Editor's note: This story is part of Southwest Michigan Second Wave's On the Ground Battle Creek series. 

The Battle Creek Symphony has deftly performed its way through two World Wars, the Spanish Flu epidemic, the Great Depression, and the more recent pandemic.

The Symphony’s ability to ride out moments in history that could have silenced it makes it, at 125 years old, the longest continuously operating orchestra in Michigan and the 18th oldest in the United States,” says Anne Harrigan, who this year begins her 20th season with the BCSO as its Music Director.

“Given the size of Battle Creek, having a symphony orchestra in the same company as nationally-known orchestras like the New York Philharmonic is something to take great pride in,” she says.

The support of the community, Harrigan says, is the biggest single reason for the Symphony’s longevity.
 
Anne Harrigan enters her 20th year as the Battle Creek Symphony Orchestra's Music Director.This community includes visionaries like the late W.K. (Will Keith) Kellogg, whose founding of the Kellogg Co. cemented Battle Creek’s place as the Cereal Capital of the World. In addition to building a cereal empire, he had a deep commitment to bettering the lives of the city’s residents through numerous and untold acts of philanthropy that included the BCSO.
 
“The Symphony took a page from W.K. Kellogg’s playbook to avert the potential havoc that could have surfaced amid wars, epidemics, and pandemics,” says Susan Balbaugh, Executive Director of The Music Center, the parent organization of the BCSO.

“W.K. Kellogg’s marketing philosophy was that when others cut back on marketing, he increased his. I like to think this is what the Symphony did,” Balbaugh says. “That enabled the show to go on and on. During COVID we were not going to let this trophy of ours be displaced.”
 
The BCSO is a program of The Music Center that offers a unique blending of performance and educational opportunities into one musical family, according to its website. The Music Center serves all of Calhoun County, as well as portions of Branch, Eaton, Hillsdale, Jackson, and Kalamazoo counties, and provides all marketing and administrative support to the Symphony and the other programs that fall under its auspices.
 
“The Symphony’s entire 2023-2024 season will be a celebration of its 125th anniversary,” Balbaugh says.
 
Five concerts are planned with the first featuring musical selections designed to transport audiences through the 125-year world history of which the Symphony is a part. Titled “A Musical Time Machine,” Harrigan says the September 30th concert will highlight 20 of the most memorable songs and musical pieces of the last 125 years. Selections include the “Maple Leaf Rag,” an early Ragtime composition by Scott Joplin; favorite Kellogg’s tunes throughout the decades; and music made famous by Elvis Presley, various Motown performers, the Beatles, and Queen.
 
The concert also will feature Indian-American violinist Maya Anjali Buchanan, a top medalist in the Washington, Stulberg, Stradivarius, and Johansen International Competitions.
 
The “Musical Time Machine” will be followed by “The Glory and the Grandeur,” a concert on November 4 that will include favorite selections of the BCSO musicians and Harrigan.
 
“There will be over 100 percussion instruments on the sound stage,” Harrigan says. “All of the pieces are very grand, starting with Aaron Copland’s 'Fanfare for the Common Man' which will be all brass and percussion for the opening. There are pieces you might not know the names of, but they will be absolutely fantastic. It will be an explosion of color and light.”
 
In a nod to the holiday season, the third concert — “Holiday Magic” — on December 9 will include Christmas and Hannukah classics and feature Soprano Christiane Noll, and Cellist Jordan Hamilton. There is also an online contest for kids with one lucky winner who will be selected to conduct the Symphony as they perform “Sleigh Ride.”
 
“Hamilton,” Harrigan says, “is a local up-and-coming cellist who sings, does Hip Hop, and has his own special musical arrangements.”
 
Jordan Hamilton, a Kalamazoo cellist, will be performing during the BCSO's 125th season.He is a cellist with the Last Gasp Collective, an Indie music collective originating in Southwest Michigan, and also is a member of the Southwest Michigan Symphony Orchestra. He earned a Master’s degree in Musical Performance from Western Michigan University.

These first three concerts are the prelude to a crescendo of music and events to take place in February 2024. The BCSO played its first concert on February 16, 1899, under the direction of Conductor John B. Martin who combined a local German orchestra with his music students for the performance. Martin would go on to conduct the all-volunteer orchestra for the next 40 years.
 
On February 8 there will be an invitation-only gathering at the Milton followed on February 10 by a concert dedicated to love and romance in honor of Valentine’s Day. Titled “Be My Valentine,” the concert will feature members of the Grand Rapids Ballet performing selections from Tchaikovsky’s “Sleeping Beauty” ballet and Prokofiev’s “Romeo and Juliet.”
 
The last time Prokofiev's “Romeo and Juliet” was performed in Battle Creek was during the concert when Maestra Anne Harrigan auditioned to become Music Director, 20 years ago.
 
Irish piper Cillian Vallely and Friends will take the stage during Battle Creek Symphony Orchestra's 125th season.The fifth and final concert on April 20, 2024, will be headlined by renowned Irish piper Cillian Vallely and friends. But before he takes the stage, the Greater Midwest Pipe Band will open the show and welcome audience members with Scottish pipes and drums.
 
Harrigan, who developed a friendship with Vallely, says he is a member of the band Lunasa which the Irish Voice newspaper called “the hottest Celtic band on the planet.” In the band, Vallely plays the uilleann pipes known as the bagpipes of Ireland and is also a low whistle player, which is a version of a tin pipe or pennywhistle.

“We will have two types of 'pipes' in the concert, the uilleann pipes and the highland pipes,” Harrigan says of the concert titled “Celtic Crossroads.”  Included in the program will also be a Celtic fiddler, guitarist, singer, and dancer.
 
The guest artists performing at the various concerts will share the spotlight with musicians who come from throughout the United States, drawn by the Symphony’s reputation and the opportunity to be conducted by Harrigan.
 
“They find us,” she says of the musicians. "It’s amazing. Musicians are incredibly passionate people. We have people come from all over the country to play with us.”
 
Five concerts are planned to celebrate Battle Creek Symphony Orchestra's 125th season.The BCSO includes musicians who attended major area universities like Michigan State University and musicians from states like Iowa, Idaho, Minneapolis, Ohio, New York, and South Carolina.
 
“We have created a culture. The musicians often stay with people in Battle Creek when they’re here to perform and they really enjoy it,” Harrigan says. “They know the music made by the Battle Creek Symphony is very special. They can sense the energy and pride in the audience.”
 
Eclectic and Accessible
 
“The upcoming season for the BCSO is eclectic by design,” Harrigan says.
 
Depending on the concert, the number of musicians on stage will be anywhere from 40 to 65 with 65 being the total number of musicians in the orchestra.
 
“The orchestra size does change per concert because of what the music calls for,” Balbaugh says. “There might be two of this instrument and eight of that. Anne has her artistic interpretation and that applies to the number of musicians as well.”
 
Alisa Weilerstein, star cellist, will be performing during the Battle Creek's Symphony Orchestra's 125th season.Harrigan, the Symphony’s ninth conductor, has a reputation for presenting innovative and memorable programs which have included Battle Creek native and Broadway star Doug LaBrecque, a semi-staged production of Mozart’s Magic Flute, star cellist Alisa Weilerstein, and multi-media presentations of an aerialist, film scores, and Peter Boyer’s Grammy Award-nominated Ellis Island. 
 
In November 2021, Harrigan conducted the orchestra in a concert version of the musical “Guys and Dolls” which featured a cast of artists who identified as People of Color.
 
At the time, she said, “This concept had been eight years in the making. When I started talking about this, I looked up ‘Guys and Dolls’ and did a Google search and there was one artist of color in a white cast. I thought about doing it the other way around. What you’ll see in this production are two white artists with the rest of the cast being artists of color. It is a diverse cast."
 
In keeping with her commitment to bring unique experiences to the Symphony’s audiences, in March Harrigan conducted the musicians in a concert that featured some of the best Cirque de Soleil performers in the world. They executed combinations of strength and acrobatics, aerial silks, straps, a flying pole, and lyra all choreographed to — and over — live symphonic music, turning the concert into a three-dimensional entertainment extravaganza.

Time spent with the Cirque performers included a teaching moment for Harrigan.
 
“We started to see how they use their social media as a website,” she says. They shared with her that performing is their life and told her that social media plays a major role in their ability to secure performance opportunities and see the number of people following them. 
 
“What was learned is now being incorporated into the Symphony’s social media and will continue to ramp up,” Harrigan says. “This is part of an overall effort to decrease the hesitancy some people feel about attending a concert and creating an atmosphere of accessibility and inclusion.”

“The symphony was designed for everybody,” Harrigan says. “Mozart and Beethoven were not wealthy by any means. Somewhere along the way, the notion of the symphony became elitist. There was a period of time in the United States in which there was a separation between the ‘haves’ and ‘have nots'. There was an elitist mentality and orchestra music got attached to that. Musicians are some of the poorest people on the planet and they love music. We’re trying to bring things back to the original intention of music.”
 
Along with overviews of each concert on the BCSO’s website, there is information for audience members that answers questions about the length of the concert, when it’s appropriate to clap, and what to wear.
 
The Battle Creek Symphony Orchestra's 125th season will feature five eclectic concerts.“We encourage people to ‘come as you are’ and bring your kids,” Balbaugh says. “We want people to know that the Symphony is open to everybody and it’s not the stuffy event of past days. If you’re happy and you love the music, clap when you want. We are here for everybody, not just the One Percent.”
 
“When people don’t know what to expect, they have pre-conceptions and don’t want to be embarrassed,” Harrigan says.
 
“We are welcoming people at the door. We try to make sure everybody has a good time and feels welcomed,” she says.
 
“That reference to 'everybody' includes a younger audience which is critical to the future of arts and culture organizations like the BCSO,” Harrigan says. “Several studies have been done on what people think will bring in younger audiences and what actually works.”
 
“We’re following national trends. Younger audiences want to know what they’re getting into. They are listening to classical music on platforms like Spotify,” Harrigan says. “When they’re coming to the concert hall they want to know what it is that they’ll be seeing and listening to. We’re looking at where people are getting their information and using more visuals than we have before. We want people to get to know the musicians and the backstory behind the music.
 
“Since COVID, people are increasingly looking for connection because they’re feeling isolated,” Harrigan says.
 
“There’s no better cure than to get out and experience something like the Battle Creek Symphony. Another big trend these days is well-being and listening to music and the importance of music to a person’s health. This includes unplugging from technology and going to a concert for 90 minutes and not being bombarded with social media during that time. These are national trends we’re responding to.”
 
“What I find is that people are most impressed by the quality of music for a city the size of Battle Creek,” Balbaugh says. “When I tell people that our orchestra can hold its own against other professional orchestras, they’re skeptical, but then they hear them perform they realize that they’re not an amateur group, but they’re really a fine group of musicians. Anne has grown the quality and ability of the symphony year over year.”