Grand Rapids Symphony: Motown's Greatest Hits NYE 2012 December 31, 2011

The Grand Rapids Symphony was officially organized in 1930 and is recognized as one of America’s leading regional orchestras. Culminating its 75th Anniversary Season, the orchestra made its début performance to a full house in New York City’s Carnegie Hall on 21st May, 2005. The Grand Rapids Symphony has an $8 million budget and employs fifty salaried and thirty part-time musicians. Eight concert series are provided to the community with performances designed for young children through adults, featuring a wide range of repertoire. These include the Richard and Helen DeVos Classical Series, Fox Motors Pops Series, SymphonicBoom, Casual Classics Series, Edward Jones Coffee Classics, Lollipop concerts sponsored by Target Stores, DTE Energy Foundation Family Series and Chase Picnic Pops. Each year the Symphony also collaborates with the community to bridge cultures by presenting a concert titled “Symphony with Soul” featuring national and local African-American artists.

A percentage of the proceeds from this event help to support the Symphony’s “Young, Gifted & Black Scholarship Fund,” created in 2005 through a grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to support instrumental training for young African-American students in the area. The Symphony presents concerts in many outlying communities throughout Michigan and is heard on broadcasts by National Public Radio affiliate WBLV/WBLU. In 2003, the Symphony performed in Detroit’s Orchestra Hall as part of inaugural activities for the new Max M. Fisher Music Center. In 2000, the orchestra toured Northern Michigan and the Upper Peninsula, giving thousands of people who normally do not have an opportunity to hear an eighty-piece orchestra a chance to experience the Grand Rapids Symphony. The orchestra performed at Ferris State University, Interlochen Center for the Arts, Lake Superior State University, Northern Michigan University and at Michigan Technological University, where the Symphony was the premier entertainment for the grand opening of the Rozsa Center for Performing Arts. The Symphony also sponsors the Symphony Chorus, Grand Rapids Youth Symphony and Classical Orchestra, and provides the orchestra for performances by Opera Grand Rapids and the Grand Rapids Ballet Company.

Official Website: http://www.kicktickets.com/38255/2011/12/31/grand-rapids-symphony-motowns-greatest-hits-nye-2012-devos-hall-grand-rapids-mi