Category: Christmas

Celebrate the season with the Grand Rapids Symphony's annual Cirque de Noel show

Twinkling lights on evergreen trees with presents all around. Sleigh rides on new-fallen snow, partridges in pear trees, surrounded by ladies dancing while pipers pipe and drummers drum. When you think about it, Christmas not only is the most wonderful time of year, it’s the most visual, too. Everyone loves music at Christmas, but the Grand Rapids Symphony’s annual Old National Bank Cirque de Noël gives you plenty to look at as well. Cirque de la Symphonie, a company of ac... Read More
Posted by Jeffrey Kaczmarczyk at Wednesday, December 19, 2018

Recap: Grand Rapids Symphony’s Wolverine Worldwide Holiday Pops is cheery, holiday fun for everyone

By Jeffrey Kaczmarczyk - Outside it was cold, snowing and beginning to feel a lot like winter. But inside it was warm, the halls were decked, the music was cheery, and it definitely was beginning to feel a lot like Christmas. That’s because the Grand Rapids Symphony’s Wolverine Worldwide Holiday Pops filled the air with favorite Christmas carols, popular holiday tunes, music from movies, music from ballet, and much more for its opening concert on Thursday, Dec. 14. The Wolveri... Read More
Posted by Jeffrey Kaczmarczyk at Friday, December 15, 2017

Come home for the holidays with Grand Rapids Symphony's Wolverine Worldwide Holiday Pops

If you love Christmas, you love Christmas carols, sung by a choir. Join the Grand Rapids Pops for its Wolverine World Wide Holiday Pops, and you get to hear not one but two choirs sing Christmas music. What’s more, you get to sing along too. The Wolverine Worldwide Holiday Pops, a West Michigan holiday tradition, returns for five concerts opening this Thursday in DeVos Performance Hall. Five shows through Sunday, Dec. 17, draw entire families from children to parents, grandparents a... Read More
Posted by Jeffrey Kaczmarczyk at Tuesday, December 12, 2017

Grand Rapids Symphony celebrates the season with Grand Rapids Ballet and 'The Nutcracker' Ballet, Dec. 1-10

Of all of the Christmas traditions you know and love, one of the most beloved is seeing and hearing The Nutcracker. In West Michigan, what you see is Grand Rapids Ballet dance its version of the story of Clara and her magical Nutcracker Doll. What you hear is the Grand Rapids Symphony performing Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s magical score. “When done right, it’s magic,” said GRS Associate Conductor John Varineau, who for many years has conducted the Grand Rapids Sympho... Read More
Posted by Jeffrey Kaczmarczyk at Wednesday, November 29, 2017

All-time favorites Cirque de Noel, Pokemon Symphonic Evolutions, both return to Grand Rapids Pops' Gerber SymphonicBoom series in 2017-18

Grand Rapids Symphony’s Gerber SymphonicBoom Series is full of sights and sounds you’ll never see or hear anywhere else. The series that has brought entertainers from Clay Aiken to Bugs Bunny to town returns to the Grand Rapids Pops with two all-time favorite shows you won’t to miss. The Gerber SymphonicBoom’s two-concert series welcomes back the popular Cirque de Noël in December followed by the return of Pokémon: Symphonic Evolutions in January 2018. S... Read More
Posted by Jeffrey Kaczmarczyk at Monday, April 17, 2017

Christmas truly is in the air with Grand Rapids Pops' annual 'Cirque de Noël' show

Christmas is in the air. You can see it in the eyes of a child, gazing on holiday decorations. You can hear it in the voices of carolers. In DeVos Performance Hall this week, you really will be able to see it and hear it in the air. The Grand Rapids Pops, for its seventh holiday season, presents Cirque de Noël in DeVos Performance Hall with aerial acts, juggling, magic and more with special guests, Cirque de la Symphonie, plus live music from the Grand Rapids Symphony. Associate cond... Read More
Posted by Jeffrey Kaczmarczyk at Tuesday, December 20, 2016

Grand Rapids Symphony enriches Grand Rapids Ballet's annual productions of The Nutcracker

The Nutcracker Ballet is one of the most enduring of all American holiday traditions. Never mind that the original story was written by a German, that the music was composed by a Russian or the choreography was created by a French choreographer and his Russian assistant. Nor that a Russian ballet master introduced the mostly forgotten ballet to audiences in the 1950s. George Balanchine’s version of The Nutcracker for New York City Ballet, which the company continues to present to thi... Read More
Posted by Jeffrey Kaczmarczyk at Tuesday, December 13, 2016

Recap: It's the most wonderful time of the year at the Grand Rapids Symphony's Wolverine Worldwide Holiday Pops

By Jeffrey Kaczmarczyk - When the holidays beckon, it’s the most wonderful time of the year to be a musician. It’s even better to be in the audience at the Grand Rapids Pops. The weather outside wasn’t frightful, but the music sure was delightful for the Grand Rapids Symphony to open the Wolverine Worldwide Holiday Pops in gaily decorated DeVos Performance Hall on Thursday, Dec. 1. The sounds of the season filled the program with favorite carols, popular melodies, and mus... Read More
Posted by Jeffrey Kaczmarczyk at Friday, December 2, 2016

MercyMe Launches 2016 Christmas Tour with Grand Rapids Symphony at Resurrection Life Church

MercyMe guitarist Mike Scheuchzer knew he had hit pay dirt when he could quit his day job. The Christian rock group, for several years, lived together in one house, splitting the rent, sharing the expenses, and driving themselves to their own gigs. “Making it up as we go,” Scheuchzer said with a laugh. After six years and six independent recording projects, a record deal with INO Records in 2001 launched MercyMe into the front ranks of Contemporary Christian music. “The ... Read More
Posted by Jeffrey Kaczmarczyk at Tuesday, November 29, 2016

MercyMe returns for 2016 Christmas show with Grand Rapids Symphony

Last time MercyMe was in Grand Rapids, they shared the stage with eight other groups. Granted, the “Rock & Worship Roadshow,” featuring Jeremy Camp Family Force, Kutless and Luminate, was held in the Van Andel Arena. But when the Christmas holidays bring MercyMe back to town, there will be only one other act on the bill – the Grand Rapids Symphony. MercyMe, one of the most successful Christian pop/rock groups of the past two decades, comes to the Grand Rapids area for a special Christmas ... Read More
Posted by Jeffrey Kaczmarczyk at Monday, May 16, 2016

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