For the first time, the Grand Valley State University Chamber Orchestra will be going to London on April 29 for a weeklong performance tour across England to showcase their hard work and collaboration with faculty members.

“Several of our students have never traveled outside of the country, or even outside of the Midwest before,” said Henry Duitman, orchestra director. “This will be a great experience. London is an international city.”

David Osbon, professor at the London College of Music, invited the Chamber Orchestra to London because he was impressed with the group’s contributions to the webcast “Bodies in Motion” last summer. GVSU also holds a longstanding partnership with Kingston University of London.

“I am looking forward to seeing London and being able to actually perform in London,” said Jenna Leffring, GVSU sophomore violist. “Especially because I am able to perform with such an excellent group of college students and awesome professors.”

Preparation has been a yearlong process for the ensemble, which rehearses every Monday and Wednesday evening, along with some outside extra practices. The group also had a few extra performance opportunities to prepare for the tour, because all of the music for it they have performed before.

“Duitman was smart about learning the program gradually,” said Pablo Mahave-Veglia, a featured soloist on the tour and GVSU assistant professor of music. “The students have had chances to perform the pieces in all different settings.”

Before heading to London, the group will play a free Sendoff Concert on April 28 at 3 p.m. at the Park Street Church in Grand Rapids. And on April 29, as the ensemble departs for Detroit Metropolitan Airport, they will stop at Lowell High School to give a performance.

Once in London, members face a hefty performance schedule. During the weeklong trip, the group will perform at the London College of Music, Kingston University and as a part of the Notting Hill Chamber Music Series at St. John’s Church in Nottingshire.

“The program is all over the place,” Duitman said. “I wanted to get some British composers, one American composer. Pieces that would feature (Pablo).”

The program features pieces by British composers William Boyce and Hubert Parry, along with pieces by a Swedish composer, an American composer and a Chilean composer.

Besides being a performance opportunity for students, the tour also highlights research GVSU faculty has done. Mahave-Veglia specializes in contemporary Latin American composers and the performance practices of older music, such as the Baroque era. One composer that Mahave-Veglia has studied and will be performing is classical era cellist Luigi Boccherini.

“The notation isn’t very specific,” Mahave-Veglia said. “The piece is very repetitious and Boccherini used shorthand symbols to imply improvisation on the performer’s part. Over the years, how this notation was realized has been lost.”

Mahave-Veglia will also be playing a contemporary piece along with the ensemble. Composed by Andrés Alcalde, he studied the piece while writing the dissertation for his doctorate’s degree.

“It’s a ferociously difficult piece for cello,” Mahave-Veglia said. “The ensemble has put at least 20 to 30 hours in for a three minute piece.”

The tour provides students with the chance to perform in an international setting, while showcasing Mahave-Veglia’s research. By performing the program several times, the ensemble will be able to further explore it.

Normally, students only prepare music for a single concert, then move on to a different program.

“I get to do something (students) don’t – play a piece more than once,” Mahave-Veglia said. “It is such a huge part of the performance life. The students will learn the proficiency of performing a piece more than once, taking it to the next level.”

The tour is also a chance to show international audiences what the music department at GVSU has been working on.

“This is a fully student ensemble with an aspect of collaboration with faculty,” Mahave-Veglia said. “We will get to show off to different audiences the work we do (at GVSU).”
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