The Good Pennyworths Entertain

From Good Pennyworths

It was a fun evening with the self proclaimed Elizabethan pop stars of The Good Pennyworths. The MAJIC series was the forth stop on the group's midwest tour. We are so honored to have them as our first summer feature group and have their music provide the inspiration for our first off season fundraiser to help support future MAJIC concerts!

Thanks to all who attended and hosted the group!

Steve Talaga Jams Out the Third Season!

From Steve Talaga

Our final concert of the season featured the premier of Steve Talaga's Heartside Sketches, a concert length work commissioned by the MAJIC Concert Series that was inspired by the Heartside Neighborhood in downtown Grand Rapids.

The band was a fantastic line up of Grand Rapids musicians:
Steve Talaga (piano)
Tom Lockwood (flute, bass)
Rob Smith (trumpet, saxophone, bass)
Mike Dodge (electric guitar)
Randy Marsh (drums)
Carmen Maret (flute)
Andrew Bergeron (classical guitar)
Members of Catholic Central High School’s Capella Choir

Art works by Dominican Artist Erick Pichardo!

From Loom

Thanks to everyone who supported this season! In the last three years MAJIC contributed a total of $16,048 to the Grand Rapids Coalition to End Homelessness - including the $6,297 which came from the just concluded season.

Matt Ulery's Loom

From Loom

From Loom

From Loom

From Loom

We hosted a fantastic concert in March with a jazz ensemble group from Chicago called Loom, lead by bassist Matt Ulery. The concert featured all of Ulery's original compositions that were written especially for the group. I was pleasantly surprised at the open mindedness of the audience for new music, and many of the regular attendees commented that this was their favorite concert of the year so far!

The art showing was also a beautiful match with the colorful abstract oil painting of Eric Picardo, a Grand Rapids based artist originally from the Dominican Republic.

Thanks to BLC for the lovely reception and to Kirby Hanson for the photos.

A Beautiful Program by Paul Vondiziano

From Paul Vondiziano

The February MAJIC concert was presented by classical guitarist Paul Vondiziano, a native of Greece who now lives, composes and performs in West Michigan and abroad. His program was a wonderful mix of guitar standards and new compositions including some of his own. To check out more of Paul's music visit his website: http://paulvondiziano.com/

An Dro Elevates MAJIC to a New Level

We had one of the most successful concerts of the season this month with the locally based folk band An Dro. The concert drew nearly 150 people and raised $1500.00 in donations for the Grand Rapids Coalition to End Homelessness.

Thanks to the band for a great show and to Kirby Hansen for building the slide show of his own photos accompanied by the band's music.

Thanks also to Eric Nykamp for the beautiful painting that will be up at Bethlehem Lutheran Church through the next month!

From MAJIC 2009 - 2010

Grand Rapids Women's Chorus Sings From the Heart

From MAJIC 2009 - 2010

The Grand Rapids Women's Chorus is an accomplished group of over forty women who presented a culturally rich and well performed program for this December's MAJIC concert. Sung entirely from memory, their program included music from around the world and pieces from many genres including a breathtaking version of Leonard Coehn's Hallelujah.

Thanks again to Kirby Hanson for the photos here!

Heating it Up With Los Gatos

From MAJIC 09 Los Gatos

We had a fantastic concert last Friday with the Ann Arbor based Latin jazz quintet Los Gatos: good attendance, great company with our co-sponsors Dominican Sisters of Grand Rapids and Aquinas College, and we ended up raising just over $1600 for the Coalition to End Homelessness, nearly triple our average concert amount!

Thanks to everyone who helped make this a special concert!

The Dominican Sisters of Grand Rapids also have an art showing up through December that was a special part of the evening!

From MAJIC 09 Los Gatos

Thanks to Kirby Hanson for the photos.
And, below is Los Gatos accepting the Anacaona award presented to them at the concert by Eric Pichardo from the Caribbean Arts and Culture Association for their commitment to the arts and to helping people in the community.

From MAJIC 09 Los Gatos