PEARL SHANGKUAN TUNING OUR MINDS, EARS, AND HEARTS TO SING GOD’S GRACE: REFLECTIONS OF A CONDUCTOR Pearl Shangkuan is a highly sought-after conductor, lecturer, and clinician. She’s led performances, seminars, and workshops on six continents, and she is a beloved professor and the director of choral activities at Calvin University. She’s conducted multiple performances at […]

Melody Angel is the complete package: gifted guitarist and multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, vocalist, arranger, and producer. Along the way Angel found time to launch a successful theater and film acting career and received international acclaim at the Cannes Film Festival in France. The Chicago Reader newspaper called her “The Future of the Blues.” The Southside Chicago […]

     What Makes Chinese Tech Tick? Kaiser Kuo, host and co-founder of The Sinica Podcast. “Strategic competition” between the US and China can be seen across many sectors, including the race to develop and refine advanced technology like semiconductors and artificial intelligence. How do the US and China differ in their approaches to innovation […]

The Charlie Millard Band is from Michigan’s northern lower peninsula and has developed a unique sound, voice and thought-provoking lyrics/poetry of their own. Always playing lots of festivals and venues, mainly across the Midwest and Canada, percussionist Will Harris, Jercat Millard on guitars, and Charlie on the keys/organ/Rhodes bass, strive to give you a musical […]

   Perspectives on Managing the Challenges and Opportunities in U.S.-China Commercial Relations Kyle Sullivan, Vice President, Business Advisory Services, US China Business Council. Join us for an evening with Kyle Sullivan from the US-China Business Council, as he delves into the dynamics of the US-China trade and commercial relationship. This event will offer valuable insights […]

   Understanding Indonesia with Dan Slater Dr. Dan Slater, James Orin Murfin Professor of Political Science; Director, Center for Emerging Democracies, University of Michigan. Despite its large size, Indonesia remains virtually unknown to most Americans. But as one of the world’s largest democracies, the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation, and as an economic driver of ASEAN, […]

   The U.N. High Seas Treaty and Protecting our Global Commons Hiroko Muraki-Gottlieb, Elizabeth Haub School of Law, Pace University. The high seas, nearly ⅔ of the ocean, belong to all but no one in particular: It is a global common. In June 2023, after more than 20 years of studies and negotiations, nearly 200 […]

   The Middle East After October 7 Jane Ferguson, foreign correspondent for PBS NewsHour and author of No Ordinary Assignment. With the Middle East already at a crossroads, the attack on October 7 by Hamas on Israel upended the region and the world.  Join us for a conversation with Jane Ferguson, foreign correspondent for PBS NewsHour and […]

The Grand Rapids Symphony returns to the Dogwood Center on Thursday, March 7 at 7:30 p.m. for a sure to be incredible performance! Join us and you will experience a world-class orchestra performing for you live at the Dogwood! The evening's performance will be conducted by assistant conductor Duo Shen, and will feature the music […]

Frankie Moreno With 17 Top-Ten albums (5 No. 1’s), 117 Top-Ten singles (100 No. 1’s), an Emmy nomination, and being named Las Vegas “Headliner of the Year” 5 times, Frankie Moreno is consistently breaking records and wowing audiences from coast to coast with his own brand of genre-blurring Rock n’ Roll. Reaching millions of record […]

   Climate Technology and the Roadmap for the Climate Crisis Neela Banerjee, Deputy Senior Supervising Climate Editor, NPR. While climate technology will play a central role in limiting and addressing climate change, we still don’t have a comprehensive global framework that will provide a roadmap to achieving net zero. Geopolitical rivalries, political inertia, and policy […]

"Once upon a time, there was a little ogre named Shrek...." And thus begins the tale of an unlikely hero who finds himself on a life-changing journey alongside a wisecracking Donkey and a feisty princess who resists her rescue. Throw in a short-tempered bad guy, a cookie with an attitude, and over a dozen other […]