First Night Celebration! Pictures at an Exhibition

Guest artist change. See below.

5-concert packages as low as $72. Single Tickets $18-$90

BUY TICKETS Oct 1, 8:00 pm DeVos Performance Hall
BUY TICKETS Oct 2, 8:00 pm DeVos Performance Hall

DeVos Performance Hall’s 30th Anniversary is celebrated with this Classical Opening Night, ArtPrize Inspired Concert. Opening night of the Richard and Helen DeVos Classical Series is always a celebration. This season, the series opens with concerts inspired by the visual arts and ArtPrize, and includes music to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the opening of the Symphony’s home venue, DeVos Performance Hall, in the fall of 1980. The traditional Classical concert format will be enhanced for this celebration with collage of delights for the ears and the eyes.

The concert opens with a reprise of David Lockington’s “Ceremonial Fantasy Fanfare for ArtPrize” which premiered on Oct. 1, 2009 just after ArtPrize finalists were announced. The fanfare was written during the summer of 2009. Inspired by Grand Rapids, Lockington's home for more than a decade, the composer used the musical motif G A D A D G (derived from GrAnD rApiDs) throughout the work. Visual art also inspired Lockington.

"Near the beginning I created a sound smear intended to evoke paint splattering on a canvas or clay thrown on a potter's wheel, the raw material being molded and shaped over time," said Lockington.

Audiences will also experience the 2nd movement or “Scherzo” of Beethoven’s immortal Symphony No. 9, honoring the 30th anniversary of the opening concert of DeVos Performance Hall. The Symphony performed Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 in October 1980 for that first night concert.

The greatest light show on earth – the Northern Lights – will also take center stage in this Classical opening night. William Hill’s atmospheric and often luminous “Aurora Borealis” will be choreographed to a visual display of images of the Northern Lights.

The anchor of the evening is audience favorite, Mussorgsky/Ravel’s “Pictures at an Exhibition,” with “something of a twist,” according to Lockington. The performance will be placed in the context of our time, using visuals of the ArtPrize experience to enhance the musical performance.