Holland Symphony Orchestra

Music Moves Us: Adults Groove Dance at Centennial Park
2024-08-06 13:00 - 14:00 UTC | Centennial Park, 250 Central Ave, Holland, MI, 49423, United States
Buy Tickets

Saturday, August 9th, 2025, at 2 PM NEW VENUE: West Ottawa Performing Arts Center Click here to view or download a PDF of the West Ottawa Performing Arts seating chart. The HSO Midori concerts are in memory of Jack H. Miller Call or email Amanda for accessible (ADA/handicapped) seating options or $20 student tickets (ticketing@hollandsymphony.org, 616-796-6780). Teachers and educators get a $10 discount per ticket! Use promo code LEARN at checkout online or by phone. As part of Holland Symphony Orchestra’s 2025 Gift of Music summer offerings, we are excited to announce a special pair of concerts featuring the violin superstar Midori. She will make her Holland debut with music director and conductor Johannes Müller Stosch and the HSO in two performances of Mendelssohn’s towering Violin Concerto and Arvo Pärt’s raucous double violin concerto entitled Tabula Rasa with ZenViolin creator and prodigy Moni Simeonov. The program will include Mendelssohn’s whimsical Hebrides Overture “Fingal’s Cave” and J. S. Bach’s regal Orchestral Suite No. 1. The concerts will take place on Friday, August 8, 2025, at 7:30 pm and Saturday, August 9, 2025, at 2 pm at the West Ottawa Performing Arts Center. Midori is a visionary artist, activist, and educator who explores and builds connections between music and the human experience. In the four decades since her debut with the New York Philharmonic at age 11, the “simply magical” (Houston Chronicle) violinist has performed with many of the world’s most prestigious orchestras and has collaborated with world-renowned musicians including Leonard Bernstein, Yo-Yo Ma, and many others. These are special event prices and are not part of a subscription package. Ticket prices for the Midori concert are as follows: Premium seats (yellow): $45 Choice seats (orange): $40 Main (white): $35 A limited number of student tickets, in the Main Section, will be available for $20.

Concert Sponsor:

Tickets

ProgramProgram NotesArtist biosThe Hebrides, “Fingal’s Cave,” Op. 26Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)Tabula RasaArvo Pärt (b. 1935) Ludus SilentiumMidori and Moni Simeonov, violins IntermissionSuite No. 1, BWV 1066, in C MajorJohann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) Overture Courante Gavotte I & II Forlane Menuet I & II Bourrée I & II Passepied I & IIViolin Concerto in E Minor, Op. 64Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847) Allegro molto appassionato Andante Allegretto non troppo - Allegro molto vivaceMidori, violin The Hebrides, “Fingal’s Cave,” Op. 26Felix Mendelssohn Born: February 3, 1809, HamburgDied: November 4, 1847, LeipzigWritten: 1830Premiered: May 14, 1832, LondonApproximate Duration: 10 minutesInstrumentation: 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani, strings Scotland was an inspiration for nineteenth century art and music in France and Germany. The location seemed exotic–far away, mysterious, full of picturesque and rugged landscapes, rainy and misty, and inhabited by people wearing kilts and plaids and speaking in the seemingly unintelligible Gaelic language. Many students, writers, and artists traveled there, seeking inspiration from this beautiful and foreign place. In 1829, Mendelssohn’s father sent him on a tour of Europe to complete his education and gain cultural understanding, as was common for young men of fortune at the time. Mendelssohn and a friend began their travels in England and Scotland. In Edinburgh, they immersed themselves in the stories of Queen Mary and her personal secretary, David Rizzio. Mendelssohn wrote, “We went to the palace of Holyrood where Queen Mary lived and loved. There is a little room to be seen there with a winding staircase leading up to it. This, the murderers ascended and, finding Rizzio, drew him out. Three chambers away is where they killed him…. Everything is broken and moldering and the bright sky shines in. I believe I found today in the old chapel the beginning of my Scottish Symphony.” As they traveled farther north, Mendelssohn wrote that the Scottish highlands “brew nothing but whiskey, fog, and foul weather.” Eventually they made their way to the west coast of Scotland and to the island of Jaffa. Fingal's Cave is on the uninhabited island of Jaffa in the inner Hebrides. The cave has a giant arched roof and is filled with the eerie sounds produced by the breaking waves. Its Gaelic name means “cave of melody.” Sir Walter Scott described it as “…one of the most extraordinary places I ever beheld. It exceeded, in my mind, every description I had heard of it…. composed entirely of basaltic pillars as high as the roof of a cathedral, and running deep into the rock, eternally swept by a deep and swelling sea, and paved, as it were, with ruddy marble, baffles all description.” After seeing the stunning scenery, Mendelssohn composed the opening bars of his overture and sent it to his sister Fanny, saying, “In order to make you understand how extraordinarily the Hebrides affected me, I send you the following, which came into my head there.” He continued to work on the overture as he traveled, finally completing it a year later in Rome, with a London premiere in 1832. Critics, including Wagner and Schumann, praised the overture as a masterpiece. Mendelssohn originally entitled it The Lonely Island, but soon changed the name, rather confusingly using the title Hebrides Overture on the orchestral parts but Fingal’s Cave on the full score. Mendelssohn’s work was the first of a new type of overture which emerged during the nineteenth-century, referred to as the concert overture. These overtures are not drawn from a stage work or opera, but rather, are stand-alone works to be programmed as an opening piece in a concert hall. Mendelssohn’s Hebrides Overture evokes a seascape including the grandeur of the cave, the swelling of the sea, the light on the water, and the fury of the waves breaking on the cliffs. It was one of the first works of music to evoke nature in this way, a hallmark of the emerging Romanticism of Mendelssohn’s time, and remains one of the greatest of its genre. To watch a video of Mendelssohn's Hebrides Overture, click here. Tabula RasaArvo Pärt Born: September 11, 1935, Paide, EstoniaWritten: 1977Premiered: September 30, 1977, Tallinn, Estonia, with Gidon Kremer and Tatjana Grindenko, violinists, Tallinn Chamber Orchestra, conductor Eri KlasApproximate Duration: 25 minutesInstrumentation: two violin soloists (or solo violin and solo viola), strings, prepared piano In the late twentieth century, composers pushed classical music to its limits by challenging and re-examining conventions of tonality, structure, and sound quality. In the midst of that musical exploration, Estonian composer Arvo Pärt emerged with a strikingly new style that he called “tintinnabuli.” He described this as "an area I sometimes wander into when I am searching for answers–in my life, my music, my work." Pärt was a person of deep faith who had significant mystical experiences with chanted music and prayer. He wanted to find a musical language that would invite listeners to explore silence, simplicity, and spirituality, which musicologists have dubbed holy or mystical minimalism. Pärt’s style is characterized by distinct voices that move in simple arpeggiated triads, representing bell tones, and stepwise motion, all at a slow and meditative pace. One of Pärt’s best known tintinnabular pieces is Tabula Rasa, composed in 1977. The Latin title is translated “blank slate.” Pärt intends this blank slate to be a fresh start, an invitation to a contemplative journey of clearing one’s mind and soul, allowing the musical experience to transform oneself and awaken a sense of musical rebirth. From the first note of the first movement, “Ludus” (Game), Pärt writes for the extreme high and low range of the violin, evoking a wide-open environment. The movement is structured with increasingly long and complex episodes of activity that seem to invite reflection on the entirety of human experience: from joy, to sorrow, to longing. These Interludes are interspersed with moments of timeless stillness. The movement culminates with a cadenza. “Silentium” (Silence) is sparse and fragile. In this simplicity, Pärt encourages listeners to meditate on the hushed melodic fragments and the spaces between the sounds. The piece concludes in the quiet depths of the orchestra, inviting everyone into a final moment of contemplative rest. Tabula Rasa is written for two violin soloists, string orchestra, and prepared piano. A prepared piano is a regular piano that has objects such as screws, paper, bolts, or erasers placed between or on the strings to temporarily alter the sound but leave the piano unharmed. Composers John Cage and Henry Cowell were some of the first to use this technique. In this piece, 24 screws and some felt are placed between specific piano strings to produce a variety of percussive-sounding notes. These “unfamiliar” instrumental sounds add to the mystery of this piece. To watch a video Pärt's Tabula Rasa, click here. Suite (Overture) No. 1 in C Major, BWV 1066Johann Sebastian Bach Born: March 21, 1685, EisenachDied: July 28, 1750, LeipzigWritten: c. 1725Approximate Duration: 22 minutesInstrumentation: 2 oboes, 1 bassoon, harpsichord, strings The origin of J.S. Bach’s four orchestral suites is mysterious! We don’t know when Bach wrote these pieces–either in his years at Cöthen (1717-1723) or while working in Leipzig (1729-early 1740s) with the Collegium Musicum, a group consisting of university students and a few professional musicians. Bach never assembled the suites into a finished volume, as he did with the Brandenburg Concertos, and there is no surviving autograph. We only have instrumental parts copied by various people including Bach’s son and students. Nevertheless, Bach’s four orchestral suites represent the pinnacle of orchestral writing in the French Overture style, an approach characterized by a stately introduction full of dotted rhythms, trills, and flourishes followed by a faster fugal section before ending with the stately opening music. The overtures in these suites are proportionally so grand that the suites themselves are sometimes called “overtures.” The remainder of the suites consist of lighter dance movements. Bach may have intended these suites to be light and entertaining, but they demand a high level of virtuosity from performers and display a remarkable level of thematic and rhythmic cohesiveness in their composition. Bach’s first suite probably dates to 1725. It is lightly scored for two oboes, bassoon, strings, and harpsichord. With these modest forces, Bach achieves a variety of textures, sometimes using the woodwinds as soloists. This suite is noteworthy in Bach’s use of paired dance movements, such as Gavotte I & II. These movements are played in an ABA format, with the second contrasting gavotte between two statements of the first. To watch a video of Bach's first suite, click here. Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64Felix MendelssohnBorn: February 3, 1809, HamburgDied: November 4, 1847, LeipzigComposed: 1844, revised 1845Premiered: March 13, 1845, LeipzigApproximate Duration: 26 minutesInstrumentation: two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, two French horns, two trumpets, timpani, strings Music donated by Diane Lewis In 1838, Mendelssohn wrote to his friend Ferdinand David, one of the leading violinists of the mid-nineteenth century: “I should like to write a violin concerto for you next winter. One in E minor runs through my head, the opening of which gives me no peace.” Mendelssohn worked closely with David while composing the concerto. Both men disliked the “empty showpiece concerto” of the early Romantic era that contained little more than what Mendelssohn called “juggler’s tricks and rope dancer’s feats.” The two sought to produce a serious musical piece in the manner of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto. The result is a piece wonderfully suited to the violin, both musically and technically. Unlike Classical concertos, with long orchestral introductions, Mendelssohn’s work begins with the soloist presenting the initial soaring theme that “haunted” the composer. This melody is contrasted with a tender second theme, introduced by the woodwinds. Mendelssohn took an innovative approach to the cadenza; instead of putting it at the end of the movement, he used it as a bridge leading from the development into the restatement of the movement’s opening themes. Furthermore, instead of leaving it to the soloist to improvise or write his or her own cadenza, Mendelssohn provides a cadenza, probably written by David. A single thread—a note sustained by one bassoon—provides the seamless bridge to the lyrical second movement, an endearing song. The melodies are harmonized and scored beautifully—sometimes peacefully, sometimes restlessly. Another brief transition, which recalls the impassioned first movement, the Finale begins, a brilliant and sunny scherzo that recalls Mendelssohn’s Midsummer Night’s Dream. The soloist is called upon to display light-hearted virtuosity alternating with long, lyrical passages, leading to a rousing conclusion. To listen to Mendelssohn's violin concerto, click here. Program notes by Amanda W. Dykhouse Midori is a visionary artist, activist and educator who explores and builds connections between music and the human experience. In the four decades since her debut with the New York Philharmonic at age 11, the “simply magical” (Houston Chronicle) violinist has performed with many of the world’s most prestigious orchestras and has collaborated with world-renowned musicians including Leonard Bernstein, Yo-Yo Ma, and many others. Midori is the Artistic Director of Ravinia Steans Music Institute’s Piano & Strings program; summer 2024 is her first year in that role. This season, she premieres Spirituals — a new work written for her by Che Buford — on a recital program, with pianist Özgür Aydin, at the Edinburgh Festival; the 92nd Street Y, New York; the Celebrity Series of Boston; San Francisco Performances; and the Colburn Celebrity Series. Other highlights of Midori’s 2024–2025 season include appearances with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Louisville Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, and Oklahoma City Philharmonic. Outside the U.S., she performs with the Vienna Philharmonic under Andris Nelsons in Vienna and on tour in Japan and Korea (Prokofiev’s First Violin Concerto); she appears twice in the spring of 2025 at the Berlin Philharmonic Hall, with the German National Youth Orchestra in May, performing Glanert’s Second Violin Concerto, and with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin (DSO) in June, performing Dvořák’s Violin Concerto. She also joins the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande under Jonathan Nott, performing Sibelius’s Violin Concerto on a tour of Spain, and has concert appearances in Geneva, Köln and Nürnberg, as well as Mumbai, Istanbul, Izmir and Colombo. Deeply committed to furthering humanitarian and educational goals, Midori has founded several non-profit organizations; the New York City-based Midori & Friends and Japan-based MUSIC SHARING have both been active for over three decades. For the Orchestra Residencies Program (ORP), which supports youth orchestras, Midori commissioned a new work from composer Derek Bermel, Spring Cadenzas, that was premiered virtually during the COVID lockdown and continues to be performed; this season, she is working on creating a video recording of the work to be accompanied by a tutorial. ORP also worked recently with the Afghan Youth Orchestra, which relocated to Portugal in order to continue operating. Midori’s Partners in Performance (PiP) helps to bring chamber music to smaller communities in the U.S. In recognition of her work as an artist and humanitarian, she serves as a United Nations Messenger of Peace and was named a Kennedy Center Honoree in 2021. Born in Osaka in 1971, she began her violin studies with her mother, Setsu Goto, at an early age. In 1982, conductor Zubin Mehta invited the then 11-year-old Midori to perform with the New York Philharmonic in the orchestra’s annual New Year’s Eve concert, where the foundation was laid for her subsequent career. Midori is the Dorothy Richard Starling Chair in Violin Studies at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. She is the recipient of honorary doctorates from Smith College, Yale University, Longy School of Music and Shenandoah University, and of the 2023 Brandeis Creative Arts Award from Brandeis University. She plays the 1734 Guarnerius del Gesù ‘ex-Huberman’ and uses four bows – two by Dominique Peccatte, one by François Peccatte and one by Paul Siefried. A native of Bulgaria, Moni Simeonov began playing the violin at age 5, and ten years later, came to the United States on a full scholarship to the Idyllwild Arts Academy. He performs with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and Opera, Ensemble San Francisco, and until recently, was the Concertmaster for the Sacramento Philharmonic. He has also served as a guest concertmaster with Reno Philharmonic, Louisiana Philharmonic and the Pacific Symphony. His doctoral studies included minor fields in Viola Performance, Schenkerian Analysis, Japanese Language, as well as an emphasis on the interpretation of the Balkan folk music. On tour and in Los Angeles, Mr. Simeonov dedicates considerable time and energy to community engagement work and to musical activities and presentations for young people. Moni has performed and coached alongside Midori for her Orchestra Residencies Program American and International tours. Until 2014, he served as a director for the program. Outreach activities have taken him to places as diverse as homeless shelters in Peru and at-risk centers in Tennessee, to Syrian refugee camps in Lebanon, and hospitals for the terminally ill in Sri Lanka. Moni’s summer teaching includes engagements with the Interlochen Summer Festival, the Singapore Violin Festival, and the Atlantic Music Festival. Moni is also the founder of Bulgaria’s first chamber music academy – “Quartet Intensive” in Sofia. Moni has concertized and taught around the United States, South America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. His recordings have been archived by PBS, NPR, KUSC, Bulgarian National Radio and TV, as well as Japanese Broadcasting Company – NHK. Moni received his BM and PC from the Eastman School of Music under Zvi Zeitlin, his MM and AD from Yale University with Ani Kavafian, and his GC and DMA from USC’s Thornton School of Music where he studied with Midori. Moni served as Adjunct Instructor at USC’s Thornton School of Music until 2014. That year, he was appointed Director of String Studies and Violin Professor with the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music at California State University, Long Beach. Moni is also the creator of zenviolin.com.

Music Moves Us: Kids Polynesian Story & Dance at the Farmers Market
2024-08-07 09:30 - 10:30 UTC | Holland Farmers Market, 150 W 8th Street, Holland, 49423, United States

Music Moves Us: Salsa Dancing & Lesson at Holland State Park
2024-08-07 19:00 - 20:00 UTC | Holland State Park, 2215 Ottawa Beach Rd, Holland, 49424, United States

Music Moves Us: Dutch Dance at Centennial Park
2024-08-08 10:00 - 10:45 UTC | Centennial Park, 250 Central Ave, Holland, MI, 49423, United States

Music Moves Us: Hip Hop Lesson & Dancing at GDK Park
2024-08-08 18:30 - 20:30 UTC | GDK Park, 5 West 8th Street, Holland, MI, 49423, United States

Music Moves Us: Zumba Gold at Evergreen Commons
2024-08-09 10:15 - 11:00 UTC | Evergreen Commons, 480 State St, Holland, Holland, MI, 49423, United States

Music Moves Us: Swing Dance Lesson at Kollen Park
2024-08-09 17:30 - 18:30 UTC | Kollen Park Henry VanderLinde Bandshell, 240 Kollen Park Dr., Holland, MI, 49423, United States

Music Moves Us: Lakeshore Big Band Concert
2024-08-09 18:30 - 20:00 UTC | Kollen Park Henry VanderLinde Bandshell, 240 Kollen Park Dr., Holland, MI, 49423, United States

Music Moves Us: Sensory Art & Concert at Holland Museum
2024-08-10 10:00 - 11:00 UTC | Holland Museum, 31 W. 10 Street, Holland, MI, 49423, United States

Music Unites Us: Brazil! Finale at Kollen Park
2024-08-10 16:00 - 20:30 UTC | Kollen Park Henry VanderLinde Bandshell, 240 Kollen Park Dr., Holland, MI, 49423, United States

Community Concert: Music Unites Us - Brazil!
2024-08-10 19:00 - 20:30 UTC | Kollen Park Henry VanderLinde Bandshell, 240 Kollen Park Dr., Holland, MI, 49423, United States

Books and Blooms with HSO Brass
2024-08-12 10:00 - 12:00 (America/New_York) | Windmill Island Gardens, 1 Lincoln Avenue, Holland, MI, 49423, United States

HSO Brass at Cappon House
2024-08-15 17:30 - 20:00 UTC | Cappon House, 228 W. 9th Street, Holland, MI, 49423, United States

An American in Paris
2024-09-14 19:30 UTC | Jack H. Miller Center for Musical Arts at Hope College, 221 Columbia Ave., Holland, MI, 49423, United States

Sounds of the Sea
2024-11-02 19:30 - 21:00 UTC | Jack H. Miller Center for Musical Arts at Hope College, 221 Columbia Ave., Holland, MI, 49423, United States

HSYO Fall Concert
2024-11-17 15:00 - 16:30 (America/New_York) | West Ottawa Harbor Lights Middle School, 1024 136th Ave, Holland, MI, 49424, United States

Home for the Holidays (3:30pm)
2024-12-14 15:30 - 17:00 UTC | Dimnent Chapel, 277 College Ave., Holland, MI, 49423, United States

Home for the Holidays (7:30pm)
2024-12-14 19:30 - 21:00 UTC | Dimnent Chapel, 277 College Ave., Holland, MI, 49423, United States

HSO 2025 Norbert Mueller Memorial Young Artist Competition
2025-01-11 13:00 - 14:00 (America/New_York) | Jack H. Miller Center for Musical Arts at Hope College, 221 Columbia Ave., Holland, MI, 49423, United States

Family Event: Musical Adventures of Ferdinand the Bull
2025-02-08 11:00 - 12:00 (America/New_York) | Herrick North Branch Library Holland, 155 Riley Street, Holland, MI, 49424, United States

FREE Chamber Concert: Celebrating Black History Month
2025-02-09 14:00 - 15:00 (America/New_York) | Saugatuck-Douglas Library, 174 Center Street, Douglas, MI, 49406, United States

Holland Community Strings Symphony of Togetherness: A Friends & Family Night
2025-03-20 18:00 - 19:30 (America/New_York) | Quincy Place Senior Living, 12300 Quincy Street, Holland, MI, 49424, United States

Scottish Influence
2025-03-22 19:30 - 21:00 UTC | Jack H. Miller Center for Musical Arts at Hope College, 221 Columbia Ave., Holland, MI, 49423, United States

Holland Youth Symphony Orchestra Spring Concert 2025
2025-03-23 15:00 - 17:00 (America/New_York) | DeWitt Auditorium, Zeeland East High School, 3333 96th Ave., Zeeland, 49464, United States

Spring for Music: Mozart & Poulenc
2025-04-10 06:30 - 19:30 (America/New_York) | Harderwyk Church, 1627 W Lakewood Blvd, Holland, MI, 49424, United States

Romantic Rachmaninoff
2025-04-26 19:30 - 21:00 UTC | Jack H. Miller Center for Musical Arts at Hope College, 221 Columbia Ave., Holland, MI, 49423, United States

HSO Pop-Up Concert at Tulip Time
2025-05-02 14:00 - 15:30, 2025-05-03 02:00 - 15:30 (America/New_York) | Beechwood Church, 895 Ottawa Beach Rd, Holland, MI, 49424, United States

HSO Brass Quintet in Saugatuck - Free Concert
2025-05-18 14:00 - 15:00 (America/New_York) | Saugatuck-Douglas Library, 174 Center Street, Douglas, MI, 49406, United States

Pops at the Pier 2025: The Music of Judy Garland
2025-06-19 19:00 - 20:30 (America/New_York) | Eldean’s Boat Shed, 2150 S. Shore Drive, Holland, 49423, United States
