PETOSKEY — When the Great Lakes Chamber Orchestra performs on Friday, April 25 at St. Francis Xavier Church in Petoskey, they are hoping the concert provides a moment of connection and joy for the community following the recent ice storm.
Libor Ondras, music director and conductor for the Great Lakes Chamber Orchestra (GLCO), said the pieces for the concert were very deliberately and carefully chosen.
“When we plan our season, we usually plan at least a year ahead, we knew that this concert was going to fall very close to Easter and we wanted to create an opportunity for people to connect with their spiritual well-being,” he said. “So I was looking for a piece that would allow our concertgoers to sort of continue to explore that realm.”
Subscribe: Check out our offers and access the local news that matters to you
Ondras described the first time he heard a certain piece by American composer Morten Lauridsen.
“There was this one work that as a student I once heard on the radio as I was driving, and it was so moving of an experience I actually had to stop the car and finish listening,” he said.
That piece is titled “Lux Aeterna,” which translates to “eternal light” in Latin.
“It’s a 5-movement work with sort of various Latin texts that all contain references to light, light as a universal symbol of hope, of goodness,” Ondras said. “I found that that would be a very fitting work for both our audiences but also for our orchestra because we have this wonderful choir that is part of our organization.”
As the orchestra is unveiling its 25th season, Ondras also selected Mozart’s Symphony No. 25 to perform.
More: State, federal teams to evaluate ice storm damage during Northern Michigan visits
In the days following the ice storm, Ondras realized that the theme of light had become even more meaningful.
“We felt like, ‘OK this is going to be a wonderful opportunity for the community to come together, celebrate that they got through this difficult time,’” he said. “We’ve been made stronger as a community and, in fact, thanks to the hard work of all those people that were restoring the grid, we can have light again. So the idea of spiritual light and actual light and then the light of the community coming together, it felt like we needed to bring people together and give them an opportunity to meditate and connect and sort of revive that joy and spirit in this experience.”
The concert, with no tickets or reservations required, was made possible after GLCO leadership contacted their private and corporate sponsors to discuss if they could help make the event free as a gift to the community.
“We were just overwhelmed with the response. It takes a tremendous amount of time and resources to produce classical concerts,” Ondras said. “It takes a lot of time, a lot of energy, lots of talent, lots of professionals. It takes also financial resources. So for these supporters of our orchestra to come through and say, ‘You know that’s a great idea. We want to give it to our community.’ We felt empowered. We have an impact and we feel so blessed to be supported by the community. It’s the circle of giving and getting those rewards back. And that’s what an artist’s soul feeds on.”
The concert will take place at St. Francis Xavier Church in Petoskey. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and the concert starts at 7 p.m. All are welcome to attend.
— Contact Jillian Fellows at jfellows@petoskeynews.com.
Great Lakes Chamber Orchestra plans light-filled, free concert for community in wake of ice storm – Petoskey News-Review
