Category: 2019-20 Season

Saturday, October 26, 2019

Grand Rapids Symphony renews Music Director Marcelo Lehninger's contract for 5 more years

Grand Rapids Symphony concert goers came to DeVos Performance Hall on Friday for an evening of music by Wagner and Stravinsky. But along with the music came the unexpected surprise announcement that Music Director Marcelo Lehninger will remain on the podium with the orchestra for years to come. The Grand Rapids Symphony has extended Lehninger’s contract with the orchestra for another five years through the 2025-26 season. Appointed Music Director in June 2016, Lehninger’s... Read More
Posted by Jeffrey Kaczmarczyk at Saturday, October 26, 2019
Marcelo Lehninger 2019-20 Season 2019-20 Classical

Saturday, October 5, 2019

Live music doesn't get much better than Tchaikovsky and the Grand Rapids Symphony

By Jeffrey Kaczmarczyk - As a composer, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was, and is, without equal. He was a Russian nationalist as well as an internationalist. His music sets scenes that are descriptive and evocative. His melodies are lush, sweeping and memorable. Musicians admire his music. Audiences love it. The genius that was Tchaikovsky was on full display at the Grand Rapids Symphony on Friday, October 4, in DeVos Performance Hall. In part because the entire program was devoted to... Read More
Posted by Jeffrey Kaczmarczyk at Saturday, October 5, 2019
Review 2019-20 Season 2019-20 Classical

Saturday, September 28, 2019

Recap: Songs of Aretha Franklin, Tina Turner and more rock the hall with Grand Rapids Symphony's 'Queens of Soul'

By Jeffrey Kaczmarczyk - Detroit’s own Aretha Franklin, whom Rolling Stone magazine dubbed the “Greatest Singer of All Time,” truly was the “Queen of Soul.” An evening of her music would satisfy most people. But add songs by Tina Turner, Adele, Alicia Keys and Amy Winehouse into a show, and you really have something. You might say it’s a show fit for a queen. Grand Rapids Symphony opened its 2019-20 Fox Motors Pops Series with Queens of Soul ... Read More
Posted by Jeffrey Kaczmarczyk at Saturday, September 28, 2019
2019-20 Season 2019-20 Fox Motors Pops

Saturday, September 14, 2019

Recap: Breathtaking Beethoven opens Grand Rapids Symphony's 2019-20 season

By Jeffrey Kaczmarczyk - For 90 years, the Grand Rapids Symphony has welcomed some of the greatest musicians of the past century to town. Cellists Yo-Yo Ma and Janos Starker, pianists Van Cliburn, Emanuel Ax and Stephen Hough, and violinists Midori and Itzhak Perlman, the latter of whom returns to the Grand Rapids Symphony stage in November for the first time in 35 years. Each, in its own way, was a memorable event. But the opening of the Grand Rapids Symphony’ 90th... Read More
Posted by Jeffrey Kaczmarczyk at Saturday, September 14, 2019
2019-20 Classical 2019-20 Season

Friday, February 1, 2019

Grand Rapids Symphony unveils 2019-20 season with Itzhak Perlman, 'Ghostbusters' and 'Up,' Beethoven piano concertos and more

Nearly 90 years ago, on the final Saturday in 1929, a group of 51 men and women took the stage at Central High School and gave Grand Rapids the best Christmas present of all, the gift of music. Karl Wecker, who taught at Grand Rapids Junior College, gave the downbeat to Franz von Suppé’s Poet and Peasant Overture , and the Grand Rapids Symphony was born. Now under the leadership of Music Director Marcelo Lehninger , West Michigan’s biggest performing arts... Read More
Posted by Jeffrey Kaczmarczyk at Friday, February 1, 2019
2019-20 Season

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