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Grand Rapids Symphony presents ‘Tchaikovsky Festival’ Feb. 8-9

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Cellist Andrei Ioniţă joins the Grand Rapids Symphony for the ‘Tchaikovsky Festival’ Feb. 8-9. (Supplied)

By Jeffrey Kaczmarczyk
Grand Rapids Symphony

Proclaimed as “the most Russian of all Russian composers” by Igor Stravinsky, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was one of Western classical music’s most illustrious romantic composers. From the bombastic 1812 Overture to the enchanting Nutcracker ballet, Tchaikovsky’s music never fails to sweep listeners off of their feet.

The Grand Rapids Symphony’s Tchaikovsky Festival will celebrate the music of Tchaikovsky with a program featuring four pieces by the 19th century composer including At Bedtime, Variations on a Rococo Theme for Cello and Orchestra, Andante Cantabile for Cello and String Orchestra, and the Symphony No. 4 in F minor. 

The Richard and Helen DeVos Classical series concert is led by music director Marcelo Lehninger. The orchestra will be joined by the Grand Rapids Symphony Chorus and cellist Andrei Ioniţă, winner of the 2015 International Tchaikovsky Competition.

The Grand Rapids Symphony also will perform at the ‘Tchaikovsky Festival” set for Feb. 8-9. (Supplied)

Join in the festivities on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 8-9 at 8 p.m. at DeVos Performance Hall.

The Grand Rapids Symphony Chorus is sponsored by Mary Tuuk. Romanian cellist Andrei Ioniţă’s appearance is sponsored by the Edith I. Blodgett Guest Artist Fund.

Organized in 1962 with the guidance and support of Mary Ann Keeler, the Grand Rapids Symphony Chorus attracts singers, ages 18 to 80, from all walks of life across West Michigan. In its 57th season as an affiliate of the Grand Rapids Symphony, the Chorus has joined the Symphony in performances of Mozart’s Mass in C minor and the Wolverine Worldwide Holiday Pops.

Tchaikovsky’s music has a wide range of style and emotion, drawing inspiration from folk music to composers like Haydn and Mozart. With his Variations on a Rococo Theme, Tchaikovsky attempted to embody the simple elegance of 18th century music.

He had a reverence for Mozart in particular, as he told the Petersburg Life newspaper in an 1892 interview. “I was 16 when I heard Mozart’s Don Giovanni for the first time. For me, this was a revelation: I cannot find words to describe the overwhelming power of the impression which it made on me. It is probably due to this fact that of all the great composers it is Mozart for whom I feel the most tender love.”

Andrei Ioniţă, born in 1994 in Bucharest, began taking piano lessons at the age of 5 and received his first cello lesson three years later. His Gold Medal at the International Tchaikovsky Competition in 2015 launched his flourishing career as a soloist and has performed in concert halls around the globe.

The San Diego Union Tribune declared that, “Ioniţă displayed an uncanny sureness of intonation and a beauty of tone, no matter how far his fingers traveled on the strings or how high his lines soared.”

Besides the popular Variations on a Rococo Theme, Ioniţă also will join the Grand Rapids Symphony for the Andante Cantabile for Cello and Orchestra, an arrangement of the second movement of Tchaikovsky’s first string quartet, which was performed at a concert honoring author Leo Tolstoy.

Of all late 19th century composers, Tchaikovsky had a knack for writing beautiful and eloquent melodies. The main melody of the Andante Cantabile is a Ukrainian folk song, but the secondary melody is Tchaikovsky’s, and the two melodies combined created music that brought Tolstoy to tears at its debut.

At the time he wrote his Symphony No. 4, Tchaikovsky had just entered a disastrous marriage that would end in divorce less than a year later. It comes as no surprise that his tumultuous personal life is reflected in the theme of his symphony.

In a letter to his friend and supporter, Madame von Meck, Tchaikovsky revealed the meaning behind his Fourth Symphony. “The introduction is the germ of the entire symphony, its central idea. This is Fate, the force that prevents our hopes of happiness from being realized, that jealously watches to see that peace and happiness not be complete or unclouded. Successive new themes express growing discontent and despair. A sweet vision appears but bitter Fate awakens us. Life is a continuous, shifting, grim reality.”

The composer was pleased with the symphony and considered it to be some of his best work. Though in another letter to von Meck, Tchaikovsky couldn’t help but wonder of the fate of the symphony itself. “What lies in store for this symphony? Will it survive long after its author has disappeared from the face of the earth, or straight away plunge into the depths of oblivion?”

Tchaikovsky would undoubtedly be pleased to know that fate has been kind to his symphony. Not only has his music survived, but it is celebrated to this day. 

  • 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
  • The complete Tchaikovsky Festival program will be rebroadcast on Sunday, April 21, 2019, at 1 p.m. on Blue Lake Public Radio 88.9 FM or 90.3 FM.


Tickets


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.


Special Offers


Full-time students of any age can purchase tickets for $5 on the night of the concert by enrolling in the GRS Student Tickets program, sponsored by Calvin College. Discounts 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 up to four free tickets for members of the community receiving financial assistance from the State of Michigan and for members of the U.S. Armed Forces, whether on active or reserve duty or serving in the National Guard. Go online for information to sign up with a Symphony Scorecard Partner Agency.

GR Symphony presents Verdi’s monumental Requiem Nov. 17 and 18

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By Jeffrey Kaczmarczyk

Grand Rapids Symphony

 

One of the best operas Giuseppe Verdi ever wrote calls for no costumes or sets. And one of his best-known sacred works is seldom performed in church. What’s more, both are one in the same.

 

Verdi’s Requiem has no operatic adventures involving heroes and villains, but it still features some of the most dramatic music ever written by the composer of Rigoletto, La Traviata, Otello and Aida.

 

Grand Rapids Symphony Music Director Marcelo Lehninger says the work that’s popular with audiences is a particular favorite of his as well.

 

“It’s one of the pieces I enjoy conducting the most,” he said.

 

Lehninger, who is in his second season with the Grand Rapids Symphony, will lead the third concert of the 2017-18 Richard and Helen DeVos Classical series at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, November 17-18, in DeVos Performance Hall, 303 Monroe Ave. NW.

 

Guest soprano Julianna Di Giacomo, mezzo soprano Suzanne Hendrix, tenor Anthony Dean Griffey and bass Raymond Aceto Guest artist sponsor is the Edith I. Blodgett Guest Artist Fund.

 

The 140-voice Grand Rapids Symphony Chorus will be joined by the 40-voice Calvin College Capella, both directed by Pearl Shangkuan, a professor of music at Calvin College.

 

All told, there will be upwards of 270 musicians on stage for the performances.

 

Concerts on Friday and Saturday will be dedicated to the memory of Helen DeVos, the Grand Rapids Symphony’s dear friend and greatest champion, who died in October. A member of the Symphony’s Board of Directors for nearly 20 years and an honorary board member afterwards, Helen DeVos had been awarded the Grand Rapids Symphony’s highest honor, its BRAVO! Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007.

 

Grand Rapids Symphony musicians and staff will wear yellow ribbons in Mrs. DeVos’s memory. Music Director Marcelo Lehninger and the symphony’s principal first and second violins and principal viola and cello, which together comprise the Grand Rapids Symphony’s DeVos String Quartet, all will wear yellow rose boutonnieres or corsages at both performances.

 

Verdi, who was spiritual, but not a regular churchgoer, poured his most mature vocal and dramatic gifts into his Requiem. The traditional Mass for the Dead in the Roman Catholic liturgy takes its title from the opening phrase, “Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine,” which translates as, “Grant them eternal rest, O Lord.”

 

Verdi began the work to honor his operatic colleague, Gioachino Rossini, though he never completed it. Years later, Verdi finished the piece to commemorate the first anniversary of the death of Italian poet and novelist Alessandro Manzoni.

 

In Verdi’s mind, a big man needed a big sendoff, so he composed a work for double chorus, no fewer than 16 brass instruments, and a pounding bass drum that never goes away.

 

Portions of the 85 minute-work are well-known in popular culture. The dramatic “Die Irae” or “Day of Wrath” sequence is among the loudest musical moments in the orchestra repertoire. It’s frequently heard in movies, on TV and in commercials including the films “Mad Max: Fury Road” in 2015 and “Django Unchained” in 2012 and in the TV series “X Factor.”

 

Grand Rapids Symphony last performed Verdi’s Requiem in May 2010 to end its 2009-10 season.

 

Prior to that, the Grand Rapids Symphony sang Verdi’s Requiem in November 2001, just weeks after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, which gave added poignancy to the “Libre Me” section, with its first line that translates as “Deliver me, O Lord, from death eternal on that fateful day.”

 

  • 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.
  • The complete Verdi’s Requiem program will be rebroadcast on Sunday, March 25, 2018, at 1 p.m. on Blue Lake Public Radio 88.9 FM or 90.3 FM.

Tickets

 

Tickets start at $18 and are available at the GRS box office, weekdays 9 am-5 pm, 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 ticket 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.

 

Full-time students of any age are able to purchase tickets for only $5 on the night of the concert by enrolling in the GRS Student Ticketsprogram, sponsored by Comerica and Calvin College. This is a MySymphony360 eligible concert.