West Michigan Symphony is an Equal Opportunity Employer and provides programs and services without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex or disability. Programs are funded in part by a grant from the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs with the generous support of the National Endowment for the Arts.
Dates, artists and programs are subject to change.
Cover art by Kendra Mobley.
Message from the Music Director
Meet the WMS Principal Musicians
West Michigan Symphony Musicians
Message from the Chairperson
West Michigan Symphony Annual Fund
West Michigan Symphony Endowment
West Michigan Symphony Legacy Giving
A Tribute to The Beatles: Classical Mystery Tour
Ravel & Gershwin
Community Music Encounters
About West Michigan Symphony
West Michigan Symphony 2024/25 Season
The Block 2024/25 Season
MISSION
West Michigan Symphony connects and enriches our diverse community through the transformative power of music. We fulfill this primarily through three core offerings:
• Professional, live symphonic performances in a welcoming environment
• Inspired small ensemble performances in an immersive live listening room
• Learning activities that enrich the lives of children and adults through exploration, participation and performance
We are a catalyst for a musicinfused West Michigan: leading, facilitating, connecting and collaborating with the community to stimulate cultural vibrancy, inclusivity and pride of place.
Find Us Online
Website: westmichigansymphony.org
Facebook: facebook.com/wmsymphony
Facebook: facebook.com/AtTheBlock
Email: info@westmichigansymphony.org
Dear Friends,
MESSAGE FROM THE MUSIC DIRECTOR
Welcome to the 85th Anniversary season of the West Michigan Symphony! When our orchestra first took the stage back in 1939, the world was marveling at the Technicolor wonders of The Wizard of Oz and losing itself in the epic romance of Gone with the Wind. Who could have imagined that amidst all that Hollywood glamour, a new musical gem was being forged right here in West Michigan—one that would continue to sparkle and grow for eight and a half decades and counting?
This season, we invite you to celebrate this milestone with us, as we journey through a dizzying array of musical terrain. We’ll traverse landscapes as familiar and beloved as the Yellow Brick Road: Ravel’s hypnotic Bolero, Gershwin’s An American in Paris, Wagner’s epic Overture to Rienzi , Mozart's Overture to The Marriage of Figaro and "Prague" Symphony, Tchaikovsky's First Symphony (“Winter Dreams”) and Beethoven’s Second. And we’ll revel in the tuneful virtuosity of Dvorak’s Cello Concerto with Inbal Segev, Weber's Second Clarinet Concerto with our own Jonathan Holden, Ravel's Piano Concerto in G with Claire Huangci, and Michael Torke’s exhilarating “Sky” Concerto, featuring the incomparable violinist Tessa Lark.
But like the Emerald City, some treasures are waiting to be discovered. This season we’re thrilled to bring you some music rarely heard live: Smetana's Overture to The Bartered Bride, George Walker’s moving Lyric for Strings , Aaron Copland’s towering Third Symphony, Florence Price’s Piano Concerto in One Movement, and Zoltán Kodály’s vibrant Dances of Galanta.
And to celebrate the popular music created since our orchestra was born, we bring you a “Classical Mystery Tour” of The Beatles’ greatest hits and a soulful celebration of the American Diva with the sensational Shayna Steele.
As we together enjoy this milestone season, I hope you realize that you are the reason we have thrived for these past 85 years. Your enthusiasm, your support, and your deep love for music are what inspire us to perform at our very best. We can feel your energy in every note we play, and it is your presence that makes our concerts take flight.
Now sit back and let the West Michigan Symphony take you on a magical 85th Anniversary tour. Enjoy the concert!
Scott Speck Music Director
Please see Scott Speck’s bio on page 32
MEET THE WMS PRINCIPAL MUSICIANS
Our musicians are West Michigan’s cultural ambassadors and a key part of its creative capital. In addition to WMS, our players teach privately and at major Michigan universities, perform with other orchestras, and appear as recitalists and chamber musicians across the Midwest and beyond.
Sponsored by Darlene Collet in memory of Lee Collet
Second Violin
Amanda Dykhouse principal
Warner Norcross + Judd LLP
Endowed Chair
Mark Portolese assc. principal
Sponsored by Joanna Norris
Carmen Abelson asst. principal
Katie Bast
Sponsored by David & Darcy Dye
Patrick Foley
Karen-Jane Henry
Natalie Hockamier
Sponsored by Mark & Karla Lange
Britta Bujak Portenga
Sponsored by Waddell & Reed Financial Advisors Jackie Engel, CFP®
Viola
Arturo Ziraldo principal
Sponsored by Jan & Laura Deur
Rebecca Boelzner assc. principal
Sponsored by Anonymous
Jason Butler asst. principal
Rebecca Miller
Carlos Lozano
Csaba Erdélyi
Sponsored by JoLee Wennersten
Josh Holcomb
WEST MICHIGAN SYMPHONY MUSICIANS
Cello
Alicia Gregorian Sawyers principal
Sponsored by Steve & Deb Olsen
Igor Cetkovic assc. principal
Sponsored by David & Darcy Dye
Cameron Slaugh asst. principal
Sponsored by Dr F Remington & Ginny Sprague
Lee Copenhaver
Sponsored by Dr Mark D & Kristina M Clark
Karen Krummel
Abigail Monroe
Sponsored by Cynthia Mazurek
Grace Mockus
Calin Muresan
Bass
Robert Johnson principal
Frank E. & Flora M. Johnson Endowed Chair
Stephen Reichelt
Flute
Jill Marie Brown principal
Sponsored by Anonymous
Marissa Olin
Sponsored by Mary E Malek
Leslie Deppe piccolo
Oboe
Asako Furuoya principal
Sponsored by Joanne & Amy Bensinger
Natalie Feldpausch
Sponsored by Ellie Williams
Clarinet
Jonathan Holden principal
Sponsored by Susan Cloutier Crain
Stephanie Hovnanian
Sponsored Anonymously in honor of Jane Blyth
Lisa Raschiatore bass clarinet
Sponsored by Don & Kathy Dahlstrom matched by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation
Bassoon
Chloe Robbins principal
Sponsored by Sheila & Patrick Miller
Jason Kramer
Sponsored by Eric & Merica Dobry
Horn
Paul Clifton-O’Donnell principal
Jeffrey Lake Johnson Endowed Chair
Greg Bassett
Sponsored by Allen & Sandy Beck
Lisa Honeycutt
Sponsored by Allen & Sandy Beck
Leah Brockman
Sponsored by Karen & John Wells
Trumpet
Bill Baxtresser principal
Sponsored by Roger & Rebecca Tuuk
Ethan Adams
Sponsored by Tom Knight
Trombone
Edward Hickman principal
Sponsored by Stephen & Debra Jackson
Joe Radtke
Sponsored by Laketown Family Dental
Carter Woosley bass trombone
Sponsored by Joel & Linda Engel
Tuba
Riley Lindsey principal
Sponsored by Dr. Chris Jansen-Yee
Timpani
Leo Taylor principal
Douglas & Janet Hoch Endowed Chair
Percussion
Matthew Beck principal
Sponsored by Jill Sanders
Jordan Berini
Eric Jones
Sponsored by Cornelia Holley & Sheryl Wescott
Harp
Sylvia Norris principal
Sponsored by Valerie & Fred Church-McHugh
Music Librarian
Amanda Dykhouse
Musical Chairs: Sponsor a musician for the season. Endow for a lifetime. For more information, contact Andy Buelow at 231.726.3231 or abuelow@westmichigansymphony.org.
MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIRPERSON
Did you know?
Your West Michigan Symphony turns 85 years old this year!
Our future looks brighter and more in focus with each passing year that you, our audience, share with us. We cannot thank you enough for your enduring support.
Throughout this season, we’re reaching out to gather stories to celebrate WMS’s birthday and honor our most loyal patrons. Whether this is your first WMS concert tonight, or you’ve been subscribing for decades, we invite you to get in touch with us to share your stories. How were you introduced to symphony concerts? How many years have you been attending WMS concerts, subscribing? What are your most magical moments and memories?
I have been a subscriber for more than 30 years. I started attending WMS when I was working in Grand Rapids, as a way to stay connected with my home community. My most compelling memories come from the annual tradition of taking my nieces and nephews to attend Home for the Holidays. We would all get dressed up and go. When they entered the concert hall, their eyes would light up and they were entranced by the sights and sounds.
How about you? What’s your story? You can easily share it with us. Stop by the information table in the lobby and pick up a form to fill out and send back in. Or, complete the form online at: tinyurl.com/bdym65er.
I am so honored to continue my role as chair of your West Michigan Symphony. On behalf of the Board of Directors, staff, musicians and volunteers, we thank you for taking this amazing musical journey with us.
Enjoy the concert!
Susan Cloutier Crain Chairperson, WMS Board of Directors
by Larry Coen and David Crane
WEST MICHIGAN SYMPHONY
Your WMS honors and recognizes our most loyal patrons – our subscribers. You’ve seen the many faces of the orchestra through time, seen us through financial successes and challenges, artistic triumphs and disappointments. But always with unwavering commitment, encouragement and support. You are our greatest fans. Thank you!
Magical Moment:
I love the intermissions and other opportunities to talk with other music lovers. The love of music creates a common language in a room full of would-be strangers.
- Anonymous, 20+ year subscriber
Magical Moment:
Every season seems to get better than the previous one. I've heard Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue many times, either live or on recordings. But nothing prepared me for the performance by Cuban pianist Aldo López-Gavilán last spring. We've experienced surprises like that time and again, always in a positive way that thrills us.
- Don and Kathy Dahlstrom, 10+ year subscriber
Share Your Story Here!
40+ Years
Karla Bates
Ron & Ann Marie Brown
Timothy & Anne Erickson
Pat Johnson
John & Barbara Mullally
Joanna Norris
William & Erika Paulson
Rem & Ginny Sprague
Stephen & Gwynne Schoff
Judith Tierney
Jane Wright
30+ Years
Curtis Chambers
Susan Cloutier Crain
John & Jessie Martin
Charles Tindall & Susan Rogalla Tindall
Kay VanderWall
20+ Years
William Baldridge
Karla Brown
Rudolph Chmelar
Anne Dake
Amy Klop
Steve & Cindy Movesian
Joanne VanOordt
Susan Rehrer
Al Steinman
JoLee Wennersten
Brewster & Mary Ellen Willcox
10+ Years
Steve & Martha Bartlett
Jack Brown
Don & Kathy Dahlstrom
Patricia Dee
David Dietrich & Mary Jo Thies Dietrich
Gregory & Kathleen Edwards
Wally & Jane Ewing
Robert & Mary K Hogan
Marcia Howe
Laird Schaefer
Jocelyn Shaw & Doug Hannink
Joanie Smith
Peggy Tully
Roger & Becky Tuuk
5+ Years
Agnes De Boer
Sally Dunn & Douglas Doering
Carol & Ross Feltes
Lisa Henry
Jean Regester
Diana Wojton
Partial list, representing those who responded to 85th anniversary subscriber survey.
West Michigan Symphony Annual Fund
Your annual contributions to West Michigan Symphony help to sustain a vital community resource. Just over 60% of contributions to WMS come from individual patrons, with the remainder generated from corporate and foundation support. We extend our deepest appreciation to you for helping make WMS a cultural touchstone in our community.
The listings below represent total pledges and gifts by each patron household from Jul 1, 2023 through Sept 11, 2024. This includes our Annual Fund, other special initiatives and events. In particular, we wish to express our gratitude to Mike and Kay Olthoff for their support of our November-December Matching Challenge campaign.
We have given careful attention to ensure a complete and accurate list. Please notify us of any inaccuracies by calling 231.726.3231.
$10,000 and up
Anonymous
Dr Mark D & Kristina M Clark
Susan Cloutier Crain
Jan & Laura Deur
Pat & Julie Donahue
Jeffrey Lake Johnson
In memory Jeffrey Johnson.
Thanks Jeff!
Wendy Kersman
Daniel & Sheryl Kuznar
Clara Lang
Steve & Deb Olsen
Mike & Kay Olthoff
Brad & Kathleen Playford
Jill Sanders
Jocelyn Shaw & Doug Hannink
Jack & Becky Slimko
Peter M Turner
$5,000-$9,999
Anonymous (2)
Melisa Baker
Andy & Beth Buelow
George W & Lori Lynn Cannon III
Deborah DeVoursney
William & Mary Lou Eyke
Larry & Lynette Fife
James & Susan Geisler
Robert & Clara Harrell
Amy & William Hosford
Nelson & Elizabeth Huldin
Paul & Karen Jackson
Stephen & Debra Jackson
Kate Kesteloot Scarbrough
Ryan & Emily Leestma
Patrick & Sheila Miller
Joanna Norris
Jason & Jamye Olthoff
Frank & Emma Peterson
Sawyer Family Fund of CFFMC
Dr Michael & Marijean Smith
Roger & Rebecca Tuuk
Hazel Whittaker
In memory Clara Lang
$2,500-$4,999
Anonymous
Krista Abbott
Cindy Ackerman
Amy Bensinger
Joanne Bensinger
Jane Blyth
Pete & Sherry Brown
In memory of Marilyn Andersen
Valerie Church-McHugh & Fred McHugh
Don & Kathy Dahlstrom
Mary Douville
Greg & Debi Hillebrand
Bruce & Donna Hood
Hon Kathy L Hoogstra & Dr Robert Hoogstra
Ratan & Vicky Khatri
Rich & Nancy Klassen
Chris McGuigan & Gary Neal
Roger C Morgenstern
Chris & Amy Olthoff
Tom Schaub & Mary Price
Sam Slaughter & Anne Lehker
Scott Speck
Dr F Remington & Ginny Sprague
Dr Alan Steinman
Susan & Stephen Struck
Liz & Tom Trzaska
Karen & John Wells
JoLee Wennersten
$1,000-$2,499
Charles Alstrom
Allen & Sandy Beck
Susan & Frank Bednarek Fund of the CFFMC
Herb & Anne Bevelhymer
Colin Billingsley
Ron & Ann Marie Brown
Claudia Bryant
Janice Buck
Bob & Charlotte Chessman
Darlene Collet
Amy Conn Tenny In memory of Jeff Conn
Robert & Cathleen Dubault
Joel & Linda Engel
Kevin & Annette Even
Charles & Lynn Freeman
Brian & Gwen Fosse
Evelyn Geile
David F Gerdes & Carolyn Smith-Gerdes
Tilio Giacobassi Family
Mary Anne Gorman
Mark & Jennifer Gross
Mary Gust
In honor of Liz and Tom Trzaska
Carl & Sylvia Hansen
Bill Haug & Jane Curtis
Larry & Lari Hines
Cornelia Holley
Richard & Holly Hughes
Pat Hunt
Ed Hunt & Nancy McCarthy In memory of Donna Little
Wilda James
Christian Jansen-Yee
Charles & Vivian Johnson
Pat Johnson
Dick & Lynn Kamps
Heather Kettler
KN Literary Arts On behalf of Amy Hosford
Thank you West Michigan Symphony, for the work you do to transform lives in meaningful ways!
Pete & Mimi Kunz
Patricia Ladas
Mark & Karla Lange
Tim & Lynette Lipan
Jim & Mary Malek
John & Jessie Martin
Cindy Mazurek
Mark & Bonnie Meengs
Susan Meston
Richard & Katie Norton
Bonnie Olson Memorial Fund
David & Beth Pickard
Barbara Potuznik
Terry & Joy Puffer
Susan Rehrer
Gretchen & Randy Rhoades
David Roodvoets
John Saling & Diane Fischer
Laura Schultz
In memory of Jack Schultz
Josh & Amy Silvis
Ryan & Kris Sterkenburg
John & Mary Swanson
Drs David & Linda Taylor
Elinore Verplank (Norna)
Michael & Patricia Wade
Melody & JR Whitby
Ellie Williams
Dr Roy Winegar &
Ms Barbara Klingenmaier
Marguerite & Kenneth Winter
Jan Witt
Tom & Jane Witt
Jane J Wright
Jim & Linda Zolman
$500-$999
Anonymous (4)
Darlene Alt
Bruce & Paula Baker
In memory of JoAnn Landman
Brian & Jill Boersema
Gordon & Mary Buitendorp
Michael Cerminaro & Connie Verhagen
Dr Donald & Nancy Crandall
Anne Dake
Mary Theodore Danigelis
Chris Dean
Eric & Merica Dobry
Marcia D'Oyly
Deb & Chris Drake
Wallace & Jane Ewing
Eugene Fethke
Mark Foreman
Chip Furst
Brennen & Rachel Gorman
Kurt & Antoinette Hildwein
Reedel & Rosie Holmes
Jonathon & Wendy Hoogstra
Norma Jean Horan
Karen Kayes
Denise Kwiecien
Brian Leibrandt
Shelley Essebaggers Lewis
Mark Luttenton
Andy & Jill Maciejewski
Charles & Kay Cater Matthews
Perry & Deb Newson
Dr Richard & Nancy Peters
Nick & Barb Pietrangelo
Roy & Britta Bujak Portenga
Robert Pyka
Mike & Char Ratchford
Clyde & Beth Rinsema
Bob & Bobbi Sabine
John & Elaine Severson
Mary Holmes Sorensen
Tom & Nanci Stone
Clifford & Lucia Storr
Kim Suarez
Dr Ryan & Heather Terlouw
Don & Jane Tjarksen
Kathleen Torresen
Richard & Marge Tourre
Phillip & Loraine VanderPol
Bill & Shirley Walther
Sheryl Wescott
Judy Wilcox
$100-$499
Anonymous (5)
Anonymous
In memory of Robert and JoAnn Landman, long time West Michigan
Symphony aficionados.
Ross & Sandra Aden
Lionel & Contessa Alexander III
Lee Anderson
Michael Anderson & Brooke Kieft-Anderson
Bernadette Arnold
Margo Atwell
Larry & Sandy Austin
Barbara Bakker
Esther Baldridge
Barbara Bates-Lalick & Martin Lalick
Gary & Carol Beatty
Sherry Albertie Becker
David Beckmann
David & Sue Bird
Jeanne Kuharivicz Bleich
Aaron & Amy Bodbyl-Mast
Arthur & Marilyn Bolt
In honor of Dr. Bruce & Esther Drukker
Celebrating your 90th Birthdays!
David & Karen Booth
Dr Mary & Robert Boyer
Michael & Joanna Buboltz
Marie Bustin
Curtis Chambers & Diana Wojton
Rudy & Pat Chmelar
E Jane Connell & Steven W Rosen
Diana Cornell
Bill & Carol Cross
Carol Lynn Cubitt
David Culver
Agnes De Boer
Dean Denman & Gale Ford
In memory of Janie Denman
Larry DeVoogd
David & Dortha DeWitt
Joyce Downing
In memory of Clara Lang
Judy Draper
Karen & Herb Driver
Bruce & Esther Drukker
Dennis & Barbara Dryer
Amanda & Gregory Dykhouse
William & Donna Eckert
James Edmonson
Bethann Egan & Len Lieffers
Jean Enright
Cork Farkas & Kathy Mauck
Bobby Fisher
Charles & Patti Fisher
Carla Flanders
Manley Ford
Dale & Bridget Fox
Carol & Pete Friar
Bruce Froelich & Margot Haynes
Tommy Fuerst
Marisol Garcia Linstrom
Chuck & Jeanne Gembis
Diane Goodman
Marjorie Gorajec
Marcia Grasman
LaDon Gustafson
Revs' Jerry & Susan Hagans
Virginia Hague
Jeff & Gail Hall
Judith Hayner & Charlene Romanosky
Rhonda Hennessy
Patricia Hesling
Dan & Celeste Hibler
Brad & Janice Hilleary
Roberda Hilleary
Vicky Hilliard
Carolyn Hillyer
Susan Hoekenga
Gwen Hoffman
Mary Anne & Thom Hornik
Marcia Hovey-Wright & Ernie Boone
Mary Ann Howe
John & Jane Humphrey
Nicholas Huryk
Katherine & Kenneth Jacobs
Dirk Jasperse
Ken Johnson
Robert E. Johnson
Natalie Johnson & Dana Pink
In memory of Donna Little
Lamar & Diane Jordan
Linda Juarez & Chris Garzelloni
Loretta Kasprzyk
Francine Kieft
Louie & Earlaine Kiel
Sarah & Gregory Korose
Meghann Kruse
Joan La Mourie
Jeff & Jody Lewis
Pat Locke
Dale & Amanda Lowder
Deborah Margules
Molly McCarthy & Timothy Hicks
Eileen McCormick & Lynne Nash
Shirley McIntire
John & Cindy McKinnon
Paul & Winnie McNergney
Howard & Carole Meade Fund
Joan Menke-Schaenze
Rich & Teresa Micheil
Karen Miller
Roger & Jane Missimer
Amanda Moblo
Mark & Valerie Muilenburg
John & Barbara Mullally
Kathryn Neumann
Susan & Tyler Newton
In memory of Herb and Ellie Hoeker
Thanks for instilling in us appreciation for this kind of music.
Eric & Karen Nisja
David Olsen
Garry & Charlotte Olson
Henry & Mollie Osborn
Bill Papo
Richard A Pardini
Stacy Phillips
C Bruce & Shirley Privacky
Ellen & Vic Prowant
Rev William Randall
David Redmond
In memory of Donna L Little
Faye Redmond
In memory of Donna Louise Little
Robert & Sharon Remmerde
In honor of Leon Fredrick Norris
Dan & Sarah Rinsema Sybenga
Bruce & Mari Rice
Christine & Marv Robere
Dr Gary & Pennie Robertson
Bruce & Judy Rollston
Karl & Barbara Rowe
Kim Sakis
Gregory Shaull
Duane & Susan Schecter
Gwynne & Steve Schoff
Susan (Sue) Schuiteman
In memory of Clara Lang
John Selmon
Karen Shields
Craig & Cathy Simons
Colleen & Joseph Skendzel
Hayden Smith
Helen & Jay Smith
Joanie Smith
Dr Carlo V Spataro
Anbritt & Darlene Stengele
Michael & Cindy Stevens
James & Nancy Stier
Eileen Stoffan
George & Dottie Strabel
Julie Stuberg
Verne & Janet Sutherland
Marty & Heidi Sytsema
Ann & Dan Tabor
In memory of JoAnn Landman
Judy Theune
George & Laura Thurlow
Judith Tierney
Scott Timmer
Charles & Susan Rogalla Tindall
Brandon Turnbull
Janice Ubels
Catherine & Chris Uganski
Bruce Van Dop
John Van Walsum
David Vanderwall
Nancy L Vanderwest
Ed DeJong & Diane VanWesep
Ann Marie Wasserman
Neil & Beverly Whitbeck
Brewster & Mary Ellen Willcox
Jenny Wilkes
Beverly Williams
Jonathan & Melissa Wilson
Jessica Wolin & Frank Crownover
Lori Zeman
Raimonds T Ziemelis
Corporate, Arts Council
& Foundation Donors
$10,000 and up
Michigan Arts & Culture Council
City of Muskegon
Community Foundation for Muskegon County
Embark Financial Partners
Howmet Aerospace
Warner Norcross + Judd LLP
Fremont Area Community Foundation
Leonel L. & Mary Loder Fund
DTE Energy Foundation Fund
Smith Haughey Rice & Roegge
Webb Chemical Service Corporation
Grand Haven Area
Community Foundation
Hines Corporation
Harbor Steel & Supply Corporation
Smith Davis Morse Group
Meijer Foundation
$5,000-$9,999
Adelaide Pointe
RENK America
Muskegon Community College
Howmet Community Fund of the CFFMC
The Gerber Foundation
Fifth Third Bank
JSJ Foundation Fund
Samuel L. Westerman Foundation
The Leonard Luxury Apartments
Trinity Health
West Shore Bank
White Lake Community Fund of the CFFMC
Women's Division Chamber of Commerce
$2,500-$4,999
Hazekamp's Premier Foods
Charles Stewart Mott Foundation
Consumers Energy
Grand Valley State University
Hungerford Nichols i'move
Lake Michigan Credit Union
Lorin Industries
Macatawa Bank
Raymond James
Shoreline Insurance Agency, Inc.
Tyler Sales
$1,000-$2,499
Mart Dock Corporation
Cofessco
Billie Klont Greinke Memorial Fund of the CFFMC
Laketown Family Dental
Mary C Payne Fund of the CFFMC
$500-$999
Choice One Bank
Ann & Bud Eichmann Fund of the CFFMC
Shape Corporation
John L. Wheeler Memorial Scholarship Fund of the CFFMC
Past Chairs Committee
The Past Chairs Committee provides ongoing guidance, advocacy and support to the WMS long after its members’ terms are completed. WMS thanks and honors these individuals for their generosity, collective wisdom and continuing leadership.
Tim Arter
Pete Brown
Marcia D’Oyly
David Gerdes
Holly Hughes
David Hogan
Pat Hunt
G Thomas Johnson
Wendy Kersman
Deb Newson
Kay Olthoff
Mike Olthoff
Sylvia Precious
Chip Sawyer
Ann Tabor
Peter Turner
Jane Wright
Block Underwriters
Consumers Energy
Grand Valley State University
Lake Michigan Credit Union
Lorin Industries
Michael & Kimberly Martin (Endowed)
Muskegon Community College
Steve & Deb Olsen
Mike & Kay Olthoff
Mary Price & Tom Schaub
Shoreline Insurance Agency
Jack & Becky Slimko
Raymond James
Smith, Haughey, Rice and Roegge
Trinity Health
Tyler Sales
Warner Norcross + Judd LLP
WEST MICHIGAN SYMPHONY ENDOWMENT
Now in its 85th Season, WMS is dedicated to building a music-infused West Michigan, providing professional concerts in a welcoming environment and music encounters and learning that enrich the lives of both children and adults. The Endowment, along with robust annual giving, provides a stable funding base that supports this cause. WMS’s Endowment is held in two funds at the Community Foundation for Muskegon County (CFFMC) and in a third at the Grand Haven Area Community Foundation (GHACF).
Established in 1992, the CFFMC Secure the Spirit fund reported a fair market value of $619,909 on June 30, 2024. Established in 2020, the CFFMC Play Your Part fund reported $2,902,875 on the same date. The GHACF Play Your Part fund, established in 2021, was at $107,805.
The corpus of each fund is owned, managed and directed by these foundations, whose staff and trustees determine the timing and amount of distributions—normally an annual amount equal to 4% of the average balance over the previous 16 quarters. Foundation staff handles all administrative details and investment responsibilities, freeing WMS leadership and staff to focus on mission delivery.
Play Your Part Campaign
The primary objective for WMS’s 2020-2022 Play Your Part Campaign was to grow the organization’s Endowment, providing a stable revenue model for the future. The second objective was to provide funding for a new string orchestra program for underserved students in Muskegon Public Schools. This initiative, called “Tune Up,” launched in fall 2022 and is now entering its third season. For more information, please see page 29.
As of June 30, 2024, gifts to the Play Your Part Campaign totaled $3,722,180 with outstanding pledges of $274,815 for a total of $3,996,996. We thank all those who have given generously to the campaign to date, and invite you to consider “playing a part” in WMS’s future. Whether through an outright gift or a designation in your will and trusts, your support will ensure continuity and future growth of WMS’s artistic and education footprint.
To learn more, please contact Andy Buelow at 231.726.3231 or abuelow@westmichigansymphony.org.
Maestro: $250,000 and up
Michael & Kay Olthoff
Larry & Lari Hines
Jeffrey Lake Johnson
Premiere: $100,000-$249,999
Community Foundation for Muskegon County (CFFMC)
Douglas & Janet Hoch
Robert & Wendy Kersman
Scott & Donna Lachniet
Crescendo: $50,000-$99,999
Bernie & Cathy Berntson
Jon & Jane Blyth
Mary Theodore Danigelis
Jan & Laura Deur
Pat & Julie Donahue
Mark & Christine Fazakerley
Mrs Carol Folkert
Grand Haven Area Community Foundation (GHACF)
Howmet Aerospace
Dan & Sheryl Kuznar
Meijer Foundation
Patrick O’Leary Foundation
Steve & Deb Olsen
Jack & Becky Slimko
Warner Norcross + Judd LLP
Symphony: $25,000-$49,999
Pete & Sherry Brown
Orville & Susan Cloutier-Crain
Don & Kathy Dahlstrom
matched by Charles Stewart Mott Fund
Rob & Cathleen Dubault
Eagle Alloy
William & Mary Lou Eyke
Fifth Third Bank
Paul & Karen Jackson
John & Jessie Martin
Monica Morse
Dr Richard & Nancy Peters
Tom Schaub & Mary Price
Concerto: $15,000-$24,999
Marilyn Andersen
Allen & Sandy Beck
Jackie Engel, CFP
James & Susan Geisler
Kimberly & Michael Martin
matched by Bank of America
Stephen & Susan Struck
Roger & Rebecca Tuuk
Prelude: $10,000-$14,999
Anonymous
Andy & Beth Buelow
G&L Hot Dogs
The Gerber Foundation
David Gerdes & Carolyn Smith-Gerdes
Stephen & Debra Jackson
F Martin & Dorothy A Johnson Fund of the GHACF
Paul C Johnson Fund of the CFFMC
Fred & Joanna Norris
Greg & Shelley Olson
Susan Rehrer
Robbins Road Animal Clinic
Dr Alan Steinman
John & Mary Swanson
Liz & Tom Trzaska matched by RENK America
Peter M Turner
Webb Chemical
Judy Wilcox
Overture: $5,000-$9,999
Anonymous BDO
Bill Baldridge
Sherry Albertie Becker
Frank & Susan Bednarek
George & Lori Lynn Cannon
Cofessco Fire Protection
Consumers Energy
Dr Donald & Nancy Crandall
Anne & Allan Dake
Kevin & Annette Even
Mary Anne Gorman
Judith Hayner & Charlene Romanosky
Greg & Debi Hillebrand
Pat Hunt
Bari Johnson
Tom & Pat Johnson
Dick & Lynn Kamps
Ray & Betsy Komray
Clara Lang
Mark & Bonnie Meengs
Frank & Emma Peterson
Bruce & Marilyn Reichardt
Suzanne Richards & Lee Burlison
Kurt Rosen
Dr F Remington & Ginny Sprague
John & Sue Sytsema
Dan & Ann Tabor
Don & Jane Tjarksen
LJ Verplank
Webb Chemical
Kathy West in memory of David Alan West
Sonata: $1,000-$4,999
Anonymous (3)
Cynthia Ackerman
Christine Adams
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Margo Atwell
Bank of America Charitable Foundation
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matched by State Farm Insurance
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JR Whitby
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Dr Roy Winegar & Ms Barbara
Klingenmaier
Jan Witt
Jane Wright
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Introit: Up to $999
Anonymous (4)
Larry & Sandra Austin
Susan A Bissell Memorial Fund
Charles Black in honor of Fred & Joanna Norris
Gary & Rhonda Bogner
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E Jane Connell & Steven W Rosen
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Tune Up Donors: $5,000 and up
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Community Foundation for Muskegon County (CFFMC)
Mary Theodore Danigelis
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Sun., Nov 17, 2024
6 pm | The Block
Adults $10 | Children $5 Under 3 Free
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Mon., Nov 18, 2024
7 pm | Venue, TBD
Adults $10 | Children $5 | Under 3 Free
Douglas Hannink & Jocelyn Shaw, 2024-2025 Season Sponsors Sat., Dec 7, 2024 10 & 11:30 am The Block
Adults $10 | Children $5
WEST
West Michigan Symphony Legacy Giving Circle
MICHIGAN SYMPHONY
It Takes just one note to Start a Symphony
With a planned gift to West Michigan Symphony, you can continue to support the Orchestra even after your passing. Planned giving is simply creating a plan to make a gift. You don’t need to be wealthy to make an impact—you just need to make a plan.
The easiest way to make a planned gift is through a charitable bequest, where you designate in your will or trust the assets that you wish to gift to WMS upon your death. A bequest is not all or nothing; you can leave either a percentage of your total estate value, a specific asset (such as part of an investment portfolio), a specified amount of money, or the remaining assets in your estate after all your other requests have been satisfied. You can also make a planned gift by designating the WMS as a beneficiary of your retirement or IRA account, or your life insurance.
You can also specify how you would like your gift used by designating it toward music education, the Endowment, or “wherever it is needed.”
Creating a planned gift is a wonderful way to leave a legacy, provide future funding, and ensure that WMS continues to delight, teach and entertain audiences in the future. Talk with your estate plan attorney about your options.
We welcome your questions. Please reach out to Andy Buelow at 231.726.3231, or visit our website at westmichigansymphony.org. We would be happy to provide sample language to include in your estate plan documents, explore your ideas about your plan, or simply connect. And if you do make a planned gift, or have already done so, please consider letting us know so that we can thank you!
FRANK
E. AND FLORA
M. Johnson Principal DOUBLE BASS CHAIR
Thank You As Well To Our Newest Legacy Giving Circle Members:
Susan Cloutier Crain
Jan & Laura Deur
Pat & Julie Donahue
Jeffrey Lake Johnson
Mike & Kay Olthoff
Bob & Bobbi Sabine
IN LOVING Memory of Frank E. AND Flora M. Johnson
Growing up in the Frank and Flora Johnson household meant a life rich with music, including attendance at the West Michigan Symphony concerts held in the Muskegon High School auditorium. Frank and Flora created a loving home where music was part of the family. Flora would accompany Frank on the piano as he rehearsed for his solo singing gigs at area churches and weddings. There were family sing-alongs around that same piano and holiday gatherings where Chris and Jeff (their oldest sons) would entertain the family with songs and guitar playing. Wintery Sunday afternoons were often spent lying on the living room floor listening to orchestral, Broadway, and opera LPs. And Frank and Flora supported each of their five children’s participation in all manner of musical endeavors from piano lessons to band, chorus, and the West Shore Youth Symphony.
Frank and Flora’s legacy of love and music has extended on through their children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. Their second son, Jeffrey Lake Johnson, developed his musical talents into a career in which he played French horn in traveling Broadway musicals and orchestras around the country — including right here in Muskegon.
Jeff left a legacy of his own through a meaningful estate bequest to the West Michigan Symphony, as well as two other local institutions, to support the cultural enrichment of the area. Jeff cared deeply for West Michigan — its people, environment, and culture. He believed strongly in the transformative power of music as well as the importance of having access to it right where you live. Of all the many worthy institutions and places he could have chosen for his estate giving, he wanted to make a difference in his hometown — the place that nurtured and developed his interests and character. His gift to the Symphony will endow two chairs and provide support to the West Michigan Symphony Tune Up program. The first endowment was the principal French horn chair dedicated in his name in 2023. For the second endowment, that of the principal double bass, it seemed fitting that the dedication be in the name of Frank and Flora in loving tribute to them and the musical legacy they passed down.
The remaining Johnson family children, Jennifer Grow, Tim Johnson, and Amy McEwen, are honored to help see their brother’s gift come to fruition. They join his friends and former colleagues in gratitude for Jeff’s life and in special appreciation for their parents, Frank E. and Flora M. Johnson, for nurturing in them the love of music and community.
Thank you, Jeff, and thank you Frank and Flora, for all you gave us.
A TRIBUTE TO THE BEATLES: CLASSICAL MYSTERY TOUR
FRIDAY SEPT 27 7:30 PM
MARTIN HERMAN CONDUCTOR
JIM OWEN RHYTHM GUITAR, PIANO, VOCALS
MILES FRIZZELL BASS GUITAR, PIANO, VOCALS
GLENN MCCALLUM LEAD GUITAR, VOCALS
CHRIS MCBURNEY DRUMS, VOCALS
SPONSORS
SEASON
Selections to Include
A Day In the Life
A Hard Day’s Night All You Need is Love
Come Together
Eleanor Rigby
Golden Slumbers
Good Night
Got to Get You into My Life
Here Comes the Sun
I Am the Walrus
I Saw Her Standing There
Imagine In My Life
Lady Madonna
Magical Mystery Tour
Ob-la-di, ob-la-da
Overture: Let It Be
Penny Lane
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
The Long and Winding Road
While My Guitar Gently Weeps
With a Little Help From My Friends
Yellow Submarine
Yesterday
Loop and Infrared Systems in place for the hearing impaired. Please inquire with an usher for use of this system.
Please silence all cell phones and other electronic devices. The use of cameras and recording devices during the performance is strictly prohibited.
Martin Herman Conductor
A resident of Los Angeles, Martin Herman was educated at Duke University, University of Pennsylvania, University of California at Berkeley, and Stanford University. He also spent two years in Paris on a Fulbright Grant where he worked as a composer and conductor with the New American Music in Europe and American Music Week festivals.
Aside from his conducting interests, Herman is an active composer and arranger. He has received fellowships and grants from the American Music Center, the Camargo Foundation, Meet the Composer, Trust for Mutual Understanding, and the National Endowment for the Arts. He has written chamber and orchestral works as well as three operas. He is recorded on the Albany Record label. As a long time Beatles fan, Martin was commissioned to provide the orchestral transcriptions heard on the Classical Mystery Tour show.
Recent guest conducting engagements include the Buffalo Philharmonic, Philharmonia Chamber Orchestra in Prague, and the symphonies of Detroit, Pittsburgh, Dallas, San Diego, New Jersey, Fort Worth and Louisville, among many others.
Jim Owen (John Lennon) Rhythm Guitar/Piano/Vocals
Born and raised in Huntington Beach, California, Jim Owen gained rich musical experience from his father, who played music from the classics for him on the piano, and from his extensive library of recordings by the great classical artists. Owen began studying piano at age six and won honors in various performance competitions through his teenage years. He was eight when he first heard The Beatles and promptly decided to take up the guitar. His first professional performance as a Beatle was at 16. Two years later, he began touring internationally with various productions of Beatlemania, visiting Japan, Korea, China, Canada, Mexico and South America. In 1996, Owen began working on his idea for a new show with orchestra. It has long been his dream to share with the public live performances of some of the greatest music ever written and recorded. Classical Mystery Tour is the result.
Glenn McCallum (George Harrison)
Lead Guitar / Vocals
Hailing from Sydney, Australia, guitarist/singer Glenn McCallum has been portraying “George Harrison” for over 20 years. He fell into the role while performing in a '60's Musical Theatre production show from Down Under. It quickly became apparent that Glenn was a natural to play George. “Up until then, I'd never owned a Beatle album, but of course I was well aware of their music and greatness!” Now residing in Las Vegas, Glenn performs with Sixtiesmania, Blue Man Group, 'B' The Beatleshow Tribute, and several top Vegas bands that regularly enlist his guitar services. Glenn likes to dig deep and succeeds in capturing the spirit and the essence of the “quiet” Beatle.
McCartney) Bass Guitar / Piano / Vocals
Miles Frizzell is a talented young musician and performer, born and raised just outside the live music mecca of Nashville. Coming from a family of Beatlemaniacs, Miles heard plenty of Beatles tracks growing up, but his love for the music sparked at 12 years old when he rediscovered “Strawberry Fields.” Soon after, he picked up a guitar the wrong way round and learned to play left-handed just like Paul! Notably, Miles enjoys an impressive musical pedigree as the great nephew of country music legend Lefty Frizzell. Lefty inspired many well-known artists, including Elvis Presley, The Everly Brothers and Merle Haggard—artists who went on to inspire The Beatles themselves. Miles delivers a convincing, energetic, and entertaining young “Paul McCartney” every time he hits the stage.
Miles Frizzell (Paul
Chris McBurney (Ringo Starr) Drums/Vocals
Originally from Madison Wisconsin, Chris McBurney was drawn to The Beatles after spotting “The White Album” in his older brother's record collection. That discovery set him on a musical journey for life. When he was 11 years old, McBurney toured Scandinavia as a boy soprano with the Madison Boy Choir and gained a love and appreciation of classical music. Now, as a drummer living in the NYC area, his playing has been featured on network television shows and commercials. He has performed on Broadway, and toured extensively in North America, Europe and Asia with a variety of acts. One of his most challenging and rewarding musical experiences has been studying and perfecting the musicianship of Ringo Starr. He is thrilled to be able perform his favorite music with full orchestration, and to spread the music of The Beatles to audiences all over the world.
Frauenthal Center
Vocal powerhouse and Broadway star Shayna Steele returns with her eclectic style of soul and blues honoring the musical divas who inspired her — Whitney Houston, Chaka Khan, Aretha Franklin and Mariah Carey, and more.
Scott Speck conductor Shayna Steele vocalist
RAVEL & GERSHWIN
FRIDAY
NOV 22
7:30 PM
SCOTT SPECK CONDUCTOR
CLAIRE HUANGCI PIANO
SPONSORS
Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)
Boléro
Ravel
Piano Concerto in G
Allegramente
Adagio assai
Presto
Intermission
Florence Price (1887-1953)
Piano Concerto in D minor
George Gershwin (1898-1937)
An American in Paris
Loop and Infrared Systems in place for the hearing impaired. Please inquire with an usher for use of this system.
Please silence all cell phones and other electronic devices. The use of cameras and recording devices during the performance is strictly prohibited.
A MESSAGE FROM CONCERT SPONSOR
Past Chairs Committee
The WMS Past Chairs Committee is proud to sponsor this weekend’s opening concert of the 2024/25 Masterworks Series. As past leaders of the Board of Directors, we remain dedicated to supporting this vibrant, essential organization. It is our pleasure to remain engaged with the current leadership, providing our guidance, feedback and institutional memory wherever and whenever it is sought or needed. We wish you all enjoyment of tonight’s concert—and of every WMS and Block performance throughout this 85th Anniversary Season!
Claire Huangci
The American pianist Claire Huangci, winner of the 2018 Geza Anda Competition, continuously fascinates audiences with her “radiant virtuosity, artistic sensitivity, keen interactive sense and subtle auditory dramaturgy” (Salzburger Nachrichten). With an irrepressible curiosity and penchant for unusual repertoire, she proves her versatility with a wide range of repertoire spanning from Bach and Scarlatti via German and Russian romanticism to Bernstein, Gulda, Gershwin and Corigliano.
Ms. Huangci began her international career at age nine with concert performances and competition victories. After studying with Eleanor Sokoloff and Gary Graffman at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, she moved to Germany in 2007 for further studies with Arie Vardi at the Hannover Musikhochschule, graduating with honors in 2016 and assisting him. Early in her career, she stood out as an expressive interpreter of Chopin, winning first prizes at the European Chopin competition and US National Chopin competition in 2009 and 2010. She was also the youngest participant to receive second prize at the International ARD Music Competition in 2011. In 2019, Claire was awarded the grand prize at the Chambre Orchestre de Paris Play-Direct academy, chaired by Lars Vogt.
In solo recitals and with international orchestras, Claire Huangci has appeared in some of the most prestigious halls such as Carnegie Hall, Suntory Hall Tokyo, NCPA Beijing, Paris Philharmonie, Munich Gasteig, Leipzig Gewandhaus, Hamburg Elbphilharmonie, Berlin Philharmonie, Vienna Konzerthaus, Salzburg Festspielhaus and the Budapest Franz Liszt Akademie. She is a welcome guest of renowned festivals including the Lucerne Festival, Rheingau Musik Festival and Klavier Festival Ruhr. Her esteemed musical partners include the Mozarteumorchester Salzburg, Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra, Tonhalle-Orchester Zurich, ORF Radio Orchester Vienna, Deutsche Radio Philharmonie, Munich Chamber Orchestra and Iceland
Symphony Orchestra, together with Elim Chan, Michael Francis, Howard Griffiths, Thomas Guggeis, Pietari Inkinen, Jun Märkl, Cornelius Meister, Sir Roger Norrington, Eva Ollikainen, Alexander Shelley, Markus Stenz, Mario Venzago and Christian Zacharias.
In the 2024/25 season, Claire Huangci intensifies her educational commitment in collaboration with the Swiss Animato Foundation. As director of the Orchestra Academy, she performs as soloist and conductor at the Vienna Konzerthaus and the Mozarteum Salzburg among other venues, as part of a European tour. In addition to her engagements with various national and international orchestra, she gives piano recitals at the Bern Master Concerts, the Liszt Festival Raiding, the Casa de Música Porto, the Auditorio Nacional de Música Madrid and the Prinzregententheater in Munich.
Her extensive discography also reflects Claire's artistic versatility. Her most recent album of Mozart concertos with the Mozarteumorchester Salzburg and Howard Griffiths (Alpha Classics) received high critical acclaim. A 3-CD box set of Schubert's late sonatas, the Drei Klavierstücke and a selection of songs from Schwanengesang with baritone Thomas E. Bauer was released in the fall of 2023. Her debut CD in 2013 with solo works by Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev was followed by her double album of Scarlatti sonatas, which won the “Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik” and the Grammophone Editor's Choice Award. In addition to a complete recording of Chopin's Nocturnes and Rachmaninoff's Préludes, her discography also includes rarities such as Paderewski's Piano Concerto and a complete recording of Bach's Toccatas. Claire Huangci is an ambassador for Henle publishing company.
Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) Boléro
Maurice Ravel wrote to composer Arthur Honneger: “I’ve written only one masterpiece—Boléro. Unfortunately, there is no music in it.”
In 1922, Ravel was commissioned by the dancer Ida Rubinstein to create an orchestral arrangement of Isaac Albeniz’s set of piano pieces, Iberia. Unfortunately, copyright laws made Rubinstein’s request impossible. Still leaning into her desire for Spanish-influenced music, Ravel sat down at a piano while on vacation and plucked out the theme of what would become Boléro. He wrote to a friend: “Don’t you think this theme has an insistent quality? I’m going to try and repeat it a number of times without any development, gradually increasing the orchestra the best I can.” And that is exactly what he did.
An unchanging machine-like rhythm played by the snare drum sounds constantly throughout the piece: 169 times. On top of that, two melodies (the second a little jazzier than the first) alternate for a total of eighteen melodic statements. The melodies never vary, but the orchestration changes with each statement of the melody as a different instrument or group of instruments takes over. And there is a gradual crescendo that lasts the duration of the piece. Ravel accomplishes this by two means: the number of instruments playing slowly increases, while at the same time the dynamic marking gradually grows from pianissimo (very soft) to fortissimo possibile (as loud as possible).
Rubinstein and her choreographer Bronislava Nijinska provided the following scenario at the ballet’s premiere: “Inside a tavern in Spain, people dance beneath the brass lamps hung from the ceiling… the female dancer has leapt onto the long table and her steps become more and more animated.” Ravel imagined the scene slightly differently. Inspired by his Basque mother and his engineer father, he imagined a Spanish woman dancing a slow Latin dance in front of a factory. The constant repetitive rhythm of the factory gives the work its unusual form and character.
Ravel anticipated that orchestras would refuse this piece that, as he said, “consists wholly of orchestral tissue with no music.” But from its premiere in Paris in 1928, Boléro was a success.
Ravel
Piano Concerto in G
In 1928, Ravel undertook a triumphant tour of the United States, where he met with adoring audiences and made a big splash with Boléro. Upon his return, he set to work composing his piano concerto, with plans to perform it himself on an even grander tour that would include Europe, the United States, South America, and East Asia. Ravel was a pianist and, throughout his career, frequently composed his works for piano before orchestrating them. But it wasn’t until he was in his fifties that he set to work on a piano concerto.
No sooner had he started composing this concerto than he received a commission from Austrian pianist Paul Wittgenstein. Wittgenstein had lost his right arm during World War I and asked Ravel to compose a concerto that used only the left hand. Ravel set aside his intended concerto to compose the Piano Concerto in D Major for Left Hand. He then returned to his original concerto, finishing it a year later. As he was nearing completion of the work in the summer of 1931, Ravel wrote that “the music of a concerto should, in my opinion, be lighthearted and brilliant, and not aim at profundity or at dramatic effects. It has been said of certain classics that their concertos were written not ‘for’ but ‘against’ the piano. I heartily agree. I had intended to title this concerto ‘Divertissement.’ Then it occurred to me that there was no need to do so because the title ‘Concerto’ should be sufficiently clear.”
The Concerto is lighthearted from its very beginning. The whack of the slapstick gets the piece started as the rapid, staccato first theme is introduced by the piccolo before being passed to the clarinet and the brass. When the piano slows things down for its first entrance, its more serious theme borrows from the American popular music that had recently captured the imagination of all of Europe’s composers: jazz. A deceptively simple song-like second movement is followed by a rip-roaring four-minute finale. Musicologist Michael Fleury writes that it is “an unstoppable onslaught, spurred by the shrieks of the clarinet and the piccolo, the donkey brays of the trombone, and occasional fanfare flourishes in the brass.”
Sadly, Ravel’s failing health kept him from assuming the soloist position at the premier of the Concerto in Paris in 1932. Instead, pianist Marguerite Long was the soloist with Ravel conducting. And the ambitious plans for a grand world tour had to be discarded in favor of a smaller European one. This Concerto would be Ravel’s penultimate composition. The composer fell silent after 1932, when a neurological disease made it difficult for him to write, speak, play piano, or conduct. He lived another five years without composing.
Florence Price (1887-1953)
Piano Concerto in D minor
In 1943, Florence Price began a letter to Serge Koussevitzky, conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, writing: “My dear Dr. Koussevitzky, To begin with I have two handicaps— those of sex and race. I am a woman; and I have some Negro blood in my veins.” At this point in her life, Price had already established herself as a successful composer. Conductor Frederick Stock had premiered her First Symphony with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 1933: the first performance by a major orchestra of a composition by a Black female composer. Stock returned to her work the following year to perform her Piano Concerto in D minor (often called the “Concerto in One Movement”) with Price as soloist. A critic at the time of the premiere wrote that it was “real American music, and Mrs. Price is speaking a language she knows.”
The three movements of the Concerto each allude to a different tradition of Black American music. The minor key first movement hints at the Spiritual tradition, with singable melodies that are tainted with sadness and longing. The second movement brings in some jazz harmonies and includes a call-and-response between the oboe and the rest of the orchestra. And the final movement is inspired by Juba dance. Price frequently draws on Juba dance for her fast movements. Juba — a style of dance that includes body percussion — originated on Southern plantations when slaveholders took away the drums of enslaved people out of fear that they were using them to communicate. Enslaved people persisted in their music-making, using their bodies as instruments.
Like much of Price’s music, the score for this concerto was lost and forgotten for decades. In 2015, the Center for Black Music Research in Chicago commissioned a composition professor to reconstruct the score from some existing rehearsal materials and reductions. His arrangement of the work was premiered in 2016. Two years later, the original manuscript for the Concerto appeared at an auction in St. Anne, Illinois, where, nine years earlier, 200 of Price’s works were found in an abandoned house. The first performance of Price’s original concerto outside of her lifetime took place in 2020.
George Gershwin (1898-1937)
An American in Paris
American pianist, songwriter, and composer George Gershwin wrote four large-scale concert works: Rhapsody in Blue, the Concerto in F—often called “The Jazz Piano Concerto”—the opera Porgy and Bess, and An American in Paris, which he subtitled “A Tone Poem for Orchestra.” Rhapsody in Blue came first, a commission from the bandleader Paul Whiteman for a 1924 concert called “An Experiment in Modern Music.” The Concerto in F quickly followed in 1925. At their premieres, both works featured the composer at the piano.
The next year, while on a three-month trip to Europe, George Gershwin began work on a commission he had received from the New York Philharmonic, the piece that would become An American in Paris. This tone poem does not place the piano at its center, but rather tells its story using the diverse timbres of a symphony orchestra, augmented by saxophones, a huge variety of percussion instruments, and four automobile horns. (Gershwin brought Parisian taxi horns with him to the rehearsals for the premiere.)
In a 1928 interview in Musical America, Gershwin said that this work was “the most modern music I ever attempted.” And while it may be modern in its urban subject matter and its free, rhapsodic form, its reliance on singable melodies gave it staying power. Gershwin provided a short program note, which leads the listener through his piece:
“The opening gay section is followed by a rich blues with a strong rhythmic undercurrent. Our American… perhaps after strolling into a café and having a couple of drinks, has succumbed to a spasm of homesickness. The harmony here is both more intense and simpler than in the preceding pages. This blues rises to a climax, followed by a coda in which the spirit of the music returns to the vivacity and bubbling exuberance of the opening part with its impression of Paris. Apparently the homesick American, having left the café and reached the open air, has disowned his spell of the blues and once again is an alert spectator of Parisian life. At the conclusion, the street noises and French atmosphere are triumphant.”
Gershwin centers his work on two primary melodies. One is the walking theme heard at the beginning, which suggests a stroll through the streets of Paris. The second is the bluesy melody of the middle section, which captures the tourist’s homesickness. Using his gifts of melodic composition, honed by years of songwriting, Gershwin transports the listener to the Paris of the années folles, or what the American would have called “the roaring twenties."
Notes by Sarah A Ruddy, Ph. D.
WEST MICHIGAN SYMPHONY
COMMUNITY MUSIC ENCOUNTERS
MICHIGAN SYMPHONY
CLICK CLACK MOOSIC
Based on books by Doreen Cronin and Betsy Lewin, this series introduces children ages 3-8 to instrumental music in a storybook format. A host/ narrator introduces the small ensemble of WMS musicians, teaches the children about musical concepts, and then reads the story aloud— accompanied by music written for the series. Let us know if you are Interested in bringing CCM to your area!
Premier Strings brings together youth that are more advanced in their skill and performance levels providing them unique performance opportunities on stage with the West Michigan Symphony during Link Up concerts and forming string quartets that focus on community engagement performances.
Douglas Hannink & Jocelyn Shaw, 2024-2025 Season Sponsors
WEST MICHIGAN SYMPHONY
CHILDREN’S
CHOIR
Audition-based for children ages 8-13, WMS Children’s Choir performs in its own concerts, collaboratively with Debut and Premier Strings, and on stage with the Symphony during Home for the Holidays and the spring Link Up concerts.
Douglas Hannink & Jocelyn Shaw, 2024-2025 Season Sponsors
WEST
LINK UP
Beginning its 21st season, this free beginner music education program— a collaboration with Carnegie Hall—pairs WMS with 50 area schools in six West Michigan counties. Students in grades 3-5 learn to play music on the recorder and gain an understanding of orchestral repertoire. They benefit from regular contact with classroom visits from Music Mentors from the Orchestra. The program culminates with an interactive concert at the Frauenthal Center during which students perform on recorders along with the Symphony.
TUNE UP
Beginning its third year with additional Tune Up teaching staff, this afterschool string program partners with Muskegon Public School’s 21st CCLC Impact program. Students involved in Tune Up are learning to play an instrument at an earlier age and finding the thrill of making music. Tune Up offers students a free violin or viola instrument and performing opportunities, right in their own school. Currently offered at Muskegon Public Elementary Schools and the Charles Hackley Middle School.
LUNCH
‘N LEARN
These free noon hour events, hosted by Music Director Scott Speck, are held in The Block on Wednesdays prior to each Masterworks concert. Guests enjoy a delicious lunch and learn about the music on the upcoming concert. Everyone is invited, including those who already have tickets to the concert, those who are curious and want to learn more, downtown community businesses, and area residents.
WATCH
MUSKEGON PLAY
In 2020, WMS collaborated with Muskegon Rotary to bring all-weather outdoor musical instruments to Muskegon parks and neighborhoods. These durable sound sculptures enhance outdoor community spaces throughout Muskegon and Muskegon Heights. Please visit our website for details.
WEST MICHIGAN SYMPHONY
WEST MICHIGAN SYMPHONY
WEST MICHIGAN SYMPHONY
WEST MICHIGAN SYMPHONY
MUSIC DIRECTOR SCOTT SPECK ABOUT WEST MICHIGAN SYMPHONY
An anchor cultural organization headquartered in Muskegon, WMS is a resident performing group at the Frauenthal Center, where its eight-concert season is the most visible part of a larger artistic enterprise of far-reaching community benefit. Founded in 1939, today’s WMS is comprised of professional musicians of the highest caliber playing challenging repertoire and presenting some of the world’s most acclaimed guest artists. WMS concerts and education events bring 16,500 people— more than 30% of whom are children and students—downtown annually, making it the largest performing arts organization on the West Shore. Audiences come from throughout Muskegon, Ottawa, Kent, Oceana and surrounding counties.
Mission
West Michigan Symphony connects and enriches our diverse community through the transformative power of music. We fulfill this primarily through three core offerings:
• Professional, live symphonic performances in a welcoming environment
• Inspired small ensemble performances in an immersive live listening room
• Learning activities that enrich the lives of children and adults through exploration, participation and performance
Statement Of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
West Michigan Symphony is committed to building an organization that fosters diversity, equity and inclusion. We acknowledge and celebrate the 19th century European cultural heritage from which the symphony orchestra arises. At the same time, we believe the art form is renewed and enlivened by embracing multifarious cultures and influences.
We will continually explore ways to reflect plurality, inclusivity and curiosity in our artistic programming. We commit to inviting under-represented ethnic groups into an ongoing, active dialogue so that we can learn, grow, and change, making the Symphony a place where everyone feels invited and accepted. In our Board, staff and volunteer base, we will work for greater inclusivity, thereby reflecting the rich diversity of the West Michigan community. We will strive to reflect these values throughout our organization.
Scott Speck became Music Director of the West Michigan Symphony in 2002. Since then he is proud to have helped the WMS enter the ranks of the nation's finest regional orchestras.
Scott also holds positions as music director of the Joffrey Ballet, Chicago Philharmonic and Mobile Symphony. He previously held positions as conductor of the San Francisco Ballet; music advisor and conductor of the Honolulu Symphony; and associate conductor of the Los Angeles Opera. During a tour of Asia he was named principal guest conductor of the China Film Philharmonic in Beijing. He was also invited to the White House as music director of the Washington Ballet.
In past seasons Scott Speck has conducted at London’s Royal Opera House at Covent Garden, the Paris Opera, New York's Lincoln Center, Chicago’s Symphony Center, Washington’s Kennedy Center, San Francisco’s War Memorial Opera House, and the Los Angeles Music Center. He has led numerous performances with the symphony orchestras of Chicago, Houston, Baltimore, Paris, Moscow, Shanghai, Beijing, Vancouver, Romania, Slovakia, Buffalo, Columbus, Louisville, New Orleans, Oregon, Rochester, Florida, and Virginia, among many others.
Speck is co-author of the world’s best-selling books on classical music for a popular audience: Classical Music for Dummies, Opera for Dummies, and Ballet for Dummies. He has been a regular commentator on National Public Radio, the BBC, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Voice of Russia, broadcast throughout the world.
Born in Boston, Scott Speck is a Fulbright Scholar, a summa cum laude graduate of Yale University, and an Aspen Conducting Fellow. He is fluent in English, German and French, has a diploma in Italian, speaks Spanish and has a reading knowledge of Russian.
WMS’s Listening Room for the Musically Curious, The Block, is an innovative performance venue featuring a mixture of jazz, classical crossover and "curious." Since its opening in 2013, The Block has become a vibrant downtown gathering space that sparks curiosity, inspiration and fellowship through the shared experience of uncommon live music and educational programs. Audiences have found the venue a refreshing alternative—to the formality of a concert hall on one hand, the clamor of a brewpub on the other. The Block is also a gathering place for various nonprofit, musical and community groups. Recent users have included Black Business Expo, GVSU Piano Chamber Series, Greater Muskegon Economic Development, Lakeshore Art Festival, Muskegon Rotary, the Poppen Foundation, Third Coast Trombone Retreat, Tux ‘n Chucks, and Young Black Professionals, to name a few.
For rental information, call 231.726.3231
& CULTURE COALITION
WMS is a founding member of the Muskegon Arts & Cultural Coalition (MACC), whose purpose is to advocate for and educate the community on the significant economic and quality of life impact of the arts and cultural sector. Muskegon County is home to a wide range of institutions offering exceptional arts and culture experiences that reflect and celebrate our diverse community. The arts have been key to the revitalization of our region for decades, and they remain pivotal in the post-COVID recovery economy. A recent study by Visit Muskegon found that cultural institutions and festivals contributed more than $67.6 million annually to Muskegon County’s economy. According to the Creative State Michigan Report, the Arts accounted for $2.5 billion in state tourism revenues—more than professional sporting events, golf, boating and sailing, hunting and fishing, hiking and biking combined.
POPS
WEST MICHIGAN SYMPHONY 24/25 SEASON
A TRIBUTE TO THE BEATLES: CLASSICAL MYSTERY TOUR
September 27
This Fab Four joins your WMS to perform more than 20 Beatles hits exactly as they were written. Experience the British Invasion all over again!
HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS
December 20
Beloved West Michigan conductor John Varineau leads a night of joyful, heartwarming, pure family fun.
AMERICAN DIVA WITH SHAYNA STEELE
March 28
Shayna Steele returns with her eclectic style of soul and blues honoring the musical divas who inspired her — Whitney Houston, Chaka Khan, Aretha Franklin and Mariah Carey, and more.
MASTERWORKS
RAVEL & GERSHWIN
November 22
Did you know Ravel and Gershwin were friends and mutual fans? Experience works reflecting the composers’ mutual admiration, as well as the jazz era in which the music was born.
MOZART AND BEETHOVEN
January 24
This concert is full of music that feels good. If you like Barber’s Adagio, you’ll love Walker’s Lyric for Strings. Mozart’s Figaro sounds like radiant sunshine, and Weber’s captivating Clarinet Concerto is virtuosic and tuneful. Lastly, you’ll delight in the lightheartedness of early Beethoven.
TCHAIKOVSKY WINTER DREAMS
February 28
This all-orchestral concert will warm your heart and soul. Experience Wagner’s dramatic overture and Kodaly’s reflection of his Hungarian folk tradition. With “Winter Dreams,” you’ll hear the beginnings of the sound we have come to know as “pure Tchaikovsky.”
DVOŘÁK CELLO CONCERTO
May 9
Immerse yourself in an evening of Bohemian melodies, crowned by Dvořák’s beloved Cello Concerto. This masterpiece is both exhilarating and profound, and pushes the instrument’s boundaries to deliver some of his most soulful, heart-achingly beautiful music you’ll ever experience.
AMERICAN LANDSCAPES
May 30
There’s nothing like experiencing a great American orchestra performing great American music. You’ll hear two of Copland’s majestic masterpieces and Torke’s Sky, written for violinist Tessa Lark, reflecting her Kentucky Bluegrass roots.
24/25 SEASON
Immersive Listening Room for the Musically Curious
CONCERTS BEGIN AT 7:30 PM
Djangophonique Gypsy Jazz • Oct 12
Born out of reverence for the Parisian Jazz Manouche style, Djangophonique captivates with their unique blend of gypsy jazz and contemporary vibes. You’ll hear hot swing, lush ballads, jazz standards, boleros, and more.
Yasmin Williams Fingerstyle Guitar • Oct 25
Yasmin Williams is one of the country’s most imaginative young solo guitarists. Untethered to any one tradition, her unique fingerstyle technique blends folk, blues, and ambient elements, taking audiences on a spellbinding musical journey.
Marion Hayden Jazz Quintet • Nov 9
This trailblazing bassist is known her soulful playing and impact on Detroit’s jazz scene. She previously graced The Block stage with her all-woman jazz group, Straight Ahead. On this night, she’ll present music of generations of Detroit jazz greats.
Claire Huangci Classical Piano • Nov 23
On the heels of her performance with Scott Speck and West Michigan Symphony, pianist Claire Huangci will put The Block’s Steinway through its paces in an inspiring solo recital featuring the music of Mendelssohn, Gershwin, Barber and more.
Bryan Eng Trio A Jazzy Christmas • Dec 14
Multifaceted jazz singer and pianist Bryan Eng brings his celebrated trio back to The Block – just in time for the holidays! The group’s musicality packs a punch, with a sound and vibe akin to Nat King Cole and Harry Connick Jr.
Lisa Sung Quartet Jazz Quartet • Jan 10
Lisa Sung is a versatile pianist who is passionate about reflecting world music within the American jazz tradition. The West Michigan-based pianist leads her ensemble for a night of jazz standards and originals.
Jon Holden Ensemble Classical Chamber • Jan 25
WMS’s Principal Clarinet joins with friends from the orchestra – Concertmaster Jesús Linárez, Associate Principal Cellist Igor Cetkovic, and pianist Emily Grabinski –to bring you an inspiring night of music from Brahms, Bartok and more.
Ian Maksin Valentine’s Day | Contemporary Cello • Feb 14
This Valentine’s Day, immerse yourself in the enchanting musical odyssey of cellist Ian Maksin. Breaking boundaries, his passionate performance weaves diverse genres, layering rich tapestries of sound with electronic looping devices.
Tony Monaco Trio Organ Jazz • Mar 14
The Tony Monaco Trio, a powerhouse in jazz, dazzles with Hammond B3 organ mastery. Monaco’s virtuosic playing, combined with the trio’s dynamic chemistry, delivers soulful and energetic performances that breathe new life into classic jazz standards.
Bayberry
String Quartet Classical Chamber • Apr 26
Enjoy an evening filled with the exquisite sound of blended string instruments. You’ll hear string quartets by Mozart, Dvorak and Beethoven, all brought to life by The Bayberry String Quartet.
Inbal
Segev Classical Cello • May 10
The night after her appearance with WMS at the Frauenthal, cellist Inbal Segev brings a solo performance to The Block. She’ll perform music of Bach, Debussy and Prokofiev, as well as some of her own compositions.
Tessa Lark Classical Violin | Stradgrass • May 31
American violinist Tessa Lark is one of the most captivating artistic voices of our time, consistently praised for her astounding range of sounds, technical agility, and musical elegance. Bridging classical and bluegrass, she’ll weave a unique musical narrative.
Dear Friends,
There’s more to your West Michigan Symphony than meets the eye... and even the ear. What you see before you is truly a miracle: a community resource nurtured and grown over the past 85 years and sustained through the dedication and love of the entire community.
WMS brings together the finest musicians and guest artists from across the country and touches the hearts and souls of listeners of all ages. We are proud to sponsor the 2024/25 Season. Enjoy the performance!
Mike & Kay Olthoff
2024/25 Season Sponsors
WEST MICHIGAN SYMPHONY
Made in Muskegon. 85 years strong. Here's a part of our journey.
1939
When Palmer Quackenbush raised his baton at 8:15 on the night of November 28, 1939, he started a musical legacy that has endured 85 seasons.
1979
The orchestra originally performed at Muskegon High School Auditorium. In 1979 the performances moved to the Frauenthal Theater.
2002
Scott Speck was appointed music director. He is the ninth and longest tenured music director of the WMS, and rightly so. Under his direction the artistic quality of the ensemble has reached new heights, his warm, welcoming presence has built community.
2024
WMS has roared back to life since the pandemic, inspired by its vision to be a catalyst for a music-infused West Michigan. During the 2023/24 Season, WMS played to the largest audiences in more than a decade, celebrated the 20th anniversary of Link UP education program serving more than 4,000 students and six counties, and expanded the Tune UP afterschool partnership with Muskegon Public Schools.
