Calendar

Musicians from West Michigan will gather at Meijer Gardens this summer to present the Sunday Strings live classical chamber music concert series. Produced and Directed by Haijin Choi.

Four-Day Camp—Come along on a drawing adventure!

Four-Day Camp—Have fun exploring the world underground with magnifying glasses, gardening tools and more.

Explore choosing, arranging, and affixing paper and fabric materials to create compelling compositions.

6 Pak

Two-Day Camp—Let the Story Adventures begin!

Participants will be trained on how to properly identify and effectively treat various nonnative, invasive plants.

It was after midnight when Trombone Shorty stepped offstage at the House of Blues in New Orleans, but he wasn’t done playing yet. Listen to Lifted, Trombone Shorty’s second Blue Note Records release, to hear that same ecstatic energy coursing through the entire collection. The album finds the Grammy-nominated NOLA icon and his bandmates tapping into the raw power and exhilarating grooves of their legendary live show, channeling it all into a series of tight, explosive performances that blur the lines between funk, soul, R&B, and psychedelic rock. The writing is bold and self-assured, standing up to hard times and loss with grit and determination. The playing is muscular to match, mixing pop gleam with hip-hop swagger and second line abandon. Shorty celebrates the good times on the album too, reveling in the joy of love and friendship and family throughout. Wild as all that may sound, Lifted is still the work of a master craftsman: The album’s nimble arrangements and judicious use of special guests—from Gary Clark Jr. and Lauren Daigle to the rhythm section from Shorty’s high school marching band—ultimately yields a collection as refined as it is rapturous; one that balances technical virtuosity and emotional release in equal measure as it celebrates music’s primal power to bring us all together. For Trombone Shorty, the show never ends. Not by a long shot.

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The rain came down in heavy sheets as Mavis Staples, hailed by NPR as “one of America’s defining voices of freedom and peace,” arrived in Woodstock. Still recovering from knee surgery, she wasn’t her usual spry self, yet aches and pains melted away when she spotted the familiar figure waiting to greet her. Lean and wiry, his gentle warmth radiating Southern charm and hospitality, there was no mistaking Levon Helm. Quick as a flash, she was out of the car, through the rain, up the steps. As the pair embraced in the deep, spiritual way of kindred souls, Mavis Staples and Levon Helm did what came most naturally: They sang. Staples was there to perform for Helm’s Midnight Ramble series. The ensuing 2011 concert—available today on the rousing new release Carry Me Home—is a personal high watermark for both artists. The righteous setlist mixed vintage gospel and soul with timeless folk and blues. An ecstatic atmosphere equal parts family reunion and tent revival fueled the performances. As their last performance together, it takes on a bittersweet meaning time capsule and memorial; blissful homecoming and fond farewell; a once-in-a-lifetime concert, and friendship, preserved for the ages. Staples—a chart-topping soul, gospel, and R&B pioneer, and civil rights icon—graces us as a once-in-a-generation artist whose impact on music and culture is difficult to overstate.

Ben Folds’ masterful new What Matters Most collection is less a statement than it is an offering—an open hand reaching out to all those wounded and bewildered by a world that seems to make less and less sense every day. Recorded in East Nashville with co-producer Joe Pisapia, the album marks Folds’ first new studio release in eight years. It’s a bold, timely, cinematic work, examining the tragic and the absurd in equal measure as it reckons with hope and despair, gratitude and loss, identity and perspective. The songs are bittersweet, hilarious at times, but often laced with a quiet sense of longing and dread: a text message goes unanswered; an old classmate descends into the dark depths of internet conspiracies; a relationship unravels in the middle of a lake. Yet taken as a whole, the result is an undeniably joyful record that refuses to succumb to the weight of the world around it—an ecstatic reminder of all the beauty and promise hiding in plain sight for anyone willing and present enough to recognize their moments as they arrive. Folds ultimately isn’t interested in simply lamenting the flaws of our times, but rather in finding ways to still connect to the magic and wonder of being alive, no matter what the world may throw at us.

GRAND RAPIDS SYMPHONY

Recognized nationally for the high quality of its concerts and educational programs, the Grand Rapids Symphony has been an important cultural resource in Grand Rapids and the West Michigan community for almost a century.

Led by Music Director Marcelo Lehninger, Principal Pops Conductor Bob Bernhardt, and Assistant Conductor Duo Shen, the orchestra presents more than 400 performances each year, enriching the lives of approximately 200,000 people. Thousands of those who benefit are students, senior citizens, and people with disabilities who are reached through the orchestra’s extensive education and community service programs.

The Grand Rapids Symphony released its 13th professional recording, Strauss & Villa-Lobos, a collection of live performances under the direction of Lehninger, in late 2021. Another notable recording, Invention & Alchemy, featuring jazz harpist Deborah Henson-Conant, was nominated for the Grammy for Best Classical Crossover Album during the 49th annual Grammy Awards.

The orchestra boasts longstanding partnerships of over 60 years with the Grand Rapids Symphony Chorus and the Grand Rapids Youth Symphony & Classical Orchestra, and more recently has formed an additional affiliate in the Grand Rapids Bach Festival.

The Grand Rapids Symphony made its Carnegie Hall debut in 2005 and returned in 2018 for a triumphant performance with the Grand Rapids Symphony Chorus under Lehninger’s baton.