The Grand Rapids Symphony Youth Chorus, consisting of gifted 9th through 12th graders from across West Michigan rehearses weekly and trains at a professional level under the direction of Sean Ivory. They are the only group of young people in West Michigan who have the opportunity to perform on stage with a professional orchestra.

 “Each student in this group is passionate about music,” Ivory says. “Rehearsals are very intense from beginning to end and they’re expected to learn the music outside of rehearsal. The basis of all good singing is good training and being able to use the breath effectively to produce a sound, which will carry in a large hall like DeVos Performance Hall. So we spend maybe ten minutes at the beginning of rehearsal on centering the breath and technique. They love the sound that they make when they are at their best.”

Youth Chorus member Ben Boone of Grand Rapids says he “absolutely loves” singing in the group. “It’s pushed me to a higher level and helped me to add more expression and life to my singing,” Boone says. He adds that performing the “Berlin Mass,” is a powerful experience. “The work is both delicate and chilling at times and has a way of really getting into me. I’m very excited about performing this piece that might normally be sung by a professional chorus.”

Listening to Youth Chorus members perform Estonian composer Arvo Pärt’s “Berlin Mass,” audience members will be struck by its deeply meditative sound. Similar to a Gregorian chant, the Chorus member’s voices are like shafts of light beaming from Heaven. Pärt studied the music of the early church, which led to a new style that he called “tintinnabulation,” derived from the Latin word for “bells.” He wrote: “I have discovered that it is enough when a single note is beautifully played. This one note, or a silent beat, or a moment of silence, comfort me. I work with very few elements–with one voice, with two voices. I build with the most primitive materials–with the triad, with one specific tonality. The three notes of a triad are like bells, and that is why I called it ‘tintinnabulation.”’

            Pärt originally wrote his “Berlin Mass” in 1990 for a mass celebrating Pentecost. He composed it for four vocalists accompanied by an organ, but later revised it for a choir and an orchestra of strings. The revised work was inspired by the re-unification of Berlin. A gifted composer, Pärt impressed even his classmates with his ability to create his own style; one schoolmate wrote: “He just seemed to shake his sleeve and the notes would fall out.”

            With its splendor, the human voice also takes on a touch of the divine during Mahler’s Symphony No. 4. The orchestra’s performance of this work is part of a commitment to play, each season, one piece by Mahler, one of Music Director David Lockington’s favorite composers. “I chose this particular work by Mahler for this program because, like the Pärt, it’s thoughtful and strikingly beautiful,” Lockington says. He added that the soloist sings only in the final movement of the work. “The soprano part has a sound that evokes the feeling of a child’s view of Heaven.”

Soprano Joanna Kozlowska joins the orchestra for the work. Hailing from Poland, she’s performed with major orchestras throughout Europe and the United States and won numerous awards. This concert marks her debut with the Grand Rapids Symphony.

Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 is easy to listen to, without need of explanation. It represents a microcosm of all of his characteristic music inspired by his love of nature, grotesque humor, scintillating composition and his constant search for life’s meaning amid its twists and turns.

            Born in 1892 in Bohemia (now part of the Czech Republic) to Jewish parents, Mahler lived most of his life in Vienna where he conducted the Vienna State Opera, as well as New York’s Metropolitan Opera. During his life, Mahler was mainly known for his conducting rather than his compositions, but conductors such as Leonard Bernstein and Bruno Walter realized his genius and brought Mahler’s work to international prominence.  

Tickets start at $18 and can be purchased by calling Ticketmaster at 616/456-3333, online at ticketmaster.com or in person at the Symphony office, open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, at 300 Ottawa NW, Suite 100. 

 “Upbeat,” a free pre-concert conversation sponsored by BDO Seidman, LLP, is at 7 p.m. in the DeVos Place Recital Hall.