By Payton Calati
With the fall semester in full swing atGrand Rapids Community College, there are plenty of opportunities to catch a music performance on campus.
The 2023-2024 performance calendar lists all the performances scheduled through the end of the winter semester. The events are also listed on Raider Connect.
The nearest upcoming event is Flute Night at 7 p.m. on Oct. 5 in GRCC’s Albert P. Smith Music Center. The flute ensemble will be performing many different pieces and potentially some that the director Carmen Maret and her husband have composed.
“The director of the flute ensemble, Carmen Maret, her husband, both she and her husband are composers, so it’s very possible that the audience hears newly composed music for the flute ensemble,” said GRCC’s Music Program Director, Kevin Dobreff.
There will also be a guest performer at flute night.
“(It’s) going to be exciting because there’s a guest artist that’s performing with the flute ensemble, the flute professor at Grand Valley State University, Abigail Walsh,” Dobreff said.
Attending music performances is a good way to support other GRCC students.
“If you’re a student here at GRCC, it’s very possible that you know someone who is performing in a performing ensemble… because we have so many,” Dobreff said.
There’s many different kinds of performances here on campus to watch.
“We have two bands, a jazz ensemble, vocal jazz ensemble, we have three different choirs, an orchestra, a guitar ensemble, plus flute ensemble and percussion ensemble,” Dobreff said. “I mean that’s a lot of different opportunities for people to hear music that they could enjoy.”
Ticket sales also contribute to the music scholarships handed out each year.
“Even though students, GRCC students, and GRPS students can get free admission, those people who do pay like: parents and other family members, all that money goes to our scholarships,” Dobreff said.
All GRCC and Grand Rapids Public Schools students are able to get free admission with their student ID. Family, friends, and other community members must pay for their admission. Adults are $10, seniors and veterans are $5. All tickets are available online.
