Tag Archives: John Varineau

Three from Grand Rapids Symphony named honorary Festival of the Arts co-chairs

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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.

Second City joins Grand Rapids Symphony evening of comedy in ‘symphonic’ portions

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https://youtu.be/3XDJxlNnMIE

By Jeffrey Karczmarczyk

Grand Rapids Symphony

 

In the early days of comedy, classical music, like a newly wound music box, played in the background, providing a musical laugh track for gags and slapstick. Thanks to characters including the Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote, Warner Bros.’ Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons only cemented the connection with hi-speed tonics and jet-propelled pogo stick, all made by Acme.

 

But it’s not often that the music itself is the subject of comedic mirth. As part of Gilda’s LaughFest, the Grand Rapids Symphony welcomes The Second City comedy troupe to DeVos Performance Hall for plenty of laughs about the worlds of symphony orchestras and classical music.

 

Grand Rapids Pops presents Second City: Guide to the Symphony, a blend of original sketch comedy with orchestral works by the great masters, on March 16-18 in DeVos Performance Hall, 303 Monroe Ave. NW. Shows are at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, March 16-17 and at 3 p.m. Sunday, March 18, part of the Fox Motors Pops series. Fair warning: The show may not be suitable for children and teens under age 15.

 

A humorous celebration of the symphony orchestra, the show with new music and songs by Mathew Reid lovingly satirizes all things orchestral – the hard-working musicians, the all-powerful maestro, the vast orchestral repertoire, and even the quirks of the audience.

 

Associate Conductor John Varineau will be on the podium with The Second City performers for the final weekend of LaughFest, which runs March 8 through March 18. The annual 10-day festival of laughter welcomes Trevor Noah on March 10 for LaughFest’s Signature Event.

 

The Second City – the world’s premiere comedy theater and school of improvisation – offers a cadre of comedic talent from Toronto’s Second City, where the Guide to the Symphony first was performed along with Toronto Symphony Orchestra under Peter Oundjian in 2014.

 

The sketches riff on and feature pieces from classical masterworks including Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro and Glinka’s Ruslan and Ludmila.

 

Second City Tornato joins the Grand Rapids Symphony for LaughFest

Hailed by the Toronto Star as “the funniest two hours I spent in a theatre this year,” the show has reached symphony newcomers unfamiliar with Glinka and Mahler, as well as regular symphony-goers.

 

Most recently, Second City: Guide to the Symphony was at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts with the National Symphony Orchestra last season. The Washington Post labeled the performances as “self-aware and funny…a fun departure from what unconverted members of the audience assumed a symphony was.”

 

With theatrical wit, charm, and lampooning, Second City: Guide to the Symphony, according to DC Metro Arts, left “…the audience laughing even as they headed for the door. And in many cases, with a sudden desire to go to the symphony.”

 

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, ext. 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 Tickets program, sponsored by Comerica and Calvin College. This is a MySymphony360 eligible concert.

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

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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.

Grammy-nominated MercyMe performs at Resurrection Life Church

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mercyme1

By Jeffrey Kaczmarczyk

Grand Rapids Symphony

 

One year ago, MercyMe was riding on a float in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, an experience that guitarist Mike Scheuchzer remembered as “surreal.”

 

“To ride down the road and see that many people, crammed on the street, it was literally like being in a movie and right in the middle of it,” he recalled. “That was one of the most surreal things I’ve ever done in my life.”

 

Today, the Grammy-nominated band from Greenville, Texas, is preparing for its 2016 Christmas tour, which opens Tues, Nov. 29, with the Grand Rapids Symphony at Resurrection Life Church in Grandville.

 

So far, MercyMe has only done about eight to 10 concerts with orchestra. But if Scheuchzer had his way, all of the group’s Christmas shows would be with symphony orchestra.

 

“It’s a stunning experience,” he said. “To add what an orchestra brings, it makes it feel that much more like Christmas. It’s really beautiful.”

 

Grand Rapids Symphony Associate Conductor John Varineau will lead the 7:30 p.m. concert at Resurrection Live Church, 5100 Ivanrest Ave. SW. Tickets start at $30.

 

Grand Rapids is the only Christmas show in the Midwest that MercyMe will perform with symphony orchestra this holiday season, making the concert an extra special experience for them.

 

“None of us are classically trained musicians,” said Scheuchzer, who co-founded MercyMe with vocalist Bart Millard, in 1994. “We have huge respect for what these men and women do. We stand in awe.”

 

mercyme2Consisting of drummer Robby Shaffer, bassist Nathan Cochran and guitarist Barry Graul along with Scheuchzer and Millard, MercyMe will be in Grand Rapids with a Christmas-flavored concert including songs such “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” and “Winter Wonderland.”

 

When his father died in 1991, Millard, took up pen and paper to reflect on the loss.

 

Alone on a tour bus in the middle of the night, Millard, only 18 years old at the time, drew on his faith and gathered his thoughts about what it would be like to stand before God in heaven.

 

The lyrics became “I Can Only Imagine,” a song on MercyMe’s 1999 album, “The Worship Project.”

 

In the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorists attacks in 2001, the ballad soon dominated Christian radio, crossing over to mainstream radio in the next two years, spending 16 weeks in total on the Hot 100 Adult Contemporary Chart.

 

In 2010, “I Can Only Imagine” became the first single in the Christian genre certified platinum with over 1 million digital downloads. Four years later, it was certified double platinum with over 2 million digital downloads.

 

The Grammy-nominated band from Greenville, Texas, is credited with six of the top 50 Christian songs of the first decade of the 21st century, according to Billboard.

 

Winner of two American Music Awards, nominated for five in all, MercyMe’s hits include “Here With Me,” “Homesick” and “So Long Self,” The band was in Grand Rapids as part of the Rock and Worship Road Show that appeared in the Van Andel Arena in February 2013.

18-year-old pianist wows crowd performing Rachmaninoff at Grand Rapids Youth Symphony concert

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Sami Ahmad
Sami Ahmad is this year’s Grand Rapids Youth Symphony’s Piano Concerto Winner

By Joanne Bailey-Boorsma

joanne@wktv.org

 

Most would admit – whether musicians or just lovers of classical music – that Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 is one of the more difficult pieces for a pianist to master.

 

So it was bit of a surprise when 18-year-old Sami Ahmad performed it at the 2016 Grand Rapids Youth Symphony’s Piano Concerto Competition held this past January.

 

“It was amazing,” said Kin M. Ma, who heard Ahmad perform the concerto during the Grand Rapids Youth Symphony’s March 6 concert where Ahmad was the featured soloist.

 

“I chose the Rachmaninoff because two years ago I was looking for a concerto to play,” said Ahamd, who attends both Portage Northern High School and Kalamazoo Area Mathematics and Science Center. “So I printed the score and found that my hands could reach the big opening chords so I played through the first few pages and listened to a bunch of recordings and found I really loved the piece.

 

“I have asked my teacher [Susan Wiersma Uchimura] to play it ever since then and this year, she finally said yes. So I have been playing it for about a year now. “

 

Ahmad certainly showed he had mastered the piece as he went on to win the Grand Rapids Youth Symphony’s Piano Concerto where he earned a $300 cash prize along with the honor of being the featured soloist at the March concert. That concert will be broadcasted on WKTV (channel 25 on Comcast, channel 26 on AT&T, and channel 99 on U-verse) Saturday, March 19, at 8 p.m., Tuesday, March 22, at 9 p.m. and Saturday, March 26, at 10 p.m.

 

Besides featuring Ahmad, the Grand Rapids Youth Symphony’s second concert of the season also included Mozart’s Sinfonie in A KV 201 featuring the Grand Rapids Classical Orchestra. Franck’s “Le Chasseur Maudit” also was on the concert program and the performance finished with Berlioz’s “Symponie Fantastique,” a popular piece that has been featured in the films “The Shining” and “Sleeping with the Enemy.”

 

As Ahmad, who has performed with the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra, the Kalamazoo Junior Symphony, and at the Grand Rapids Bach Festival, finishes up his high school career, he said his plans to pursue a major in the history of science and medicine with at least a minor in music. He has not yet selected a college.

 

The Grand Rapids Youth Symphony, under the leadership of John Varineau who is also the Grand Rapids Symphony’s associate conductor, was formed in 1959 with the goal of bring together West Michigan’s most talented young musicians to rehearse and perform together under professional standards. In 2000, the Classical Orchestra was founded and focuses on musical literature from the Classical period.

 

The Grand Rapids Youth Symphony’s last performance of the season is May 1 at 3 p.m. at DeVos Performance Hall, 303 Monroe Ave. SW. Tickets will be available at the door.

 

For more information on the Grand Rapids Youth Symphony, click here. For more on upcoming programs at WKTV, click here.