March 1-2– Classical

ELGAR'S ENIGMA VARIATIONS

8 p.m. Friday and Saturday

DeVos Performance Hall, 303 Monroe Ave. NW, Grand Rapids, MI 49503

David Lockington, conductor

James Crawford, violin

• SAWYERS: Valley of Vision (US Premiere)
• WALTON: Concerto for Violin
• ELGAR: Enigma Variations

The British are coming, the British are coming, led by English-born conductor David Lockington.

Edward Elgar mysteriously composed each of his 14 Enigma Variations with a particular friend in mind. The exquisite “Nimrod” Variation, performed for the opening of the 2012 Olympic Games in London, is heard at the end of the 2017 film Dunkirk. James Crawford, Concertmaster of the Grand Rapids Symphony, is soloist on William Walton’s Concerto for Violin, written for and premiered by the great American virtuoso Jascha Heifetz. Grand Rapids Symphony has previously performed several works by Philip Sawyers, a childhood friend of Lockington’s.

 

• Tickets for the Richard and Helen DeVos Classical series start at $18 adults, $5 students.

 

March 2 – Family

THE CONDUCTOR’S SPELLBOOK

3 p.m. Saturday

DeVos Performance Hall, 303 Monroe Ave. NW, Grand Rapids, MI 49503

John Varineau, conductor

Paul Dooley, narrator

The Conductor’s Spellbook tells 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 an exciting and interactive introduction to music, to the instruments of the orchestra and even to conducting itself.

 

• Tickets for the DTE Energy Foundation series start at $15 adults, $5 students.

March 8-10, 2019 – Pops

“PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: CURSE OF THE BLACK PEARL”

8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 3 p.m. Sunday

DeVos Performance Hall, 303 Monroe Ave. NW, Grand Rapids, MI 49503

John Varineau, conductor

If you were waiting for the opportune moment to spend time with the Grand Rapids Pops, this is it. The comical adventures of Captain Jack Sparrow, Will Turner, Elizabeth Swan and Captain Barbossa come to the silver screen with the epic swashbuckling score to accompany the 2003 film starring Johnny Depp, Geoffrey Rush, Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightly. This is the day you will always remember as the day you enjoyed Captain Jack Sparrow and the Grand Rapids Pops. Savvy?

 

• Tickets for the Fox Motors Pops series start at $18 adults, $5 students.

 

March 15-16– Classical

RACHMANINOFF AND SHOSTAKOVICH

8 p.m. Friday and Saturday

DeVos Performance Hall, 303 Monroe Ave. NW, Grand Rapids, MI 49503

Marcelo Lehninger, conductor

George Li, piano

 

• KUSTER: Moxie

 

• RACHMANINOFF : Concerto No. 2 for Piano

 

• SHOSTAKOVICH: Symphony No. 5

 

Grand Rapids Symphony will assemble its biggest orchestra of the season, some 90 musicians in all, for Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony. At its premiere in 1937, the audience openly wept through the slow movement, which evokes the resilience of the suffering Soviet people through the 1930s. At its conclusion, the ovation lasted well over a half hour. George Li, a young Chinese-American pianist and winner of the Silver Medal at the 2015 International Tchaikovsky Competition, joins the orchestra for Rachmaninoff’s mighty Piano Concerto No. 2. With its sentimental second movement and fiendish finale, it’s one of the most popular works ever composed for piano and orchestra. So popular, it’s made its way into many movies including Billy Wilder’s 1955 film, The Seven Year Itch, and Clint Eastwood’s 2010 film, Hearafter.

 

• Tickets for the Richard and Helen DeVos Classical series start at $18 adults, $5 students.

 

March 30 – Lollipop

"FERDINAND THE BULL"

10:30 a.m. Saturday

DeVos Performance Hall, 303 Monroe Ave. NW, Grand Rapids, MI 49503

John Varineau, conductor

Ferdinand is a quiet, peaceful bull. He only wants to sit in the beautiful field, eat, sleep and smell the pretty flowers. What will happen to Ferdinand when he is stung by a bee during the visit of a great bullfighter looking for his next opponent? Will Ferdinand fight the bullfighter?

 

• Tickets for the PNC Lollipop series are $5 general admission.

 

Looking ahead to April

April 12-13– Classical

MARCELO LEHNINGER CONDUCTS MAHLER

8 p.m. Friday and Saturday

DeVos Performance Hall, 303 Monroe Ave. NW, Grand Rapids, MI 49503

Marcelo Lehninger, conductor

Michelle DeYoung, mezzo-soprano

Grand Rapids Symphony Women’s Chorus, and Grand Rapids Symphony Youth Chorus

• MAHLER: Symphony No. 3

One of his most popular orchestral works of all, Mahler’s sunny, Symphony No. 3 was named the “10th Greatest Symphony of All Time” in a poll of professional conductors for BBC Music Magazine.  A lover of nature, Mahler spent his summers in the countryside outside of Salzburg. He composed his Third Symphony in a tiny shed, specially built, at the edge of a meadow, on the shore of a lake, with a view of the mountains beyond. Grammy Award-winning mezzo soprano Michelle DeYoung, who was born in Grand Rapids, returns home as vocal soloist in the work featuring a slow movement that was arranged for a smaller orchestra and performed in New York City in 2011 on the 10th anniversary of 9/11.

 

• Tickets for the Richard and Helen DeVos Classical series start at $18 adults, $5 students.