The West Michigan Symphony Orchestra (formerly the West Shore Symphony Orchestra, and usually shortened to the West Michigan Symphony) is a 62-member symphony orchestra

Orchestra

An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...

 based at the Frauenthal Center for the Performing Arts

Frauenthal Center for the Performing Arts

The Frauenthal Center for Performing Arts is located in downtown Muskegon in the U.S. state of Michigan.It houses the historic Frauenthal Theater, the Beardsley Theater, Clark-Cannon Gallery, several meeting rooms, and two rehearsal halls....

 in Muskegon, Michigan

Muskegon, Michigan

Muskegon is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 38,401. The city is the county seat of Muskegon County...

. The current Music Director/Conductor

Conducting

Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...

 is Scott Speck. The Orchestra regularly perform concerts, with special guests, and playing a variety of music.

History

The West Shore Symphony was formed in 1938 by A.M. Courtright, a local teacher, and Palmer Quackenbush. It gave its first performance in November of that year, and incorporated the following year. The orchestra performed in local schools until the Frauenthal Center reopened in the late 1970s. The orchestra currently performs eight concerts per season: five classical and three pops. Among notable soloists who have performed with the orchestra are Jessye Norman

Jessye Norman

Jessye Norman is an American opera singer. Norman is a well-known contemporary opera singer and recitalist, and is one of the highest paid performers in classical music...

, Joshua Bell

Joshua Bell

Joshua David Bell is an American Grammy Award-winning violinist.-Childhood:Bell was born in Bloomington, Indiana, United States, the son of a psychologist and a therapist. Bell's father is the late Alan P...

, Percy Grainger

Percy Grainger

George Percy Aldridge Grainger , known as Percy Grainger, was an Australian-born composer, arranger and pianist. In the course of a long and innovative career he played a prominent role in the revival of interest in British folk music in the early years of the 20th century. He also made many...

, Anna Maria Alberghetti

Anna Maria Alberghetti

Anna Maria Alberghetti is an Italian-born operatic singer and actress.Born in Pesaro, Marche, she starred on Broadway and won a Tony Award in 1962 as Best Actress for Carnival! .Alberghetti was a child prodigy. Her father was an opera singer and concert master of the Rome Opera Company...

, Yuri Rozum

Yuri Rozum

Yuri Rozum is a Russian-born concert pianist and philanthropist.Rozum was born to famous musical parents. His father was baritone Alexander Rozum and his mother was Galina Rozhdestvenskaya, conductor of the Russian Academic Folk Choir...

 performed the Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor, Op. 30

Piano Concerto No. 3 (Rachmaninoff)

The Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor, Op. 30, composed in 1909 by Sergei Rachmaninoff is famous for its technical and musical demands on the performer...

 by Sergei Rachmaninoff

Sergei Rachmaninoff

Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninoff was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor. Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, one of the last great representatives of Romanticism in Russian classical music...

 with the orchestra on May 5, 2007.

Music Director/Conductor Scott Speck has held the position since 2002

Education

The West Shore Symphony Orchestra sponsors the West Shore Youth Symphony, an orchestra for students around West Michigan. The WSYS is currently conducted by Dan Meyers, Professor of Music at West Shore Community College

West Shore Community College

West Shore Community College in Scottville, MI, offers curricula to meet the needs of students interested in occupational program, and also for students wishing to transfer to a senior institution.-Leadership:...