Enjoy New Sights, New Sounds And Unexpected Surprises At The Grand Rapids Symphony's Holiday Pops, CIRQUE DU NOEL

December is the time of year for decorating, baking, shopping and spending time with friends and family. It's also one of the best times of the year for music. Celebrate the holidays with timeless music and much more with your Grand Rapids Pops making the season bright with the sublime sounds of Christmas.

The Grand Rapids Symphony once again presents the Wolverine Worldwide Holiday Pops on Dec. 5-8 followed by the Old National Bank Cirque de Noël on Dec. 18-19, both in DeVos Performance Hall.

Principal Pops conductor Bob Bernhardt will lead the orchestra in such timeless melodies Handel's "Hallelujah Chorus" from The Messiah and such modern classics as music from film Home Alone and The Polar Express in this year's Wolverine Worldwide Holiday Pops.

New for this year's Holiday Pops will be a guest student conductor, chosen at random at each afternoon and evening concert, who will have the opportunity to conduct the Grand Rapids Symphony in Leroy Anderson's "Sleigh Ride."

Associate Conductor John Varineau welcomes the return of Cirque de la Symphonie with the wonder of cirque and the delight of classical and Christmas favorites for the 10th annual Old National Bank Cirque de Noël .

The cast will include internationally acclaimed aerial artist Christine Van Loo, a Grand Rapids native.

For both shows in DeVos Performance Hall as well as for Grand Rapids Ballet's performances of The Nutcracker in December, guests will be greeted by a magical "Land of Sweets," an elaborate display of pastry and sugar art created by culinary students at Grand Rapids Community College.

Students at GRCC's Secchia Institute for Culinary Education will deck the halls with a sugary wonderland filled with ballerinas in stained-glass sugar, bells made from blown sugar and much more for the display opening Dec. 5 and continuing through Dec. 22.

This year's Wolverine Worldwide Holiday Pops, featuring six shows on the first weekend of December, include a brand-new Holiday Pops morning matinee at 10 a.m. on Friday, Dec. 6 as part of the Fox Motors Pops series. Enjoy free hot chocolate, holiday photo ops, and musical entertainment by area high school musical ensembles in the lobby.

Capathia Jones, star of stage and screen, joins the Grand Rapids Pops to sing such songs as "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town' for Grand Rapids' favorite holiday tradition. Guest Artist Sponsor is Jim Jurries.

Joining the Symphony in favorites traditions as a Christmas Carol Sing-along are the joyful voices of the Grand Rapids Symphony Chorus and the Grand Rapids Symphony Youth Chorus.

The adult Grand Rapids Symphony Chorus, led by director Pearl Shangkuan, will sing traditional and modern songs for the season. The Grand Rapids Symphony Youth Chorus, co-directed by Sean and Leah Ivory, will sing a traditional Irish song, The Darkest Midnight in December, arranged by Sean Ivory; and an original song titled Sewa! (Joy!) by Leah Ivory.

Evening performances of the Holiday Pops sponsored by Wolverine World Wide will be held in DeVos Performance Hall at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 5 and at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Dec. 6-7. Afternoon matinees are at 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 7-8.

The morning matinee at 10 a.m. Friday, Dec. 5 will be a one-hour concert, held without intermission, featuring the Capathia Jenkins and the Grand Rapids Symphony. The Symphony Chorus and Youth Chorus will not participate.

Here's the list of pre-concert entertainment in the lobby at the Wolverine World Wide Holiday Pops:

Thursday, Dec. 5 at 7:00 pm - GRPS Teachers Choir Staff Notes
Friday, Dec. 6 at 10:00 am - GR City Chorale/ Jeweltones Vocal Jazz
Friday, Dec. 6 at 7:30 pm - Storm Saxophone Quartet - Rockford High School
Saturday, Dec. 7 at 2:00 pm - City High Middle School Zero Hour Orchestra
Saturday, Dec. 7 at 7:30 pm - Jenison Junior High School 'Encore Strings'
Sunday, Dec. 8 at 2:00 pm - Forrest Hills Eastern Holiday Strings

Since 2009, Cirque de la Symphonie has spent part of each Christmas season in Grand Rapids. This year, for its 11th appearance in DeVos Performance Hall and its 10th annual Old National Bank Cirque de Noël with the Grand Rapids Symphony, Cirque de la Symphonie will once again bring the wonder of cirque and the delight of live holiday music to DeVos Performance Hall. Shows in the Gerber SymphonicBoom series are at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday and Thursday, Dec. 18-19.

The company of acrobats, jugglers, contortionists and aerial artists will make merry with amazing feats of agility and strength, accompanied by beloved Christmas songs classical favorites.

Associate Conductor John Varineau leads the orchestra in familiar melodies such as Leroy Anderson's A Christmas Festival, Duke Ellington's "Peanut Brittle Brigade" from The Nutcracker Suite, and Little Bolero Boy, which merges Ravel's Bolero and Little Drummer Boy into one piece for the show sponsored by Old National Bank.

Back in DeVos Hall with Cirque de la Symphonie for the first time since 2014 is aerialist Christine Van Loo, a native of Grand Rapids. The seven-time National Champion acrobatic gymnast, named Athlete of the Decade for the 1980s by the U.S. Sports Acrobatics Federation, has performed throughout the world from Sydney Opera House to Madison Square Garden, sharing stages with Paul McCartney, Aerosmith, Josh Groban, Aaron Neville and Earth, Wind and Fire.

Van Loo will perform a solo aerial silk routine to Debussy's Clair de Lune and an aerial duet with Benjamin Lerman to Tchaikovsky's "Waltz of the Flowers" from The Nutcracker.

Tickets for Wolverine Worldwide Holiday Pops start at $18 adults, $5 students for select concerts. Tickets for the Friday morning matinee on Dec. 6 are $20 for all seats, $5 for students and children.

Tickets for the Old National Bank Cirque de Noël start at $18 adults.

Tickets are available by calling the GRS ticket office at (616) 454-9451 ext. 4. Phone orders will be charged a $3 per ticket handling fee ($18 maximum per order). There are no fees for tickets purchased in person at the GRS ticket office at 300 Ottawa Ave. NW, Suite 100, (located across the street from Calder Plaza). Ticket office hours are 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Tickets are available at the DeVos Place box office, weekdays 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. or on the day of the concert beginning two hours prior to the performance. Tickets may be purchased online at GRSymphony.org.

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