in a row, the Grand Rapids Pops performs John Williams’ score with its hummable melodies that evoke a child’s view of family and Christmas in the Midwest.
Screenwriter John Hughes had the idea for Home Alone while writing and directing the 1989 film, Uncle Buck. Culkin, who had a starring role in the film, inspired Hughes to create the precocious protagonist, Kevin McCallister.
Lukas Kendall, founder and editor of Film Score Monthly, told NPR, “[John Williams] has a breadth and depth of talent and career that really started before there were The Beatles; [today he is] essentially the dean of American composers. His themes sound inevitable. They sound like they fell out of his sleeves; they sound like they’ve always existed.”
Williams sets Home Alone apart from other live-action, comedies meant for the entire family with music that’s imaginative and memorable, capturing both the rambunctious nature of the film and the essence of the holiday spirit.
Tickets
Tickets for Home Alone start at $18, 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.
Grand Rapids Symphonyhas canceled its scheduled Oct. 31 performance of Ghostbustersin Concert.
The presentation of the full-length film starring Bill Murray, Dan Aykroydand Sigourney Weaver, accompanied by live music performed by the Grand Rapids Symphony, had been scheduled to coincide with the 35th anniversary of the film’s release in 1984.
Due to the concert falling on Halloween, ticket sales were slow, especially compared with sales for Harry Potter and the Order of the PhoenixorHome Alone, and other films plus live music that are part of the Grand Rapids Pops’ 2019-20 season.
Ticket sales for a well-known film such as Ghostbusterscould have gone either way, said Denise Lubey, Vice President for Marketing and Communications.
“Ghostbustersmight have been a popular alternative for Halloween fans looking for a new experience,” Lubey said. “It’s likely it’s simply the wrong night for a great, new experience.”
Oct. 31 was the only date available for the Grand Rapids Symphony to present the film nominated for two Academy Awardsincluding for Best Original Song for the main theme, “Ghostbusters.”
The program won’t be rescheduled for later this season. The Grand Rapids Symphony’s 2020-21 season still is in development.
If you’ve already bought a ticket for Ghostbusters, you have several options:
Russian-born pianist Olga Kern was the first woman in 30 years to win the Gold Medal at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. She performs with the Grand Rapids Symphony Oct. 4-5. Story here.
Right en pointe
A scene from rehearsals of Ballet 5:8’s “Butterfly”. (Supplied/Ballet 5:8)
Ballet 5:8, the Chicago-based dance company known for providing audiences with “a unique opportunity to engage in conversation on relevant life and faith topics addressed in the company’s repertoire”, will return to Grand Rapids Oct. 5 with a program both emotionally heavy and delightfully spiritual. At the DeVos Center for Arts and Worship on Saturday, Oct. 5, starting at 7pm. Go here for more info.
Got leaves? Go here.
Beginning Oct. 5, the City of Kentwood will again offer its brush and leaf drop-off sites at the Kentwood Department of Public Works, located at 5068 Breton Ave. SE. The sites will run concurrently from Saturday, Oct. 5, through Saturday, Dec. 7, with open hours from noon to 8pm, Mondays through Saturdays, and noon to 6pm on Sundays. Here’s the info.
Fun fact:
A new trip for Alice
Mad Hatters Tea Party in the eye of a needle by Willard Wigand
Willard Wigand makes these teeny-tiny sculptures — so itty-bitty, in fact, that he uses a microscope to create them. Wigand enters a meditative state, slows his heartbeat and sculpts between pulses. And holds his breath, apparently — one time he inhaled Alice from an Alice in Woodland tableau he was working on inside the eye of a needle.
In 2001, Pianist Olga Kern was the first women in 30 years to win the Gold Medal at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. She performs with the Grand Rapids Symphony Oct. 4 – 5. (Supplied)
The Van Cliburn International Piano Competition was launched after American pianist Van Cliburn in 1958 won the Gold Medal at the inaugural International Tchaikovsky Competition, shocking the world by playing Russian music better than Russian pianists.
Russian-born pianist Olga Kern’s first attempt at the Van Cliburn competition in 1997 didn’t go as well. Eliminated in the preliminary rounds, the 22-year-old pianist returned to Russia, newly divorced with an infant to support.
Four years later, Kern, returned to Fort Worth, Texas, becoming the first woman in more than 30 years to win the Gold Medal at the Van Cliburn Competition. Her story is told in the award-winning TV documentary, “Playing on the Edge” about the 2001 Van Cliburn.
“Van Cliburn could play Rachmaninoff and Tchaikovsky’s music like nobody could before him, and it was in such a great Russian way,” Kern said in an interview in Playbill in June 2018. “I say ‘Russian way’ because the Russians are always sad, even if they are happy.”
Widely acclaimed for her interpretations of Tchaikovsky among other composers, Kern joins the Grand Rapids Symphony for Tchaikovsky’s Romeo & Juliet, a program entirely devoted to the music of the great Russian composer, at 8 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 4-5, in DeVos Performance Hall.
Music Director Marcelo Lehninger leads the orchestra in Tchaikovsky’s final work, the magnificent “Pathetique” Symphony No. 6. The evening opens with the romantic Romeo and Juliet Overture-Fantasy.
Kern, a naturalized American citizen who has lived in New York since her Van Cliburn prize, will be soloist in Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 3 in E-flat.
“Tchaikovsky took Russian music to another level through his use of Russian folk music,” told Playbill in June 2018. “It is what makes his music sound so Russian. But because he learned so much from Europeans and ultimately took so much from all over the world, this lends his music a universal quality.”
“The way he used piano and orchestra together in a concerto is a totally different level of concerto composition,” she said. “Because before then it was a competition between the instrument and the orchestra. But Tchaikovsky really blended the piano with the orchestra.”
Kern, who won first prize at the Rachmaninoff International Piano Competition at age 17, comes from a long line of eminent musicians. Her parents are pianists, her mother teaches at Moscow Conservatory of Music, and her brother, Vladimir Kern, is a conductor.
Kern’s great-great grandmother was a friend of Tchaikovsky’s. Her great-grandmother was a mezzo soprano who, by accident, became a collaborator with Rachmaninoff.
“One day, she was on tour with Rachmaninoff songs, and her accompanist got sick. These songs are very difficult for the pianist, and she had to find somebody to accompany her,” Kern said.
As fate would have it, the composer himself, also on tour, happened to be in the same town. When word reached him, Rachmaninoff himself offered to step in.
Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 3 began with sketches the composer meant for his Symphony No. 6. Eventually, he decided to recast it as a concerto for piano and orchestra.
Tchaikovsky’s “Pathetique” Symphony No. 6 was his final work. After completing it, he confessed, “I consider this symphony the best thing I have ever done. In any case, it is the most deeply felt. And I love it as I have never loved any of my compositions.”
He died nine days after its premiere, a victim of cholera. He was 53 years old.
Inside the Music, a free, pre-concert, multi-media presentation sponsored by BDO USA, will be held before each performance at 7 p.m. in the DeVos Place Recital Hall.
Tickets for Tchaikovsky’s Romeo & Juliet start at $18 and are available at the Grand Rapids Symphony box office, weekdays 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. at 300 Ottawa Ave. NW, Suite 100, (located across the street from Calder Plaza). Call (616) 454-9451 x 4 to order by phone. (Phone orders will be charged a $2 per ticket service fee, with a $12 maximum).
Tickets are available at the DeVos Place ticket office, weekdays 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. or on the day of the concert beginning two hours before the performance. Tickets also may be purchased online at GRSymphony.org.
Special Offers
Full-time students of any age can purchase tickets for $5 on day of the concert by enrolling in the GRS Student Ticketsprogram, sponsored by Calvin University. Discounts also are available to members of MySymphony360, the Grand Rapids Symphony’s organization for young professionals ages 21-35.
Students age 7-18 also are able to attend for free when accompanied by an adult. Free for Kids tickets must be purchased in advance at the GRS Ticket office. Up to two free tickets are available with the purchase of a regular-price adult ticket. Go online for more details.
Symphony Scorecard provides members up to four free tickets for most Grand Rapids Symphony concerts. Members of the community receiving financial assistance from the State of Michigan and members of the U.S. Armed Forces, whether on active or reserve duty or serving in the National Guard, are eligible. Go online for information on signing up with a Symphony Scorecard Partner Agency.
GVSU’s annual Shakespeare Festival returns this weekend featuring one of the Bard’s most famous comedies “A Midsummer’s Night Dream.” Roger Ellis directs the production that centers around four young lovers who leave Athens due to a law that requires a daughter to marry the wrong man or die. The group ends up in the lair of some fairies who decide to have some fun with them and a group of bumbling actors. Opening night is Friday Sept. 27 at 7:30 p.m. with shows running this weekend and next.
Music for the Soul
Shayna Steele joins the Grand Rapids Symphony for the “Queens of Soul.” (Supplied)
The Grand Rapids Pops pays tribute to the voices that revolutionized rock and revitalized R&B with Queens of Soul on Sept. 27-29 in DeVos Performance Hall, 303 Monroe Ave. NW, to open the 2019-2020 Fox Motors Pops series. Special guest vocalists Shayna Steele, Kelly Levesque and Brie Cassil will be joining the Grand Rapids Symphony for such songs as Aretha Franklin’s “Respect,” Tina Turner’s “Proud Mary,” and Patti LaBelle’s “New Attitude.” Tickets start at $18 for adults and $5 for students. Visit grsymphony.org.
Lending Your Voice
WKTV Managing Editor Joanne Bailey-Boorsma with St. Cecilia Music Center Executive Director Cathy Holbrook. (WKTV)
St. Cecilia Music Center kicks of its season on Oct. 3 when country and folk singer Lee Ann Womack visits Grand Rapids. Or you could wait until Oct. 20 for when Judy Collins makes her way to the the facility located on 24 Ransom Ave. NE. Better yet, just visit scmc-online.org to check out the full St. Cecilia Music Center season, which includes a classical, jazz and folk. Want a few more hints? How about Rosanne Cash Feb. 19. For more, list to the Locally Entertaining podcast.
https://youtu.be/22R5IgxP_pg
Fun Fact: Country Royalty
Since Rosanne Cash is coming to Grand Rapids (in February), we could not resist digging into her family past. Most people know Rosanne is the daughter of country legend Johnny Cash. Her mother was June Carter Cash, who was the daughter of Maybelle Carter. Maybelle was one third of The Carter Family, which also included A.P. Carter and his wife Sara. The Carter Family is considering the first family of country music.
Detroit’s own Aretha Franklin truly was the “Queen of Soul,” recording more than 100 charted singles including 17 Top 10 Pop singles and 20 No. 1 R&B singles. The first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Franklin was ranked number one Rolling Stone magazine’s list of 100 Greatest Singers of All Time in 2010.
Tina Turner, dubbed the “Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll,” is a 12-time Grammy Award winner, ranked 17th on Rolling Stone’s list of 100 Greatest Singers of All Time. Her 50th Anniversary Tour in 2008 became one of the highest-selling ticketed shows of all time.
Franklin died last year at age 76, and Turner celebrates her 80th birthday in November. But their music lives on. Together with their contemporaries, Patti LaBelle, Thelma Houston, and the late Etta James, they ruled the pop and R&B charts in the late 1960s and 1970s, paving the way for singers such as Whitney Houston, Adele, Alicia Keys and Amy Winehouse.
The Grand Rapids Pops pays tribute to the voices that revolutionized rock and revitalized R&B with Queens of Soul on September 27-29 in DeVos Performance Hall, 303 Monroe Ave. NW, to open the 2019-20 Fox Motors Pops series. Guest Artist Sponsor is Carter Products.
Principal Pops Conductor Bob Bernhardt (Grand Rapids Symphony)
Principal Pops Conductor Bob Bernhardt will be on the podium for concerts at 7.30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and at 3 p.m. Sunday. Please note that 7:30 p.m. is a new start time for concerts on Fridays and Saturdays in the Fox Motors Pops series.
Special guest vocalists Shayna Steele, Kelly Levesque and Brie Cassil join the Grand Rapids Symphony for songs such as Respect, as recorded by Aretha Franklin; Proud Mary, as recorded by Tina Turner; and New Attitude as recorded by Patti LaBelle.
The concert also includes such songs as Rolling in the Deep, as recorded by Adele; Girl on Fire, as recorded by Alicia Keys; and You Know I’m No Good as recorded by Amy Winehouse.
In all, 18 songs covering six decades of pop and R&B come to the Grand Rapids Pops stage in the show co-produced by Schirmer Theatrical and Greenberg Artists with musical arrangements by Grammy Award-winning arranger, composer, conductor and trumpeter Jeff Tyzik.
Guest vocalist Shayna Steel, who made her Grand Rapids Symphony debut at the D&W Fresh Market Picnic Pops with Women Rock! in 2017 and who returned to Cannonsburg Ski Area this past summer with Dancing in the Streets: Music of Motown, has appeared on Broadway in the original cast of Hairspray as well as revivals of Rent and Jesus Christ Superstar.
In December 2016, Steele reprised her role with the Dynamites in NBC TV’s broadcast of Hairspray Live. She has been a featured singer with Snarky Puppy in 2014 at the Nice Jazz Festival and has worked as a sideman with Bette Midler, Natasha Bedingfield, John Legend, Matthew Morrison, Queen Latifah, Dolly Parton, Rihanna and Kelly Clarkson.
Vocalist Kelly Levesque has shared the stage with such artists as Sting, Jamie Foxx, Andrea Bocelli, David Foster, Josh Groban, Michael Bolton, Smokey Robinson, John Legend, Patti LaBelle, and many more. She has been featured on several film and television soundtracks, including America’s Sweethearts starring Julia Roberts, and the title song on the new Inspector Gadget series. She also has been a featured vocalist on numerous national TV and radio commercials.
Vocalist Brie Cassil has appeared in New York Off Broadway as Suzy in The Marvelous Wonderettes and as Blast in the new rock musical Chix 6. She has performed as Belle in Beauty and the Beast, as Little Sally in Urinetown and as Mimi in Rent. She is lead singer with her band Rebel, and she has opened for Adler, the original drummer for Guns & Roses.
Tickets
Tickets for Queens Of Soul start at $18 adults, $5 students, and are available at the Grand Rapids Symphony box office, weekdays 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. at 300 Ottawa Ave. NW, Suite 100, (located across the street from Calder Plaza). Call (616) 454-9451 x 4 to order by phone. (Phone orders will be charged a $2 per ticket service fee, with a $12 maximum).
Tickets are available at the DeVos Place ticket office, weekdays 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. or on the day of the concert beginning two hours before the performance. Tickets also may be purchased online at GRSymphony.org.
Music Director Marcelo Lehninger believes it’s the Grand Rapids Symphony’s job to serve its community.
Naturally, that means playing music people want to hear, but it also means taking the orchestra out into the community to play for people where they live.
Grand Rapids Symphony returns for the second season of its Neighborhood Concert Series with Symphony on the West Side, aFREE concert, at 6 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 21, in John Ball Park, 1300 W. Fulton St.
While the concert isfree admission, tickets are required for the program that’ll be held in the park west of downtown Grand Rapids.
Music Director Marcelo Lehninger will lead the Grand Rapids Symphony in such popular favorites as Rimsky-Korsakov’s explosive Flight of the Bumblebee and Tchaikovsky’s lovely Waltz of the Flowers from The Nutcracker Ballet.
Cellist Zachary Earle, from East Kentwood High School, will be joining the Grand Rapids Symphony for the Sept. 21 free performance. (Supplied)
Grand Rapids Symphony Associate Concertmaster Christina Fong will be soloist in the Autumn Concerto from Vivaldi’s highly popular The Four Seasons. Cellist Zachary Earle, a 17-year-old student at East Kentwood High School, will be soloist with the beautiful Swan from Camille Saint-Saens’ Carnival of the Animals.
The concert also includes Aaron Copland’s El Salón México, and Porgy and Bess: A Symphonic Picture, an arrangement of musical themes from George Gershwin’s folk opera.
Come early for pre-concert entertainment from vocalist Kathy Lamar plus pre-concert activities for kids.
Gates open at 4:30 p.m. for Symphony on the West Side. Free parking is available at John Ball Park. Guests can bring food and beverages including alcoholic beverages.
If the concert cannot be held due to inclement weather, Symphony on the West Side will be held the following day at 6 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 22, in John Ball Park.
GR Associate Concertmaster Christina Fong will be a soloist in the Sept. 21 free performance. (Supplied)
It’s the second season of the Grand Rapids Symphony’s Neighborhood Concert Series, a new initiative launched with help from the Wege Foundation.
“A symphony orchestra in the 21st century has become a service organization,” said Marcelo Lehninger. “We’re here not only to entertain our audience but also to serve our community.”
In 2018, the Wege Foundation awarded the Grand Rapids Symphony a $1 million grant to enhance initiatives in diversity, equity and inclusion to engage a broader audience and share live orchestral music with everyone in its community.
Last year, the Grand Rapids Symphony held its first Symphony on the West Side in John Ball Park in July 2018 followed by Lasinfonía navideña, a Spanish-flavored Christmas concert, in Wyoming in December at the Dan Heintzelman Fine Arts Center at Wyoming Junior High School.
In November, the Grand Rapids Symphony plans to present a second free concert, La sinfonía navideñaat 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 23, at the Kroc Center, 2500 S. Division Ave.
Associate Conductor John Varineau will lead the orchestra in holiday favorites. Admission is free but tickets are required for entrance. Call the Grand Rapids Symphony for details.
Though concerts in DeVos Performance Hall remain central to the orchestra its audience, new programs in new places are important for the continued growth of the Grand Rapids Symphony.
“I have a passion and a mission to reach the hearts and souls of everyone in this community,” said Lehninger said. “Sometimes people feel they don’t belong. We’re trying to show them that, yes, they do belong. Hopefully, they’ll understand that’s it’s their orchestra too.”
Tickets
Admission is free for “Symphony on the West Side” but tickets are required for entrance.
Free tickets are available GRS ticket office, weekdays 9 a.m.-5 p.m. at 300 Ottawa Ave. NW, Suite 100, (located across from the Calder Plaza). Call 616.454.9451 x 4 or go online to GRSymphony.org for more information.
Tickets also are available at John Ball Zoo, 1300 W. Fulton St. Call (616) 336-4300 or go online to jbzoo.org.
In its nearly 90 yearhistory, the Grand Rapids Symphony has welcomed such guest artists as violinist Itzhak Perlmanand Midori, cellists Yo-Yo Maand Janos Starker, and pianists Van Cliburn, Emanuel Ax and Leon Fleisherto its stages. Many have played here more than once.
A few truly outstanding artists who’ve captured the hearts of the Grand Rapids Symphony’s fans and supporters and who have commanded the respect of its conductors and musicians have returned again and again. Possibly none have appeared more times with the Grand Rapids Symphony than Grammy Award-winning violinist Augustin Hadelich.
The German violinist makes his sixth appearance in Grand Rapids to open the Grand Rapids Symphony’s 90th Anniversary Season with Hadelich Plays Beethoven on Friday and Saturday, Sept. 13-14.
Music Director Marcelo Lehninger, will lead the first concerts of the 2019-20 Richard and Helen DeVos Classical series at 8 p.m. in DeVos Performance Hall. Spectrum Healthis the Concert Sponsor. Guest artist sponsor is theEdith I. Blodgett Guest Artist Fund.
Lehninger leads the Grand Rapids Symphony in music including Samuel Barber’s Overture to The School for Scandaland Johannes Brahms Symphony No. 1 in C minor.
“It’s a very special season,” said Lehninger, who begins his fourth season as GRS Music Director.
Augustin Hadelich, named Musical America’s 2019 Instrumentalist of the Year, will be soloist in Beethoven’s Violin Concerto.
Tickets
Tickets for Hadelich Plays Beethovenstart at $18 adults and are available at the Grand Rapids Symphony box office, weekdays 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. at 300 Ottawa Ave. NW, Suite 100, (located across the street from Calder Plaza). Call (616) 454-9451 x 4 to order by phone. (Phone orders will be charged a $2 per ticket service fee, with a $12 maximum).
Tickets are available at the DeVos Place ticket office, weekdays 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. or on the day of the concert beginning two hours before the performance. Tickets also may be purchased online at GRSymphony.org.
Kick up your heels. Better yet, leave the heels at home.
The Grand Rapids Symphony celebrates the 25th anniversary of the D&W Fresh Market Picnic Pops by recreating its inaugural Picnic Pops concert July 11 and 12. Go here for the scoop on dates, music, and ticket options.
Celebrate the Dog Days of Summer at Downtown Market
Yippee! It’s Yappy Hour!
Join fellow dog lovers at the Downtown Market for Yappy Hour, on July 10, 17, 24 and 31 from 11am-1pm, to enjoy lunch outside with pups! Go here for more info.
A woman of her words
After teaching English and Journalism, Elizabeth Meyette retired and began a full-time writing career. An Amazon best-selling author, she has published six novels, her latest being 2018’s The Last Crossing. She has also published poetry and writes a blog called Meyette’s Musings. Read about Meyette here.
Fun fact:
189,819
The number of letters in the longest English word, the name of a protein. Go here to read it for yourself because honestly, we just don’t have the time and space. Its nickname is ‘titin’. Isn’t that cute?
How disappointing. Somehow we were expecting something a bit more grandiose.
Festival of the Arts is excited to announce its honorary co-chairs for the event’s 51st year – Grand Rapids Symphony’s President Mary Tuuk, Music Director Marcelo Lehninger, and Associate Conductor John Varineau. For the next year, the three will serve as ambassadors for the community-wide celebration of arts and culture that returns in June 2020.
Festival of the Arts unveiled the appointment on Friday, June 7, the first day of the three-day, showcase of art, music, dance and more, including a performance by the Grand Rapids Youth Symphony under conductor John Varineau.
The Grand Rapids Symphony’s leadership team follows the Grand Rapids Ballet’s Glenn Del Vecchio, Executive Director, and James Sofranko, Artistic Director, who served as honorary co-chairs for the 50th anniversary Festival of the Arts.
Marcelo Lehninger, the musical director of the Grand Rapids Symphony, on stage. (Grand Rapids Symphony)
The run up to Festival of the Arts 2020 coincides with the Grand Rapids Symphony’s 90th anniversary season in 2019-20.
“I’m thrilled to have Grand Rapids Symphony back for Festival of the Arts in 2020 and to have their leaders involved as honorary co-chairs,” said David Abbott, Executive Director for Festival of the Arts. “Festival remains grateful for the Youth Symphony for their continued performance and looks forward to the professional company joining in on the fun.”
“Marcelo is already formulating some surprises that we know will wow the community,” Abbott said.
Grand Rapids Symphony’s President Mary Tuuk (Grand Rapids Symphony)
Mary Tuuk, a Grand Rapids native and Calvin College graduate, joined the Grand Rapids Symphony as President and CEO earlier this year following a long career in banking for Fifth Third Bank and in retail for Meijer, Inc.
Marcelo Lehninger, a native of Brazil, is completing his third season as Music Director of the Grand Rapids Symphony. Last year, he led the Grand Rapids Symphony in its critically acclaimed return to New York City for a performance in Carnegie Hall.
John Varineau, who is in his 34th season on the conducting staff of the Grand Rapids Symphony, has served as conductor of the Grand Rapids Youth Symphony for the past 31 seasons.
“Festival of the Arts has a special place in our hearts as it does in yours as well,” Tuuk said. “Since childhood, I’ve known that, in Grand Rapids, summer in the city truly begins with Festival.”
Grand Rapids Symphony Associate Conduction John Varineau (Grand Rapids Symphony)
Fifty years ago, Alexander Calder’s 43-foot tall, 42-ton stabile, “La Grande Vitesse,” was installed in downtown Grand Rapids as the fledgling National Endowment for the Arts’ first work of public art. Former Congressman Gerald R. Ford, who later became 38th President of the United States, was instrumental in securing the $45,000 grant in 1967.
For its dedication on June 14, 1969, the Grand Rapids Symphony performed music by George Gershwin and Charles Ives, and the orchestra gave the premiere performance of a piece titled “Inaugural Fanfare” commissioned for the occasion by Aaron Copland.
The Grand Rapids Symphony or its musicians, performing as soloists or in smaller ensembles, have been a part of Festival of the Arts for most of the past five decades. Next year, musicians of the orchestra will perform in some capacity for the annual event that’s open for free to the entire community.
The Board of Directors of Festival of the Arts last year decided to follow a new process for honorary co-chairs beginning with Grand Rapids Ballet’s Del Vecchio and Sofranko. In order to re-connect with the arts institutions of the region, Festival is looking to select leaders from partnering arts institutions in future years. The honorary co-chairs will serve as ambassadors to the community encouraging engagement for the event and also serve as conduit to all the other arts institutions in the region for solicitation of performers and artists.
It began with a brilliant fanfare that jolted you out of your seat, followed by an epic trumpet solo backed by a full symphony orchestra. Before either Luke Skywalker or Darth Vader spoke a line or appeared on screen, John Williams’ Grammy Award-winning score set the stage for the 1977 film Star Wars.
It was the birth of the blockbuster film and the return of soaring symphonic scores to accompany epic space adventures, heroic journeys across middle earth, and forays into the world of magic on the silver screen.
The Grand Rapids Symphony goes where no orchestra has gone before with highlights from such favorites as the 1978 film Superman starring Christopher Reeve, and the main themes from the Star Trek franchise including TV shows as well as movies.
Principal Pops Conductor Bob Bernhardt leads performances at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, May 10-11, and at 3 p.m. Sunday May 12, in DeVos Performance Hall. Guest Artist sponsor is Pinnacle Construction.
Special guest vocalist Mela Sarajane Dailey joins the Grand Rapids Symphony to sing Can You Read My Mind? from Superman. The Grammy Award-winning singer, who first appeared with the Grand Rapids Symphony for its Holiday Pops in 2015, also sings two show-stopping operatic arias, the “Mad Scene” from Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor, and Vissi d’arte from Verdi’s Tosca.
“Live long and prosper” by attending the last Grand Rapids Symphony Pops concert which will feature music from “Star Trek. (Grand Rapids Symphony/Terry Johnston)
Bernhardt, who became Grand Rapids Symphony’s Principal Pops Conductor in 2015, is a personal friend of John Williams. When Williams served as conductor of the Boston Pops from 1980 to 1993, he hired Bernhardt in 1992 for the first time as a guest conductor to lead the Boston Pops. Last summer, Bernhardt marked his 25th anniversary with the Boston Pops.
Today, John Williams, a five-time Academy Award winner and a 51-time nominee for the Oscar for film composition, is famous for such films as the Indiana Jones series, the first two Jurassic Park films. In the mid-1970s, Williams was a rising star who won the Oscar for the 1974 film Jaws.
To compose music for the first Star Wars film and another eight films in the franchise that would follow, Williams revived the practice of composing leitmotifs or “leading motifs” to represent each character. Star Wars fans are familiar with The Imperial March and know that it’s Darth Vader’s theme. The main theme for Star Wars actually is Luke Skywalker’s theme, and the theme is heard in the score when Skywalker first appears on screen.
Williams used the same technique, which dates back to the 19th century operas of Richard Wagner, in such franchises as Harry Potter, in which key themes appear over and over across all eight films.
Grand Rapids Pops’ Star Wars, Star Trek, Middle Earth and More! includes music from the latest Star Warsinstallments including the 2015 film Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens, the 2016 film, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, and the 2017 film Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
The concert also includes music from the 2013 film Star Trek Into Darkenss and a medley of music spanning the entire Star Trek franchise.
Bernhardt will lead the Grand Rapids Pops in a suite of melodies from The Lord of the Rings films, all composed by Howard Shore, who won Oscars for the first film in the series, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, and for the third film, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.
Tickets
Single tickets for the Fox Motors Pops series start at $18 and are available at the Grand Rapids Symphony box office, weekdays 9 a.m.-5 p.m. at 300 Ottawa Ave. NW, Suite 100, (located across from the Calder Plaza), or by calling 616.454.9451 x 4. (Phone orders will be charged a $2 per ticket service fee, with a $12 maximum).
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 also may be purchased online at GRSymphony.org.
Got your eye on Grand Rapids Civic Theatre’s “Ring of Fire: The Music of Jonny Cash”? Hoping to score tickets to one of the five movies that the Grand Rapids Symphony will be offering in its 2019-2020 series?
Many art organizations have made (or will be making) announcements of shows for the 2019-2020 season, and if you want to assure that you have tickets to the shows you want to see, buying tickets early not only assures that but also can save you money and give you peaks towards other things such as free ticket exchanges when life disrupts your plans.
Here’s the lowdown on a few art organizations that offer early bird specials. Make sure to keep you eyes out as others, such as Actors’ Theatre Grand Rapids, will be making announcements soon.
Grand Rapids Civic Theatre
Packing a punch for the 2019-2020 season is Grand Rapids Civic Theatre, which will be offering “Ring of Fire: The Music of Jonny Cash,” “Frozen, Jr.,” “Elf the Musical,” “A Streetcar Named Desire,” “Mtatilda the Musical,” “June B. Jones Is Not a Crook,” “The Wiz,” “Disney’s High School Musical,” and “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”
“What I love about this season is the opportunity to present all the plays that will be new to our audiences anchored by ‘A Streetcar Named Desire,’ one of the greatest plays ever written. Our season is full of well-loved stories, charming musicals, and a dose of holiday magic,” said Executive Director Bruce Tinker.
Season subscriptions are available through Aug. 21, however the early bird specials end April 30, (that is TUESDAY, APRIL 30). So now is the time to snap up tickets if you are interested. Civic offers a number of early bird packages, the Perm Package which includes preferred seating on performance day for five productions picked by the directors. Those productions are “Ring of Fire,” “Elf the Musical,” “A Streetcar Named Desire,” “Matilda the Musical,” and “The Wiz.”
There are also several flex packages available that allow patrons to building their own season by using the tickets in any combination, all for one show or split them up over several shows. Those packages are $150 for six tickets, $200 for 8 tickets, and $250 for 10 tickets.
To purchase early bird subscriptions or to learn more about other options, visit grct.org or call the box office at 616-222-6650.
Opera Grand Rapids
As part of its regular season, Opera Grand Rapids will be featuring the Gilbert & Sullivan’s satire “The Mikado,” Nov. 1 and 2 at St. Cecilia Music Center, 24 Ransom Ave. NW ; and Puccini’s “Turandot May 1 and 2 at DeVos Performance Hall, 303 Monroe NW.
“We are thrilled to bring to life two iconic works for our Grand Rapids audiences for the up-coming season,” said James Meena, Artistic Director at Opera Grand Rapids. “By pairing Gilbert & Sullivan’s beloved satire, ‘The Mikado,’ with Puccini’s final opera, ‘Turandot,’ Opera Grand Rapids offers two truly contrasting stories, continuing the company’s long-standing reputation for providing unique musical experiences to the community.”
Through May 31, early-bird subscribers receive 25 percent off ticket prices. After May 31, the discount is 15 percent for subscribers. Individuals tickets, which range from $95 – $67, go on sale June 3. Student tickets are $5 with a valid student ID.
For ticket information, visit operagr.org or call 451-2741 next. 103.
Disney’s “Up” is one of the five films that Grand Rapids Symphony will have in its 2019-2020 season. (Pixar)
Grand Rapids Symphony
The Grand Rapids Symphony offers a host of concerts throughout the year and with that a number of subscription packages to fit about any budget. If you love moves, check out the Popcorn Package that has such films as “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,” “Ghostbusters,” Home Alone, “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” and “Up.” The movie concerts often sellout.
Other packages include two for the 2019 Picnic Pops, several for the classical series, the Pops Package, SymphonicBoom, Great Eras, and Coffee Classics. For those who like a little of everything, there is a create your own package where you can pick up to four performances. Prices for the packages vary so either check them out at grsymphony.org or call the Symphony Box Office at 616-454-9451, ext. 4.
One of the greatest conductors of his time, Mahler spent the fall, winter and spring on the podium. In the summer, he escaped to the Austrian countryside to compose. At the edge of a meadow, with a view of a lake and the Alpine mountains in the distance, Mahler had built a tiny hut with a desk, a piano and a book shelf where he would compose most of his greatest music including his Symphony No. 3 in D major.
Music Director Marcelo Lehninger will lead nearly 250 musicians in the performance of Mahler’s Third Symphony including 100 instrumentalists plus the women of the Grand Rapids Symphony Chorus, and the voices of the Grand Rapids Symphony Junior Chorus, and Mandala, a select ensemble from the Grand Rapids Symphony Youth Chorus.
Special guest is mezzo-soprano Michelle DeYoung, a three-time Grammy Award winner regarded as one of today’s finest interpreters of the music of Mahler. In fact, one of her three Grammy Awards is the 2003 award for Best Classical Album for her recording of Mahler’s Symphony No. 3 and his Kindertotenlieder with Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony.
DeYoung, who was born in Grand Rapids and who later attended Calvin College, makes her first appearance with the Grand Rapids Symphony since January 2005 during the orchestra’s 75th anniversary season. Guest Artist Sponsor is Edith I. Blodgett Guest Artist Fund.
Mahler’s Symphony No. 3, which lasts 100 minutes, will be the only piece on the program.
Michelle DeYoung was burned in Grand Rapids. (Supplied)
“It’s one of the longest symphonies ever written,” Lehninger said. “But it’s so colorful, and there’s so many things happening, you’re never tired of it.”
Mahler, who enjoyed long walks in the countryside, was devoted to nature. The outdoors is a continuing theme in his music. In the summer of 1896, the young conductor Bruno Walter paid a visit to Mahler in the little Alpine village of Steinbach am Attersee. As Walter stood there admiring the beautiful mountain scenery, Mahler told him, “You needn’t stand staring at that. I’ve already composed it all.”
Mahler was speaking of his Third Symphony, which encapsulates his entire cosmology and is the longest symphony that he ever wrote. “A symphony must be like the world. It must embrace everything,” he said.
Completed 1896, it was voted one of the 10 greatest symphonies of all time in a poll of more than 100 professional conductors held in 2016 by BBC Music Magazine. That list was topped by Beethoven’s “Eroica” Symphony No. 3 and his “Choral” Symphony No. 9 plus Mozart’s “Jupiter” Symphony No. 41.
In 2011, the adagio from Mahler’s Third Symphony was arranged for small orchestra by conductor Yoon Jae Lee and premiered in New York City by Ensemble 212 on the eve of the 10th anniversary of 9/11.
“It has become a huge part of my life,” DeYoung said about the music of Mahler in a 2017 interview at the Aspen Music Festival. “I love the emotional journey that he takes you on. In the symphonies, in the songs, in everything, if you allow yourself to go with it, you can really experience a very wide range of emotions throughout the one piece.”
“But he almost always, in symphonies and songs, ends with hope,” she added.
Michelle DeYoung, who was born in Grand Rapids while her father attended Calvin Theological Seminary, appears frequently with many of the world’s leading orchestras, including the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonics, the Boston and Chicago Symphony Orchestras and the Cleveland Orchestra. Elsewhere, she has performed with the Vienna Philharmonic, the Orchestre de Paris, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in the Netherlands, and the Sao Paulo Symphony in Brazil. In opera, she has appeared as Dalila in Samson et Dalila, Brangäne in Tristan und Isolde; Herodias in Salome; Amneris in Aida; and as Fricka, Sieglinde and Waltraute in Wagner’s The Ring Cycle in such international opera houses as La Scala, Bayreuth Festival, Berliner Staatsoper, Opera National de Paris, and Tokyo Opera as well as in The Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago and Seattle Opera in the United States.
Her past appearances with the Grand Rapids Symphony include Hector Berlioz’ The Damnation of Faust with the Grand Rapids Symphony Chorus and Opera Grand Rapids Chorus in October 2003, and Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde during the orchestra’s 75th anniversary season in January 2005.
About 80 women from the Grand Rapids Symphony Chorus, directed by Pearl Shangkuan, will participate in the performance. Another 60 young singers including high school-age singers from the Grand Rapids Symphony Youth Chorus’s select ensemble, Mandala, and fourth, fifth and sixth graders from the Youth Chorus’s Junior Chorus, directed by Jackie Sonderfan-Schoon, also will perform.
Inside the Music, a free, pre-concert, multi-media presentation sponsored by BDO USA, will be held before each performance at 7 p.m. in the DeVos Place Recital Hall.
Tickets for the Richard and Helen DeVos Classical series start at $18 and are available at the Grand Rapids Symphony box office, weekdays 9 am – 5 pm at 300 Ottawa Ave. NW, Suite 100, (located across the street from Calder Plaza). Call (616) 454-9451 x 4 to order by phone. (Phone orders will be charged a $2 per ticket service fee, with a $12 maximum).
Tickets are available at the DeVos Place ticket office, weekdays 10 am – 6 pm or on the day of the concert beginning two hours before the performance. Tickets also may be purchased online at GRSymphony.org.
Just looking at his name, one can tell that Marcelo Lehninger was destined to be a citizen of the world. The child of a Brazilian violinist and German pianist, young Marcelo grew up with two constants in his life: global fluidity and music. Today, he unites his passions on a third continent as music director for the Grand Rapids Symphony. Join us for an uplifting conversation about life, love, and music!
It has motivated the work of nearly every great composer to follow in the history of Western Classical music. It continues to inspire those who hear it more than 269 years after Bach’s death.
The 12th biennial Grand Rapids Bach Festival, the first under its new Artistic Director Julian Wachner, returns to West Michigan in March with a week of concerts and activities celebrating the life and work of the composer whose music represents the pinnacle of the Baroque Era.
An affiliate of the Grand Rapids Symphony, the Grand Rapids Bach Festival will present the inaugural Linn Maxwell Keller Distinguished Bach Musician Award, a $10,000 cash prize in memory of Keller, an accomplished singer who founded the festival in 1997.
Julian Wachner, a keyboardist, conductor, composer and a Grammy nominated recording artist, serves as Director of Music and the Arts at New York City’s historic Trinity Church Wall Street, and Wachner will bring his 28-voice choir to Grand Rapids during the eight-day festival opening March 17. The Bach Festival Artistic Director chair is sponsored by John & Mary Loeks | Studio C.
“Bach has been a lifelong fascination and passion of mine,” said Wachner, who grew up in a musical family. “I started playing Bach before I could speak.”
The Grand Rapids Bach Festival Artistic Director Julian Wachner servers as Director of Music and the Arts at New York City’s historic Trinity Church Wall Street. (Supplied)
At Trinity Church Wall Street, which is just down the street from the World Trade Center and 9/11 Memorial, Wachner has been leading performances of the choral and orchestral music of J.S. Bach every week for more than six years.
“I’m really excited about bringing that experience to Grand Rapids,” he said. “There have been incredible artists who have joined the Grand Rapids Bach Festival including pianist Angela Hewitt and the Bach Collegium Japan under the director of Masaki Suzuki.”
“It’s an incredible honor to follow in all of their footsteps in being part of this wonderful festival,” Wachner said.
Besides musical performances, “Bach in the City” will include such activities as BACHBends yoga and KinderBACH for young children and adults. Locally, the Donut Conspiracy and Love’s Ice Cream have created special, limited-time taste treats especially for the 12th biennial festival.
Several events are free admission or freewill offering thanks to the support of major sponsors including: Prince Conference Center at Calvin College; Daniel L. & Ellen VanderMey; Grand Rapids Community College; and the Cathedral of Saint Andrews.
Dashon Burton is one of the Grand Rapids Bach Festival soloists. (Photo by Tatiana Daubek)
Bach Pass
The Grand Rapids Bach Festival’s Bach Pass, which admits holders to all ticketed concerts and provides preferred seating at free events, is available for $40 adults, $20 students. Order online.
Single tickets are available in advance or at the door for Grand Rapids Bach Festival programs. The GRS ticket office is open weekdays 9 a.m.-5 p.m. at 300 Ottawa Ave. NW, Suite 100, (located across from the Calder Plaza), or by calling 616.454.9451 x 4. (Phone orders will be charged a $2 per ticket service fee, with a $12 maximum.)
Nola Richardson is competing in the GR Bach Festival Linn Maxwell Keller Award. (Supplied)
Festival schedule
Sunday, March 17 BACH IN SACRED SPACES Sunday morning Area Churches Grand Rapids Symphony musicians
Musicians of the Grand Rapids Symphony present the music of J.S. Bach and other composers inspired by Bach in Sunday services in centers of worship throughout the community to comfort and inspire. A jubilant opening to this year’s festival, presented free of charge.Tickets for these concerts are FREE
During his life, J.S. Bach was little-known as a composer, but he was widely regarded as one of the greatest organ virtuosos of his day. Bach’s music for organ has astonished and mesmerized audiences ever since. Three powerful showpieces, including Charles-Marie Widor’s famous Toccata, will thunder from 3,883 pipes of the Wicks Organ in the Basilica of St. Adalbert. As a bonus, Bach Festival Artistic Director Julian Wachner will improvise at the keyboard based on themes suggested by the audience. Tickets are $10 adults, $5 students. Free with the 2019 GR Bach Festival’s Bach Pass.
Hear the next generation of voices in a FREE concert showcasing the six Keller Award semi-finalists. The $10,000 Linn Maxwell Keller Distinguished Bach Musician Award competition aims to encourage and support gifted young singers in pursuit of professional careers in music. During each Festival cycle, one award of $10,000 will be granted, with intention to advance the career and professional developments of the recipient. Tickets for this concert are FREE
Tuesday, March 19 MARIMBACH 7:30 p.m. Tuesday Fountain Street Church, 24 Fountain St. NE, Grand Rapids, MI 49503 Grand Rapids Symphony percussion section
It’s Bach – with a backbeat! In the reverberant, Romanesque splendor of Fountain Street Church, a battery of percussion and percussionists will present MarimBACH – thrilling, percussive pronouncements on the Baroque. Tickets for this concert are FREE
“Terrific,” raves the Chicago Tribune of young organ sensation Isabelle Demers, who has attracted a legion of followers. “Her technical and musical dexterity proved that the next generation of organists is well capable of carrying the profession forward,” declared The American Organist. Experience her artistry on Grace Episcopal Church’s three-manual, 40-rank Noack tracker organ. FREE will offering
Wednesday, March 20 BACHBENDS 12 p.m. Wednesday, St. Cecilia Music Center, 24 Ransom Ave. NE, Grand Rapids, MI 49503 7 p.m. Wednesday, First United Methodist Church, 227 E. Fulton St., Grand Rapids, MI 49503
J.S. Bach’s masterful counterpoint can provide the perfect accompaniment to lead you through such yoga poses as tree, warrior or downward-facing dog. Licensed yoga instructor and WOTV’s wellness expert Michele Fife leads a specially-curated playlist for both restorative and flow-type classes. Don’t just sit and listen when you can listen, feel and move. Tickets are $10 adults, $5 students. Free with the 2019 GR Bach Festival’s Bach Pass.
The three finalists of the $10,000 Linn Maxwell Keller Distinguished Bach Musician Award competition will perform a FREE recital. Each candidate will perform two contrasting arias by J.S. Bach plus one vocal work by another composer of the singer’s choice. Tickets for this concert are FREE
From the famous Trinity Church Wall Street in New York City, The Choir of Trinity Wall Street will travel to Grand Rapids to perform Bach’s Mass in A for choir, flute, strings and basso continuo, and Julian Wachner’s own Epistle Mass, which draws upon 1,000 years of musical influences from Gregorian Chant to contemporary times. Enjoy the music in historic St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, the oldest existing public building in Grand Rapids, dating from 1848. Tickets are $15 adults, $5 students. Free with the 2019 GR Bach Festival’s Bach Pass.
Bach composed more than 200 cantatas. This aching, exquisite trio of cantatas can be counted among his most personal. The radiant Cantata No. 170 surveys the world and begs for release. Cantata No. 51 is a sterling duet for soprano and trumpet. And, in “Ich habe genung,” as the solo tenor’s flesh weakens, his spirit soars. His weary words are frequently punctuated by pauses, and in those long pauses is heard the most poignant music of all. The truths found in Bach’s music will reveal themselves in the Tiffany windowed First United Methodist Church. Tickets are $5. Free with the 2019 GR Bach Festival’s Bach Pass.
Saturday, March 23 KINDERBACH 11 a.m. Saturday Phyllis Fratzke Early Childhood Learning Laboratory at GRCC, 200 Lyon St. NE, Grand Rapids, MI 49503
Join us for an opportunity to play with your little one in an hour-long interactive KinderBach class. Inspired by Anna Harwell Celenza’s book, Bach’s Goldberg Variations, the session will be led by a Grand Rapids Symphony musician and a dancer from Grand Rapids Ballet. Tickets are $10 adult plus one child (age 5 and under). Free with the 2019 GR Bach Festival’s Bach Pass.
Soprano Molly Netter is another Grand Rapids Bach Festival soloist. (Supplied)
Music for the season as well as music for all seasons. Bach’s Magnificat, his first liturgical composition with a text in Latin, soars and sings, inspiring choirs and listeners for nearly three centuries. Cantata No. 110 radiates joy for the coming of man with alternating biblical texts and arias. And Martin Luther’s own hymn is rejuvenated centuries later by Igor Stravinsky. The Grand Rapids Symphony Chorus joins soloists and orchestra for the performance in the sonic splendor of the Basilica of St. Adalbert. Tickets are $26 adults, $5 students. Free with the 2019 GR Bach Festival’s BachPass.
Sunday, March 24 BACH IN SACRED SPACES Sunday Area Churches Grand Rapids Symphony Musicians
In the spirit of Bach’s evergreen renewal of the soul, the festival concludes as it began as musicians from the Symphony again perform in Grand Rapids churches. All events are FREE, and bring the festival to a glorious conclusion – until 2021! Tickets for these concerts are FREE
In its 2019-2020 season the Grand Rapids Symphony will stage five full-length films “Ghostbusters,” “Home Alone,” “Up,” Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,” and “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.” For more, visit grsymphony.org.
Associate Conductor John Varineau will lead the Grand Rapids Symphony in the concert that’s part of the Fox Motors Pops series. Concert Sponsor is Crowe.
The comical adventures of Captain Jack Sparrow, Will Turner, Elizabeth Swan and Captain Barbossa come to the silver screen in the 2003 film starring Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightly and Geoffrey Rush, which launched the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise.
Klaus Badelt, who won the 2004 ASCAP Award for his epic swashbuckling score, composed the music for the film that will be performed live by the Grand Rapids Symphony. The German film composer also wrote the music for such movies as The Time Machine in 2002 and Constantine in 2005.
John Varineau, who is in his 34th season with the Grand Rapids Symphony, regularly conducts concerts on each of the orchestra’s series, including the Fox Motors Pops, Gerber SymphonicBoomand the D&W Fresh Market Picnic Pops as well as for all of the Grand Rapids Symphony’s educational series.
Barbossa in search of the elusive Captain Jack Sparrow. (Grand Rapids Symphony.)
But Varineau also is the GR Pops’ go-to conductor for programs involving film and live music. This past season, Varineau has led the Grand Rapids Symphony in performances of The Nightmare Before Christmas, Home Alone and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
Next season, Varineau will be on the podium for the GR Pops’ Popcorn Package of films including Ghostbustersin October, an encore performance of Home Alone in November, and Up in March 2020.
In ThePirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, the crystalline waters of the Caribbean present a vast playground where adventures and mystery abound for the roguish yet charming Captain Jack Sparrow. But Jack’s idyllic pirate life capsizes after his nemesis, the wily Captain Barbossa, steals his ship, the Black Pearl, and then attacks the town of Port Royal, kidnapping the Governor’s beautiful daughter, Elizabeth Swann.
Elizabeth’s childhood friend, Will Turner, joins forces with Jack to commandeer the fastest ship in the British fleet, the H.M.S. Interceptor, in a gallant attempt to rescue her and recapture the Black Pearl. The duo and their ragtag crew are pursued by Elizabeth’s betrothed, the ambitious Commodore Norrington. aboard the H.M.S. Dauntless.
Unbeknownst to Will, a cursed treasure has doomed Barbossa and his crew to live forever as the undead, the moonlight eerily transforming them into living skeletons. The curse they carry can be broken only if the plundered treasure is restored in total and a blood debt repaid.
Against all odds, the Interceptor and Dauntless race toward a thrilling confrontation with Barbossa’s pirates on the mysterious Isla de Muerta. At stake is Jack Sparrow’s revenge, the Black Pearl, a fortune in forbidden treasure, the lifting of the pirates’ curse that has doomed Barbossa and his crew to live forever as skeletons, the fate of the British navy, and the lives of our valiant heroes as they clash swords in fierce combat against the dreaded Pirates of the Caribbean.
Tickets
Single tickets for the Fox Motors Pops series start at $18 and are available at the Grand Rapids Symphony box office, weekdays 9 a.m.-5 p.m. at 300 Ottawa Ave. NW, Suite 100, (located across from the Calder Plaza), or by calling 616.454.9451 x 4. (Phone orders will be charged a $2 per ticket service fee, with a $12 maximum).
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 also may be purchased online at GRSymphony.org.
Unlike most six-year-olds, William McGregor started his studies of the string instruments with the bass. (Supplied)
By Jeffrey Kaczmarczyk Grand Rapids Symphony
A double bass, which plays the lowest notes of a string orchestra, stands more than 6 feet tall. William McGregor began playing double bass when he was only 2 years old.
Of course, the youngster originally from Ann Arbor didn’t start with a double bass that you see played by the professional musicians of the Grand Rapids Symphony. But while nearly every other toddler who plays a stringed instrument begins with a violin, McGregor did not.
A family friend who played double bass professionally was interested in starting a youngster on the instrument, so he took a cello, which is half the height of a double bass, and set it up to match the strings of a double bass, albeit tuned one-octave higher.
That’s how McGregor began studying music. Eventually, he grew into a full-size instrument, and the winner of the 2017 Stulberg International String Competition in Kalamazoo will appear with the Grand Rapids Symphony on Feb. 22 as soloist.
William Mc Gregor joins the Grand Rapids Symphony this Friday.
The 18-year-old musician, who began studies last fall as a freshman at Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, will be soloist in Giovanni Bottesini’s Concerto for Double Bass No. 2 in B minor.
Music Director Marcelo Lehninger will lead the orchestra in 19th century Italian music for The Romantic Concert: Bella Italia! at 8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 22, in St. Cecilia Music Center, 24 Ransom Ave. NW.
The PwC Great Eras series concert also will feature Gioachino Rossini’s overture to L’Italiana in Algeri (The Italian Girl in Algiers) and Felix Mendelssohn’s “Italian” Symphony No. 4.
Highlights of the evening concert will be given at 10 a.m. that morning as The Romantic Coffee Concert, part of the Porter Hills Coffee Classic series, a one-hour program held without intermission in St. Cecilia’s Royce Auditorium. Doors open at 9 a.m. for complementary coffee and pastry.
McGregor begin his double bass studies at age 2 in Ann Arbor with Derek Weller. In 2009, he was accepted into The Juilliard School Pre-College program where he studied for nine years with Albert Laszlo. He has since emerged as one of the rising young stars of the double bass.
McGregor has performed in Master Classes with such eminent double bass players as Edgar Meyer. In 2011, he became a Fellowship scholarship student at the Aspen Music Festival and School. Not only was he the youngest full-time student there, he was selected to perform a Spotlight Recital at Aspen and also performed with the Aspen Concert Orchestra. The following summer, McGregor returned to Aspen where he performed with Philharmonic Orchestra and was selected to perform at String Showcase Recital.
McGregor won the grand prize at the Ensemble 212 Young Artist Competition in 2012 and performed a solo concerto with Ensemble 212 at The Kaufman Center’s Merkin Concert Hall in New York City. In November, he made his Carnegie Hall debut, with Paganini’s Mose in Egitto.
In October, 2013, McGregor was the First Prize Winner in the Salome Chamber Orchestra Young Artist Competition in New York City where he also received the Most Promising Young Artist Award. He returned in February 2014 to perform as soloist with the Salome Chamber Orchestra in Carnegie Hall.
In 2015, McGregor was invited to solo with the Allentown Symphony under conductor Diane Wittry.
In May 2017, McGregor won the Gold Medal at the Stulberg International String Competition, an international competition promoting excellence in stringed instrument performance by young artists under age 20. He became only the second bass player in 42 years to win the competition, and he performed as soloist with the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra in October 2017.
In January, 2018, he was named a National YoungArts Finalist and attended National YoungArts Week in Miami. In May, he was named one of just 20 U. S. Presidential Scholar in the Arts and performed at The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.
William’s hobbies are all sports, especially Detroit and University of Michigan teams, and collecting and selling baseball cards.
Tickets start at $26 for the Great Eras series and $16 for Coffee Classics and are available at the Grand Rapids Symphony box office, weekdays 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. at 300 Ottawa Ave. NW, Suite 100, (located across the street from Calder Plaza). Call (616) 454-9451 x 4 to order by phone. (Phone orders will be charged a $2 per ticket service fee, with a $12 maximum).
Tickets are available at the DeVos Place ticket office, weekdays 10 am – 6 pm or on the day of the concert at the venue beginning two hours before the performance. Tickets also may be purchased online at GRSymphony.org.
