“Grand Rapids Symphony’s David Lockington’s 16 seasons as music director, the longest tenure in the 85-year history of the orchestra, have come to an end” with Saturday’s performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, writes Jeffrey Kaczmarczyk in Monday’s (5/11) Grand Rapids Press (Michigan). The performance featured “vocal soloists and a chorus of 180 singers of the Grand Rapids Symphony Chorus, plus the Calvin College Capella and a dozen of its alumni…. It ended … with a thunderous standing ovation that lasted six minutes, including solo bows and section-by-section recognition.… He now becomes music director laureate of the orchestra…. Principal cellist Alicia Eppinga applauded Lockington for leading the creation of the Grand Rapids Symphony Youth Choruses and for fostering collaboration with other arts organizations and with the community at large, culminating with ‘LiveArts,’ held in April [and] featuring the Grand Rapids Ballet, Opera Grand Rapids and Broadway Grand Rapids … [the event] featured 1,500 participants and drew an audience of more than 7,100…. Assistant Principal Oboist Alexander Miller commended Lockington for his passion for new music and for music by a diverse range of composers, including Miller’s original works, several of which have been performed by the Grand Rapids Symphony.”
Posted May 13, 2015
