Tag Archives: jeffrey kaczmarczyk

Unwrap the holidays with the Grand Rapids Pops

Citizen Journalism, Entertainment, Upcoming Events,
Home Alone

By Jeffrey Kaczmarczyk, Grand Rapids Symphony

 

With thrilling acrobatics, classic films and timeless music, the sublime sounds of the holidays from the Grand Rapids Pops are sure to make spirits bright.

 

Carrying on tradition, the Grand Rapids Symphony once again presents its Wolverine Worldwide Holiday Pops on Dec. 6-9 and Old National Bank Cirque de Noël on Dec. 19-20 in DeVos Performance Hall.

 

Also coming to the DeVos Performance Hall are two full-length feature holiday film concerts, The Snowman on Nov. 17 and Home Alone Nov. 29.

 

Principal Pops conductor Bob Bernhardt will lead the Symphony in the old, familiar carols and other timeless holiday melodies in this year’s Wolverine Worldwide Holiday Pops.

 

Joining the Symphony in favorites such as the “Hallelujah Chorus” from Handel’s Messiah and music from the 1990 film Home Alone are the joyful voices of the Grand Rapids Symphony Chorus, led by director Pearl Shangkuan, and the Grand Rapids Symphony Youth Chorus, directed by Sean Ivory.

 

Bass-baritone Justin Hopkins, who was a special guest for the Grand Rapids Symphony’s 2016 Holiday Pops, will return to DeVos Performance Hall to perform You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch among other holiday hits. Hopkins’ appearance is sponsored by Jim & Ginger Jurries.

 

West Michigan’s own Embellish handbell ensemble, directed by Stephanie Wiltse, will return to the Holiday Pops to ring holiday favorites including Sing We Now of Christmas and the Coventry Carol.

 

Five performances of the Wolverine Worldwide Holiday Pops will be held at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 6, and at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Dec. 7-8. Matinees will be at 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 8-9, in DeVos Performance Hall. Tickets for this Fox Motors Pops concert start at $18 adults, $5 students.

 

Cirque de la Symphonie

Since 2009, Cirque de la Symphonie has spent part of each Christmas season in Grand Rapids. This year, for the 10th annual Old National Bank Cirque de Noël with the Grand Rapids Symphony, Cirque de la Symphonie will once again bring the magic and thrill of the holiday season to DeVos Performance Hall at 7:30 p.m. on Dec. 19-20.

 

The company of acrobats, jugglers, contortionists and aerial artists will make merry with amazing feats of agility and strength, accompanied by beloved Christmas songs and classical favorites. Acts include aerial artists Vitalii Buza and Ekaterina Borzikova performing above the DeVos Hall stage while the Grand Rapids Symphony plays the “Waltz of the Flowers” from Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker.

 

Associate Conductor John Varineau leads the orchestra in familiar melodies such as Leroy Anderson’s A Christmas Festival, Franz Schubert’s Ava Maria, and Duke Ellington’s “Peanut Brittle Brigade” from The Nutcracker Suite.

 

Tickets for concerts in the Gerber Symphonic Boom series concert start at $32.

 

Kicking off the Grand Rapids Symphony’s holiday season in November are two full-length feature film concerts.

 

The Snowman returns once more to inspire children of all ages with the story of a boy who builds a snowman who comes to life and leads him on a wide-eyed and wondrous adventure to meet Father Christmas.

 

The hour-long DTE Energy Foundation Family series concert, which has sold-out past performances by the Grand Rapids Symphony, features the popular animated short, projected onto a 40-foot screen, accompanied by a live performance of Howard Blake’s musical score at 3 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 17. Tickets are $15 adults, $5 children.

 

Full of clever antics and comical wit, the 1990 film Home Alone is sure to get everyone in the holiday spirit at 7:30 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 29, part of the Gerber SymphonicBoom series.

 

A modern holiday classic starring Macaulay Culkin, Home Alone is the story of an 8-year-old troublemaker, accidentally left behind by his family on Christmas vacation, who must protect his home from a pair of inept burglars.

 

See the full-length film with the Grand Rapids Pops performing John Williams’ delightfully sentimental and sweet score, full of hummable melodies that evoke a child’s view of family and Christmas. Tickets start at $32.

Tickets

Tickets for Grand Rapids Symphony concerts and are available at the 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 10am-6pm or on the day of the concert beginning two hours before the performance. Tickets also may be purchased online at GRSymphony.org.

Special Offers

For the Wolverine Worldwide Holiday Pops concert on Thursday, Dec. 6 or the matinee on Saturday, Dec. 8, 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 also are available for the Holiday Pops to members of MySymphony360, the Grand Rapids Symphony’s organization for young professionals ages 21-35.

 

Students age 7-18 are able to attend for some concerts 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 for the Wolverine Worldwide Holiday Pops on Thursday, Dec. 6 or for The Snowman on Saturday, Nov. 17.  Go online for more details.

 

Symphony Scorecard provides members up to four free tickets for many 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. All concerts in the Wolverine Worldwide Holiday Pops and DTE Energy Foundation Family Series are available to Scorecard members. Go online for information on signing up with a Symphony Scorecard Partner Agency.

See animated short ‘The Snowman’ on the GR Symphony stage, Nov. 17

Citizen Journalism, Entertainment, Holidays, Kids Activities, Upcoming Events, ,
The Snowman – Grand Rapids Symphony (Photo supplied)

 

By Jeffrey Kaczmarczyk, Grand Rapids Symphony

 

Back by popular demand, The Snowman, the classic animated film, returns to Grand Rapids to inspire children of all ages and open the Grand Rapids Symphony’s 2018-19 DTE Energy Foundation Family Series.

 

The hour-long concert, which has sold-out past performance by the Grand Rapids Symphony, features the well-known animated film, projected onto a 40-foot screen while accompanied by the musical score performed live at 3 p.m., Saturday, November 17, in DeVos Performance Hall, 303 Monroe Ave. NW.

 

Hailed as “iconic and ethereal” The Snowman wordlessly tells the story of a boy who builds a snowman who comes to life and leads him on a wide-eyed and wondrous adventure to meet Father Christmas.

 

Led by Associate Conductor John Varineau, the Grand Rapids Symphony will perform the magical score by Howard Blake as the snowman and his young friend adventure through darkened woods, over rolling mountains, and above quiet ocean waves in the film that garnered an Academy Award nomination in 1982.

 

With plucky violins and xylophones for mischief, reflective piano melodies for soft, falling snow, and deep bass notes for night-time flight – it is an invitation for children ages 8 to 13 and adults to savor the simple joys of the holiday season.

 

The program features other popular holiday melodies including Leroy Anderson’s “Sleigh Ride” and “Let it Go!” from the Walt Disney film Frozen along with the performance of The Snowman.

 

Come early for pre-concert activities beginning at 2 p.m. Children can experience the joy of making music with an instrument petting zoo and keep their creative juices flowing with crafts inspired by the playful snowman they’ll soon see in the show.

 

Originally published in 1978 by famed children’s illustrator Raymond Briggs, The Snowman has become one of the world’s most popular children’s books, selling in excess of 8.5 million copies worldwide, with translations into 15 different languages.

 

Adapted for screen by producer John Coates, the 30-minute film first premiered in the United Kingdom in 1982 on a British public television station. The film quickly became a beloved staple of the Christmas season in Great Britain, and later found a home in America, with the help of an introduction by rock icon David Bowe. The film has since been broadcast on a global scale, and garnered an Academy Award nomination and a BAFTA TV award.

 

First performed by Peter Auty, a choirboy at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, the song, “Walking in the Air,” provides the only dialogue in the otherwise wordless film. The startlingly beautiful melody with an almost haunting orchestration will be performed by singers of the Grand Rapids Symphony Youth Chorus’s select ensemble, Mandala.

Tickets

Tickets are $15 adults and $5 children, available at the Grand Rapids Symphony 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 box office, weekdays 10am-6pm 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 day of the concert by enrolling in the GRS Student Ticket program.

Special Offers

Students age 7-18 also are able to attend for most concerts 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. Member 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.

 

A two-concert package also includes a performance of The Conductor’s Spellbook, the magical story of Tony Stradivarius, who takes a field trip to a symphony and finds a powerful book of spells that he’s able to use to control the orchestra. The narrated concert is at 3 p.m. on Saturday, March 2, 2018 in DeVos Performance Hall. Tickets for the two-concert package are $27 adults, $10 children.

 

A three-concert package adds a performance of the Wolverine Worldwide Holiday Pops, featuring the Grand Rapids Symphony, Grand Rapids Symphony Chorus and Youth Chorus joined by vocalist Justin Hopkins and Embellish handbell ensemble. The show eligible for the package is at 3 p.m. Saturday, December 8. Tickets for the three-concert package are $60 adults, $15 children.

GR Symphony, soloists join orchestra for Mozart’s ‘Great’ Mass in C minor, Nov. 16-17

Citizen Journalism, Entertainment, Upcoming Events, ,

By Jeffrey Kaczmarczyk, Grand Rapids Symphony

 

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, composer of symphonies, operas and concertos, was one of the most gifted musicians in the history of Western classical music. In the 35 years of his life, Mozart gave the world over 600 masterworks. Mozart’s music is not beloved just for its sheer quantity, but also for its unparalleled quality.

 

Music Director Marcelo Lehninger will lead the Grand Rapids Symphony in a performance of one of Mozart’s masterpieces, the Great Mass in C minor, along with Franz Schubert’s “Unfinished” Symphony No. 8, and Charles Ives’ The Unanswered Question, at 8pm Friday and Saturday, Nov. 16 and 17 in DeVos Performance Hall.

 

Joining the Symphony for the Richard and Helen DeVos Classical series concert is the Grand Rapids Symphony Chorus, directed by Pearl Shangkuan, plus soprano Martha Guth, mezzo-soprano Susan Platts, tenor Jonathan Matthew Myers, and bass-baritone Dashon Burton as guest soloists. Guest Artist sponsor is the Edith I. Blodgett Guest Artist Fund.

 

Pope Francis, head of the worldwide Roman Catholic Church, in 2013 in the first major, wide-ranging interview of his papacy, declares his admiration for the music of Mozart, especially his Great Mass in C minor.

 

“Among musicians, I love Mozart, of course,” he said. “The Et incarnates est from his Mass in C minor is matchless; it lifts you to God!”

 

In his great modern-day biography of Mozart, Maynard Solomon says that “occasionally . . . Mozart composed a work in a spirit of inquiry, as an affirmation of his beliefs, or as a gift of love or friendship. The several accounts of its origin indicate that the Mass in C Minor arose from a fusion of all three of these motivations.”

 

Rather than for any financial incentive, Mozart began composing his Mass in C minor in his early 20s for a reason that was rather unusual for the composer — to fulfill a vow he had made to his wife, Constanze.

 

Albert Einstein once said that Mozart’s music “is of such purity and beauty that one feels he merely found it — that it has always existed as part of the inner beauty of the universe waiting to be revealed.”

 

Mozart’s Great Mass, however, is only partially revealed.

 

When the time came to premiere it, the work was incomplete. Mozart had to use movements from his earlier compositions to fill the missing pieces. Much to the frustration of musicians, audiences and scholars, Mozart never completed the Mass.

 

Despite its absent parts, the Mass in C minor contains some of Mozart’s most astounding work. The soprano aria ‘Et incarnates est’ is especially difficult and was written specifically for the voice of Mozart’s wife, Constanze, who performed the aria at the Mass’s premiere.

 

Joining the Grand Rapids Symphony to sing this famous aria is soprano Martha Guth. Guth has performed distinctive roles in productions across the globe such as Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro and Don Giovanni at Opera Lyra Ottawa, and The Magic Flute and Il Seraglio in Göggingen, Germany.

 

Also joining the Grand Rapids Symphony are the exceptional voices of Susan Platts, John Matthew Myers and Dashon Burton, sponsored by Edith I. Blodgett Guest Artist Fund.

 

Both Platts and Myers have performed with the Grand Rapids Symphony previously in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 in May 2018. Susan Platts also appeared with the Symphony in April 2012 for Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 “Symphony of a Thousand”.

 

The Grand Rapids Symphony Chorus, an ensemble of some 140 singers led by director Pearl Shangkuan and sponsored by Mary Tuuk, will help bring to life this classical masterpiece. 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.

 

Great Mass in C minor

Last year, the chorus-in-residence traveled with the orchestra to New York City in April to sing Heitor Villa-Lobos’ Chôros No. 10, It Tears Your Heart in Carnegie Hall.

 

The chorus will join the Grand Rapids Symphony again in December for the Wolverine Worldwide Holiday Pops.

 

Preceding the Great Mass in the program are two pieces that complete the “unfinished” theme: Ives’ The Unanswered Question and Schubert’s Symphony No. 8.

 

Franz Schubert, like Mozart, wrote a lot of music in his lifetime. By the time he was 18, Schubert had composed two symphonies, two masses, five operas, and numerous piano and chamber pieces.

 

It comes as no surprise that locked away in a chest was two movements of what was meant to be a complete four-movement symphony. Now known as Schubert’s “Unfinished” Symphony, the work is one of his most famous compositions.

 

Ives wrote The Unanswered Question while in his 20s. Though the work itself is complete, Ives used his music to contemplate the mysteries of life, the questions that cannot be answered.

 

Though Mozart and Schubert never completed their masterpieces, and Ives’ questions will remain unanswered, the elegance and beauty of their music will continue to captivate audiences for ages to come.

  • Inside the Music, a free, pre-concert, multi-media presentation sponsored by BDO USA, will be held before each performance at 7pm in the DeVos Place Recital Hall
  • The complete Mozart Great Mass in C minor will be rebroadcast on Sunday, March 31, 2019, at 1pm 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 9am-5pm 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 10am-6pm 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.

Relive the music of the legendary Frank Sinatra with the GR Pops, Nov. 9-11

Citizen Journalism, Entertainment, Upcoming Events, , ,
Tony DeSare (file photo)

By Jeffrey Kaczmarczyk, Grand Rapids Symphony

 

They called him the “Chairman of the Board of Music.”

 

Frank Sinatra was one of the most popular entertainers of the 20th century as well as one of the best-selling recording artists of all time.

 

Twenty years before fans screamed themselves hoarse at the sight of The Beatles, bobbysoxers worked themselves into a frenzy at the sight of a skinny, 20-something kid who sang with Tommy Dorsey’s Big Band.

 

Sinatra, though he didn’t sing rock music, was the music’s first rock star.

 

Grand Rapids Pops welcomes singer and pianist Tony DeSare back to Grand Rapids for a salute to the music of Frank Sinatra titled Sinatra and Beyond.

 

DeSare, who starred in the Off-Broadway show, Our Sinatra, will perform songs made famous by “The Sultan of Swoon.” Enjoy such “ring-a-ding-ding” tunes as Come Fly With Me, I’ve Got the World on a String, My Way and many more.

 

Associate Conductor John Varineau leads the Grand Rapids Symphony’s Fox Motors Pops series concerts at 8pm Friday and Saturday, Nov. 9-10 and at 3pm Sunday, Nov. 11 in DeVos Performance Hall. Guest Artist Sponsor: Holland Home.

 

Described in the New York Times in 2012 as “two parts young Sinatra to one part Billy Joel,” DeSare channels the best of the Great American Songbook.’

 

Generally when someone mentions the music of Ol’ Blue Eyes, they think of an older Sinatra, sporting a tuxedo, singing such songs as “New York, New York.” But DeSare, age 42, prefers Sinatra’s music from the 1950s, when he recorded such albums as “In the Wee Small Hours” and “Songs for Only the Lonely” for Capitol Records.

 

“Frank’s voice was dead-on perfect, and he was such a great interpreter,” DeSare said. “Plus, he was working with those classic Nelson Riddle arrangements.”

 

Named a Rising Star Male Vocalist by Downbeat magazine in 2009, DeSare has appeared in venues ranging from Carnegie Hall to jazz clubs. He’s headlined in Las Vegas with comedian Don Rickles, and he’s appeared with major symphony orchestras.

 

DeSare’s first appearance with the Grand Rapids Symphony was for its Wolverine Worldwide Holiday Pops in 2012. Earlier that year, he was in West Michigan to perform Our Sinatra at Mason Street Warehouse in Saugatuck.

Frank Sinatra by Gottlieb, c 1947

 

Tony DeSare’s first instrument, which he took up at age 8, was violin. Two years later, he began playing on a little Casio keyboard from Radio Shack. That’s what stuck.

 

“I’m not sure exactly what it is,” he told the South Bend Tribune in August. “I know one of the big things is that it’s the only instrument that lets you be your own orchestra.”

 

At age 11, he became obsessed with learning George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. Mining his parents’ record collection, he soon developed a fondness for such classic pop singers as Sinatra and Nat King Cole.

 

Music remained a hobby, and he was pre-law at Ithaca College until he attended a Billy Joel concert, and the singer/songwriter shared some advice from the stage for the audience of 20,000.

 

“What Billy said is that we did not have to become recording stars or follow in his footsteps,” DeSare recalled in an interview with the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal in September 2017. “He basically said, ‘If you feel you can pay your bills by playing music, that alone is reason enough to follow your dream,’”

 

“I just sat back, thinking to myself, ‘Wow, when you put it that way,’” he added. “I was much too far along for me to switch and begin pursuing a music degree,” he said. “But I dropped my law courses the next Monday and became a business major.”

 

Tickets

Single tickets for the Fox Motors Pops series start at $18 and are available at the Grand Rapids Symphony box office, weekdays 9am-5pm 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.

 

Special Offers

Full-time students of any age can purchase tickets for $5 at the door on the day of the concert by enrolling in the GRS Student Tickets program, sponsored by Calvin College. 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 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 celebrates Leonard Bernstein’s 100th birthday in musical salute, Nov. 2-3

Citizen Journalism, Entertainment, Upcoming Events, ,
Leonard Bernstein in 1955

By Jeffrey Kaczmarczyk, Grand Rapids Symphony

 

The music of Leonard Bernstein, who composed the music for West Side Story, has graced concert halls and theaters, radios and televisions in homes all across America. This year, the centennial of his birth, the world remembers the life and legacy of the great American composer, conductor, pianist, and educator.

 

The Grand Rapids Symphony joins in the worldwide celebration of Leonard Bernstein’s centennial with a concert featuring his Overture to Candide, his Symphony No. 2 “Age of Anxiety,” and selections from his Broadway hit, West Side Story among others.

 

Guest conductor Carl St. Clair will lead the Grand Rapids Symphony in Bernstein’s 100th  on Friday, November 2 and Saturday, November 3 at 8 p.m. at DeVos Performance Hall. The performance in the Richard and Helen DeVos Classical series concert will feature pianist Benjamin Pasternack in “Age of Anxiety” and soprano Celena Shafer in selections from West Side Story and other vocal works. Guest artist sponsor is the Edith I. Blodgett Guest Artist Fund.

 

Leonard Bernstein first came to the world’s attention with his impromptu conducting debut with the New York Philharmonic in 1943. Bruno Walter was meant to lead the orchestra in a radio-broadcasted performance, but came down with the flu. The 25-year-old assistant conductor was called upon to conduct in his stead.

 

Bernstein remembers that fateful day in a 1991 interview with his brother, Burton Bernstein: “When it came to the time – that very day – all I can remember is standing there in the wings shaking and being so scared. There was no rehearsal. I had just come from seeing Bruno Walter, who very sweetly and very quickly – wrapped up in blankets because he had the flu – went over the score of Don Quixote with me.”

 

With few hours to prepare and no rehearsal, Leonard Bernstein stepped up to the podium in Carnegie Hall to conduct a successful performance, broadcast to the entire nation, launching him into stardom.

 

Bernstein wrote several orchestral, choral, chamber, and operatic works over the course of his lifetime, but his music also ventured into the realms of theater, ballet, and musicals. The line between the classical and theatrical in Bernstein’s music was often blurred. He once said, “If the charge of ‘theatricality’ in a symphonic work is a valid one, I am willing to plead guilty. I have a deep suspicion that every work I write, for whatever medium, is really theater music in some way.”

 

Bernstein’s enthusiasm for music was contagious, and it spread across the country with his starring role in the memorable CBS television program, Young People’s Concerts, with the New York Philharmonic.

 

Carl St. Clair, music director of the Pacific Symphony and guest conductor for the Grand Rapids Symphony’s Bernstein’s 100th, was one of many who benefitted from Bernstein’s mentorship.

 

Leonard Bernstein in 1973

St. Clair first saw Bernstein on his television set at his childhood home in Texas. He was waiting for friends to pick him up to go to a country and western dance when Bernstein appeared on the TV, leading the Boston Symphony Orchestra in Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5. St. Clair was mesmerized both by the music and Bernstein. Needless to say, he missed the dance.

 

Bernstein and St. Clair didn’t cross paths until the summer of 1985 while Clair was studying under Gustav Meier at Tanglewood, the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra in western Massachusetts.

 

“I was very nervous,” St. Clair recalled. “He comes into the room, and there’s a big double door and we’re all standing in total respect. He greeted Gustav, of course they had known one another… But almost immediately he said, in this kind of Texas accent, or, in a Bostonian/Texas accent, ‘Where’s that cowboy from Texas? I’ve never met a cowboy from Texas who’s also a conductor.’”

 

During rehearsals for a concert at Tanglewood in 1990, complications with his health left Bernstein unable to conduct his new version of his Arias and Barcarolles, which was to be premiered the next day. The suggestion was made that St. Clair could conduct that piece, allowing Bernstein enough energy to lead the rest of the program.

 

“I’ll never forget,” St. Clair says. “He looked over at me, and even as sick as he was and as disappointed as he was, it just shows how quick he was — he looked over at me and in a mock Texas accent said, ‘Cowboy, you got it in ya? You got it in ya?”

 

St. Clair agreed to conduct Bernstein’s piece in what was Bernstein’s last concert appearance. He retired from conducting and passed away nearly two months later at the age of 72.

 

Bernstein no longer is with us, but his music lives on in performances such as the Grand Rapids Symphony’s Bernstein’s 100th on Nov. 2-3.

  • 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 Bernstein’s 100th program will be rebroadcast on Sunday, March 24, 2019, 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 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 may be purchased online at GRSymphony.org.

 

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.

 

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.

GR Symphony opens Great Eras series with music of Baroque on Oct. 12

Citizen Journalism, Entertainment, Upcoming Events, , , ,
Principal Oboist Ellen Sherman (Photo supplied)

By Jeffrey Kaczmarczyk, Grand Rapids Symphony

J.S. Bach’s “Air on the G String” is an all-time audience favorite melody. It’s a sure bet you’ve heard it before.
 
It’s part of a larger work, Bach’s Orchestra Suite No. 3, which the Grand Rapids Symphony performs on Friday, Oct. 12, in St. Cecilia Music Center’s Royce Auditorium.
 
Principal Oboist Ellen Sherman is soloist on The Baroque Concert: Bach and Beyond, which includes music from the Baroque plus a contemporary piece by Brazilian’s most famous composer, Heitor Villa-Lobos, that’s inspired by the music of Bach. It’s the first of four concerts in the Grand Rapids Symphony’s Great Eras series.
 
Marcelo Lehninger leads the Grand Rapids Symphony at 8pm Oct. 12 in Grand Rapids plus a repeat of the entire concert at 8pm Saturday, Oct. 13 in Holland at the Jack Miller Center for Musical Arts at Hope College.
 
The Grand Rapids Symphony also plays a shorter version of the concert at 10am Oct. 12 at St. Cecilia for the Coffee Classics series. The one-hour concerts are held without intermission, and doors open at 9am for complementary coffee and donuts.

GR Symphony opens 2018-19 season with music by Beethoven, Barber & Bernstein, Sept. 14-15

Citizen Journalism, Entertainment, Upcoming Events, , ,
Karen Gomyo (courtesy of the artist)

By Jeffrey Kaczmarczyk, Grand Rapids Symphony

 

Karen Gomyo, who had taken up Suzuki violin only a few months earlier, was just 5 ½ years old when she decided she would make music her life’s work. That was after her mother took her to a performance by the famous violinist Midori Goto.

 

“After seeing Midori, I just wanted to do what she was doing,” Gomyo told the Winnipeg Free Press in November 2012.

 

Two-and-a-half years ago, Gomyo was scheduled to make her Grand Rapids Symphony debut but had to cancel at the last minute. In September, the Canadian violinist will be on stage to open the Grand Rapids Symphony’s 89th season with Samuel Barber’s Violin Concerto.

 

Music Director Marcelo Lehninger will be on the podium for Beethoven’s 7th at 8 p.m. on Friday and Saturday Sept. 14-15, 2018, in DeVos Performance Hall. Appointed Music Director in July 2016, Lehninger enters his third season at the helm of the Grand Rapids Symphony.

 

The opening concerts of the 2018-19 Richard and Helen DeVos Classical series opens with Leonard Bernstein’s Divertimento and conclude with Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7.  The Concert Sponsor is Spectrum Health. Guest Artist Sponsor is the by Edith I. Blodgett Guest Artist Fund.

 

“It’s such a wonderful way to start a season,” said Lehninger. “Not only with Beethoven, but with that Beethoven Symphony.”

 

In the climactic scene of the 2010 film The King’s Speech, which won the Oscar for Best Picture, King George VI overcomes the stammer he’s had since childhood to announce on radio that The United Kingdom was at war with Nazi Germany.         

 

As King George VI, portrayed by actor Colin Firth, addresses the nation on BBC radio, the gravitas of the moment in the film is supplied by the solemn and stirring allegretto from Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7.

 

Beethoven’s mature Symphony No. 7 in A Major is known today for the rhythmic vitality of all of its movements. All four are in a faster tempo than was normal for the time, giving the symphony a fiery energy seldom heard in the concert hall.

 

Leonard Bernstein’s Divertimento, a cheeky work full of nods to other composers, inside jokes and extraverted humor was commissioned by the Boston Symphony Orchestra to celebrate its 100th anniversary in 1980.

 

Samuel Barber, best known for his Adagio for Strings, composed his Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 14, just before his 30th birthday. The neo-romantic work looks nostalgically to the past in its first two movements while the finale, which is more irregular and aggressive, looks to the future.

 

Gomyo (pronounced “GAHM-yo) has performed with top American orchestras including the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra and Cleveland Orchestra in the United States as well as with the Vienna Chamber Orchestra, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Danish National Symphony, and Tokyo Symphony Orchestra.

 

Born in Tokyo to a French-Canadian father and a Japanese mother, Gomyo moved to Montreal at age 2 where she began studying Suzuki violin. At age 11, Gomyo moved to New York City to study at The Juilliard School with violinist Dorothy DeLay, the legendary pedagogue whose students include Itzhak Perlman and Sarah Chang as well as violinists such as Midori and Anne Akiko Meyers, all of whom previously have graced the Grand Rapids Symphony’s stage.

 

At 15, she became the youngest violinist ever accepted on the management roster of Young Concert Artists. In 2008 at age 26, she was awarded an Avery Fisher Career Grant.

 

Gomyo, who served as violinist, host and narrator for a documentary about Antonio Stradivarius titled The Mysteries of the Supreme Violin, performs on a 1703 Stradivarius violin that was bought for her exclusive use by a private sponsor. Unlike many Stradivari, the instrument dubbed “Aurora, ex-Foulis” never was owned previously by a renowned violinist. Through the entire 20th century, it only had three owners, including Gomyo, which also is rare for an instrument of this caliber.

 

Gomyo said it took her years to get acquainted with the instrument because an instrument such as a Stradivarius has its own character.

 

“It comes with a strong personality and you can’t impose yourself on it. You have to let it speak,” Gomyo told Utah based classical music writer Edward Reichel in October 2015. “I’ve had my Stradivarius for 10 years, but it’s only been in the last few years that I can say that I have bonded with it.”       

  • 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 Beethoven’s 7th program will be rebroadcast on Sunday, March 3, 2019, 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 Grand Rapids Symphony 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 Tickets program, sponsored by Calvin College. This is a MySymphony360 eligible concert.

World-renowned Polish pianist joins Grand Rapids Symphony for Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 1

3-bottom, Citizen Journalism, Senior Living, Upcoming Events, , ,
Guest pianist Rafał Blechacz will perform 8 pm Friday and Saturday, April 27-28, in DeVos Performance Hall.

By Jeffrey Kaczmarczyk, Grand Rapids Symphony

 

Music lovers and concert goers often ask classical musicians to name their favorite composer. Typically, the answer leads to the music of whomever they’re currently rehearsing or performing. Or to composers who wrote often or wrote well for their chosen instrument.

 

For conductors whose job it is to see the big picture, the answer sometimes is surprising.

 

“Often people ask me who my favorite composer is. I don’t know how to answer that,” said Grand Rapids Symphony Music Director Marcelo Lehninger. “But if I were going to a desert island, and I had to choose one composer, I probably would pick Chopin.”

 

That might come as a surprise because, while figures such as Maurice Ravel and Richard Strauss were great composers as well as great orchestrators, Frédéric Chopin was a great composer whose skills at arranging for orchestra were, at best, only adequate.

 

Yet the Polish-born musician, one of the greatest pianists of all time, revolutionized composition and piano performance to a degree that no one else has ever done.

 

“He completely changed the way you play the instrument,” said Lehninger, a pianist. “No one else, not even Paganini, did that for his instrument, the violin.”

 

Grand Rapids Symphony celebrates the music of Chopin with guest pianist Rafał Blechacz at 8 pm Friday and Saturday, April 27-28, in DeVos Performance Hall. The program titled Chopin & Dvořák is part of the 2018 Gilmore International Keyboard Festival, centered in Kalamazoo.

 

Joining the Grand Rapids Symphony for Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 1 is Blechacz, the 2014 Gilmore Artist of the Gilmore International Keyboard Festival. Guest artist sponsor is the Edith I. Blodgett Guest Artist Fund.

 

The concert is in partnership with the Gilmore International Keyboard Festival. Concert Sponsor is Merrill Lynch.

 

The ninth concerts of the 2017-18 Richard and Helen DeVos Classical series also include Antonín Dvořák’s Symphony No. 8 in G Major. It opens with Canto, a brief work by contemporary American composer Adam Schoenberg.

 

Joining the Grand Rapids Symphony for Chopin’s Piano Concerto in E minor is Polish pianist Rafał Blechacz, the 2014 Gilmore Artist of the Gilmore International Keyboard Festival. The concert is in partnership with the Gilmore International Keyboard Festival. Guest artist sponsor is the Edith I. Blodgett Guest Artist Fund.

 

Not only is Blechacz a fellow Pole, he was the winner of the 15th International Chopin Competition in 2005, becoming the first Polish pianist to win the competition since Krystian Zimerman in 1975.

 

And not only did Blechacz win the top prize, he won all four of the additional prizes for best performance of a polonaise, a mazurka, a sonata, and a concerto with orchestra. No other pianist in the 91-year history of the event, held once every five years in Warsaw, has ever captured every award in the competition.

 

Lehninger, who made his Grand Rapids Symphony debut in February 2015 conducting Dvorak’s popular Symphony No. 9 “From the New World,” will lead the Grand Rapids Symphony in Antonin Dvorak’s sunny Symphony No. 8

 

The concerts open with Adam Schoenberg’s Canto, which in Italian means “I sing.” One of the most frequently-heard composers in today’s concert halls, Schoenberg composed the brief work as a lullaby in honor his son, Luca, who was born in 2013.

  • 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 Chopin & Dvorak program will be rebroadcast on Sunday, May 28, 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 am-6 pm 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 Tickets program, sponsored by Comerica and Calvin College. This is a MySymphony360 eligible concert.

Tickets now on sale for the 2017 D&W Fresh Market Picnic Pops

Citizen Journalism, Entertainment, , , , , , , ,

By Jeffrey Kaczmarczyk

The Grand Rapids Pops will rock your world in more ways than one at the 2017 D&W Fresh Market Picnic Pops.

Three weeks of classic rock, including a brand-new show, Women Rock, with the music of Tina Turner, Carole King, Aretha Franklin and more, are part of the 2017 D&W Fresh Market Picnic Pops season at Cannonsburg Ski Area. The season opens July 13-14 with The Music of ABBA starring Arrival from Sweden.

“It’ll be a joyously, infectious opening night. Everything about it is fun,” said Principal Pops Conductor Bob Bernhardt, who will be a big part of the summer season.

The summer of rock continues July 20-21 with The Musical Legacy of Chicago featuring Brass Transit.

The three-concert series ends July 27-28 with Women Rock, a brand-new show that pays homage to some of the biggest stars and best-known female singers of the past 50 years with songs including Carole King’s I Feel The Earth Move, Tina Turner’s What’s Love Got To Do With It, Aretha Franklin’s Freeway of Love, Janis Joplin’s Piece Of My Heart, Pat Benatar’s Hit Me With Your Best Shot, and Heart’s These Dreams.

Classical Fireworks on Friday, Aug. 3, welcomes Grand Rapids Symphony Music Director Marcelo Lehninger to the podium for his debut at Cannonsburg. Lehninger will lead the orchestra in audience favorites including Copland’s “Hoedown” from Appalachian Spring, the finale from Dvorak’s “From the New World” Symphony No. 9, and Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture.

Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán, dubbed the world’s best mariachi band, ends the season on Saturday, Aug. 5.

For more info and to purchase tickets, go here.

 

Waltzes and world-class female conductor at GR Symphony March 24-25

Citizen Journalism, Entertainment, ,
JoAnn Falletta

By Jeffrey Kaczmarczyk

 
When JoAnn Falletta attended Mannes College of Music in the early 1970s, her teachers were reluctant to allow her to major in conducting. They didn’t question her musical abilities as a classical guitarist. They doubted whether the New York native ever would be given a shot at becoming music director of an orchestra. Times changed, and JoAnn Falletta beat the odds.

Today, Falletta, who celebrated her 63rd birthday in February, is music director of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra (since 1999) and the Virginia Symphony Orchestra since 1991. She’s conducted over 100 orchestras in the world. She attended master classes with Leonard Bernstein (whose 100th birthday is in 2017), and she’s conducting the Grand Rapids Symphony on March 24-25. 

 
Waltzes by Ravel and Strauss, a cryptic scherzo by Grand Rapids Symphony’s own Alexander Miller, and Italian pianist Fabio Bidini performing Saint-Saens’ exotic, Egyptian Piano Concerto No. 5 all are on the program.
 
Interesting back story:  One of Falletta’s principal conducting teachers was Russian conductor Semyon Bychkov, who was Music Director of the Grand Rapids Symphony from 1980-85. Bychkov was succeeded in 1986 as Music Director of the Grand Rapids Symphony by Catherine Comet, who helped pave the way for women as music directors. The French-born conductor was the very first woman appointed music director of a regional professional American orchestra.
Tickets

Tickets start at $18 and are available at the GRS ticket 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.

 

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 Passport program. This is a MySymphony360 eligible concert.

 

Celebrate St. Patty’s Day with Irish singer, songwriter Cathie Ryan and Grand Rapids Pops

Citizen Journalism, Entertainment, , , , , , ,
Cathie Ryan

By Jeffrey Kaczmarczyk 

 

For nearly 30 years, Cathie Ryan has been a leading light in Irish music.

 

The former lead singer for Cherish the Ladies has recorded five solo albums on her own and collaborated with a galaxy of Irish and Celtic musicians. Twice she’s been named Irish Female Vocalist of the Decade by LiveIreland and honored as one of the Top 100 Irish Americans by Irish Music Magazine.

 

Surprisingly, the singer and songwriter isn’t from Dublin; she’s from Detroit.

 

A first-generation Irish-American, Ryan is the daughter of immigrants Mary Ryan from County Kerry and Timothy Ryan from County Tipperary. Though she grew up surrounded by the music of Motown in the Motor City, Ryan also was steeped in the music of her ancestral home. Her father sang tenor, her grandmother was a fiddler and singer, and Ryan regularly crossed the Atlantic Ocean to visit relatives back home.

 

Singing “songs of the heart” in a distinctive soprano voice, folksinger and songwriter Cathie Ryan joins the Grand Rapids Pops for a St. Patrick’s Day Celebration that opens on St. Patrick’s Day itself, March 17.

 

Associate Conductor John Varineau leads the Fox Motor Pops concerts at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, March 17-18, and 3 p.m. Sunday, March 19, at DeVos Performance Hall, 303 Monroe Ave. NW.

 

The Cathie Ryan Band, with traditional musicians Patsy O’Brien on guitar and vocals, Patrick Mangan on fiddle, and Brian Melick on percussion, perform Ryan’s original songs such as Carrick-a-Rede plus a blend of Irish traditional music mixed with rafter-raising jigs, reels and rousing Irish step dancing with special guest dancers, West Michigan’s own Scoil Rince Ní Bhraonáin.

 

Ryan’s tales about her parents and their childhood in Ireland, paired with her humorous take on Irish culture, creates a true celebration of Irish-American music.

 

Ryan’s family’s musical legacy, coupled with the early influences while growing up as a member of The Gaelic League and Irish-American Club of Detroit, gave Ryan her start. But she faced challenges along the way.

 

She left Detroit to attend Fordham University in New York. In the early 1980s, she sang in a band, married a musician, became a mother and set aside her own musical career. Then she got divorced.

 

When her son was little, she cleaned houses during the day and returned to school at night, eventually finishing her bachelor’s degree in English literature and secondary education at the City University of New York in 1991.

 

But four years earlier in 1987, Ryan became the lead vocalist for Cherish the Ladies, writing songs including the title track for Cherish the Ladies’ 1992 album, The Back Door.

 

A 1995 appearance on a PBS-TV special, A Christmas Tradition with Tommy Makem, starring the Irish folk musician and storyteller, gave Ryan the break she needed to launch a solo career.

 

Cathie Ryan has been in the vanguard of Irish music ever since. Her fifth CD, Through Wind and Rain, is bringing her music to a much wider audience.

 

Closer to home, in 2012, Ryan was one of the first people inducted into the Michigan Irish Hall of Fame alongside another well-known descendant of Ireland, Henry Ford.

 

Tickets

Tickets start at $18 and are available at the GRS ticket 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 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.

 

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 Passport program. This is a MySymphony360 eligible concert.

Grand Rapids Pops performs ‘Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone’ in concert Jan. 27-28

Citizen Journalism, Entertainment, , ,

 

By Jeffrey Kaczmarczyk

 

The Grand Rapids Pops will perform Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone in Concert with three performances Jan. 27-28 in DeVos Performance Hall as part of the Harry Potter Film Concert Series. The concert will feature the Grand Rapids Symphony performing, to picture, every note from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. Audiences will be able to relive the magic of the film in high-definition on a 40-foot screen while hearing the orchestra perform John Williams’s unforgettable score.

 

CineConcerts and Warner Bros. Consumer Products announced the Harry Potter Film Concert Series, a new global concert tour celebrating the Harry Potter films, in April 2016. The Harry Potter Film Concert that kicked off in June 2016 is another magical experience from J.K. Rowling’s Wizarding World.

 

Justin Freer, President of CineConcerts and Producer/Conductor of the Harry Potter Film Concert Series explains, “The Harry Potter film series is one of those once-in-a-lifetime cultural phenomena that continues to delight millions of fans around the world,” It is with great pleasure that we introduce 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. It will be an unforgettable event.”

 

Freer has quickly become one of the most sought-after conductors of film music with a long list of full symphonic live to projection projects. He has appeared with some of the world’s leading orchestras including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony and Sydney Symphony Orchestra.

 

For more information on the Harry Potter Film Concert Series, please go here.

Tickets

Tickets for Harry Potter in Concert start at $18 and are available at the GRS ticket 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 box office, weekdays 10 am-6 pm or on the day of the concert beginning two hours prior to the performance. Tickets also may be purchased online at GRSymphony.org.

Grand Rapids Pops offers a ‘Night of Spectacular Streisand’ with Ann Hampton Callaway

Entertainment, , , ,

 

By Jeffrey Kaczmarczyk

 

Great entertainers dedicate their life to perfecting a craft, but few succeed as spectacularly as Barbra Streisand.

 

Star of such films as The Way We Were, Funny Girl, and Hello Dolly, the voice of such iconic songs as People, You Don’t Bring Me Flowers, and Woman in Love, and producer, director, writer and star of the 1983 film Yentl, Streisand is one of a handful of entertainers ever to win, not only Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony  Awards, she’s the only entertainer also to win such awards as the Golden Globe, Peabody Award, Director Guild of America, National Medal of Arts, Kennedy Center Honor and Presidential Medal of Freedom along with the “grand slam” of American show business awards.

 

It takes a very special entertainer to fill Streisand’s shoes. One of the few who can is Ann Hampton Callaway.

 

The singer, songwriter, actress and TV host joins the Grand Rapids Pops for Hits of Barbra Streisand on Friday and Saturday Jan. 20-21 at 8 p.m. and on Sunday, Jan. 22, at 3 p.m. at DeVos Performance Hall, 303 Monroe Ave. NW.

 

Associate Conductor John Varineau leads the Fox Motor Pops show with such Streisand hits as The Way We Were, Don’t Rain on my Parade, and many more.

 

Callaway most often is recognized as the songwriter and singer of The Nanny Named Fran, the theme song of the TV sitcom The Nanny starring Fran Drescher. But that just scratches the surface of a career that includes a 2000 Tony nomination for her performance in the hit Broadway musical, Swing!

 

Anne Hampton Calloway, courtesy her website

Callaway’s tribute show, Ann Hampton Callaway Sings the Streisand Songbook, earned her a MAC Award for Show of the Year as well as two Broadwayworld.com awards in 2014, one of which was Performer of the Year.

 

More importantly, Callaway is a longtime songwriter and collaborator with Barbra Streisand, who first reached out to her after hearing Callaway’s song, At the Same Time. With a few changes in lyrics, Streisand recorded it for her album, Higher Ground, and the song debuted nationally at No. 1 on the Billboard charts.

 

That was the start of a beautiful friendship and musical collaboration. The Platinum Award-winning songwriter has since written several songs Streisand has performed and recorded including A Christmas Lullaby on Streisand’s holiday CDs, Barbra Streisand: The Classic Christmas Album and Christmas Memories.

 

Years later, Streisand asked Callaway to write lyrics to a melody by Rolf Lovland. The song became I’ve Dreamed of You, which Streisand sang to actor James Brolin at their wedding.

 

Callaway, who grew up listening to Streisand’s music, and who counts Streisand’s recording of People as one of her favorites, has collaborated with more than 30 of the world’s top orchestras and big bands. She has performed for President Bill Clinton in Washington D.C. and at President Gorbachev’s Youth Peace Summit in Moscow.

 

Callaway and her sister, Liz Callaway, a Tony nominee for her performances in Baby and Miss Saigon, have starred on Broadway in their two-woman show, Sibling Revelry featuring duets Streisand has sung with singers including Judy Garland and Donna Summer.

 

Callaway, a native of Chicago, made her Grand Rapids Symphony debut in January 2010 in a Pops Series show of songs from the Great American Songbook.

Tickets

Tickets start at $18 and are available at the GRS ticket 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 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.

 

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 Passport program. This is a MySymphony360 eligible concert.