Recorded sounds and voices draw the listener back to September 11^th, 2001 during the performance of John Adams’ powerful “On the Transmigration of Souls,” written in commemoration of the 9/11 Twin Tower tragedy in New York City. The Grand Rapids Symphony presents “On the Transmigration of Souls” as part of its Richard and Helen DeVos Classical Series, March 13 and 14 at 8 p.m. in DeVos Performance Hall. The work features the 47-voice Grand Rapids Symphony Youth Chorus, the 115-voice Grand Rapids Symphony Chorus and members of Calvin College Alumni Choir.

The concert program also features selections from Wagner’s masterpiece, “The Ring,” among the greatest operas ever written.

The Grand Rapids Symphony is among the first orchestras outside of New York to perform “On the Transmigration of Souls.” Commissioned by the New York Philharmonic and premiering in 2002, audience members won’t want to miss this Pulitzer Prize-winning work meditating on the human experience of loss and healing.

Grand Rapids Symphony Principal Oboe Alexander Miller thinks highly of the piece. “Millions of people were affected by the 9/11 attacks, each in a different, intensely personal way,” said Miller. “In writing a piece in memory of the victims, Adams was careful to keep things abstract, in flux, and somewhat meterless, as if a familiar ghost were floating through the performance space and inhabiting the collective thoughts of the audience. From its intimate moments to its massive scale and complicated sound design, this performance in Grand Rapids is just one indicator of how sophisticated artistic life has become here. This musical event should not be missed.”

The work is written as much for the victims as for the survivors left behind. Throughout the piece, the recorded voices of those who lost loved ones are heard reading from the homemade posters around ground zero listing descriptions of the missing. 

Youth Chorus Director Sean Ivory said many of youth chorus members were too young to remember the 9/11, or were shielded from it by their parents. He said after singing the words, they are experiencing the historic event in a profound way. “You can’t sing those words and not be moved by them. The kids get that it’s a moving piece and event.”

John Adams wrote of his work, “Transmigration means ‘the movement from one place to another’ or ‘the transition of one state of being to another.’ I don’t just mean the transition from living to dead, but also the change that takes place within the souls of those who stay behind, of those who suffer pain and loss then themselves come away from that experience.”

            This concert of powerful works continues with selections from Richard Wagner’s, set of four operas collectively known as “The Ring.”­ Wagner, who lived from 1813 to 1883, was a larger than life figure among composers and his works are among the most compelling and descriptive in all of music. In fact, some of his contemporaries thought his works were so good that he bordered on the Divine.  His “Ring of Nibelung,” which includes almost 15 hours of music is the apex of the entire world of opera. It tells the story of a ring which holds the power to rule the world by whoever wears it.  The piece includes several movements which are familiar to audiences, including “Ride of the Valkyries.” 

This particular performance from “The Ring” features an arrangement by a Netherland’s Radio Orchestra percussionist who has taken 16 of the purely orchestral sections of Wagner’s opera, along with some cleverly rewritten sung parts and arranged them into an hour-long orchestral piece that traces highlights of “The Ring.”

Tickets start at $18 and can be purchased by calling Ticketmaster at 1-800/982-2787 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.