Wide ranges of musical styles and instruments will bring DeVos Hall in Grand Rapids alive when Hope College presents its 24th annual Musical Showcase concert on Monday, March 5, at 8 p.m.
Hope College students take the stage for this fast-paced, musical spectacular, during which audience members hear everything from opera to jazz.
The hardest part for those seeing the show is containing their enthusiasm, at least at first. In the tradition of the quick-moving musical event, audience members are asked to hold their applause until intermission and the end of the performance.
The event will include the involvement of other areas of the arts in honor of President James Bultman, who is retiring at the end of the school year. There will be a dance piece and musical theatre during the evening’s program, and art work by Hope students in the lobby.
The concert unveils the gifts of all Hope College’s major musical groups, along with soloists, chamber groups and small ensembles.
Violin solos will include freshman Eve Panning of Holland performing Aaron Copland’s “Hoe Down”; junior Alec Norkey of Jackson performing Béla Bartók’s “Romanian Folk Dances”; and sophomore Larissa Fall of Grand Rapids performing Fritz Kreisle’s arrangement of Manuel de Falla’s “Danse Espag nole (La Vida Breve).” Performing Pablo de Sarasate’s “Navarra” will be junior Luke Panning of Holland and junior Katherine Genzink of Holland.
Piano solos will include junior James Schippers of Grand Haven performing Béla Bartók’s “Allegro molto (Sonata Sz. 80),” and junior Emily Young of Clinton Township performing Maurice Ravel’s “Oiseaux trist es.” Organ solos will include sophomore Kristin Baron of Holland performing J. Lemmens’s “Fanfare,” and senior Robin Pulsifer of Holland performing Felix Mendelssohn’s “Movement III (Op. 65 No. 2).”
Vocal performances include senior Brent Smith of Owosso singing W. A. Mozart’s “Ein Maedchen oder Weibchen”; senior Heather Benson of Muskegon singing Henry Purcell’s “Thy Hand Belinda… When I am Laid in Earth,” from “Dido and Aeneas”; junior Skye Edwards of Morrison, Colo., singing Jeanine Tesori’s “What Do I Need With Love,” from “Thoroughly Modern Millie”; senior Caitlin McDougall of Flint singing an Aria from Heitor Villa-Lobos’s “Bachianas Brasileiras”; junior Haley Hodges of Hart singing Douglas Moore’s “Silver Aria,” from “The Ballad of Baby Doe”; and senior Jenna Buck of Elburn, Ill., singing Charles Gounod’s “Ah! Je veux vivre” from “Romeo and Juliet.”
Cellist Alex Stradal, a sophomore from Muskegon, will perform Johann Sebastian Bach’s “Cello Suite No. 1 in G”.
Chamber groups include a string quartet performing Joseph Haydn’s “Finale-Vivace (Op. 64, No.5, ‘Lark’)”; Quintessential 5 performing György Ligeti’s “Six Bagatelles”; the Mainstream Combo performing Churcho Valdes’ “Sin Clave Pero Con Swing”; and a handbell ensemble performing an arrangement by Dean Wagner of “Fantasy on ‘Kingsfold.’”
Other groups include the Jazz Arts Collective performing an arrangement by Wayne Shorter of “Footprints”; the Women’s Chamber Choir performing Gwyneth Walker’s “This Morning” from “My Girls”; the Wind Ensemble performing Francis McBeth’s “The Sacred Flame (The Death and Legacy of Arthur)”; the Chapel Choir performing an arrangement by Moses Hogan of “Elijah Rock”; and the Orchestra performing Fandango Asturiano’s “Capriccio Espagnol.”
Tickets for Musical Showcase are $10 each, and may be ordered through at the Hope College Ticket Office located in the main lobby of the DeVos Fieldhouse at 222 Fairbanks Avenue. The ticket office is open weekdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and may be called at (616) 395-7890.
Tickets may also be purchased over the counter at the Grand Center Ticket Office, which is open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
In addition, tickets may be ordered by phone through Ticketmaster by calling (616) 456-3333. A service fee is added to the cost of each ticket purchased this way.