Pearl Shangkuan

Pearl Shangkuan appears with Grand Rapids Symphony across multiple seasons as a conductor and chorus director, leading choral-orchestral works including Handel's "Messiah," Mahler's Symphony No. 2, and holiday pops concerts, as well as a program pairing music by Joan Tower and Amy Beach. Listeners will hear her in both large-scale symphonic choral works and smaller, more intimate choral programs.

Shangkuan appears at Grand Rapids Symphony chiefly as a chorus director and conductor of choral repertoire, which means her work often centers on shaping large groups of singers to blend with an orchestra. Listeners can expect her to lead Handel's "Messiah," a work built from arias and choruses that alternate between hushed reflection and full-voiced declaration, and Mahler's Second Symphony, an hour-long piece for orchestra, chorus, and soloists that moves from a funeral march to a hymn-like finale about resurrection. She also directs holiday pops programming and a mixed program pairing Joan Tower's fanfare-like "Made in America" with Amy Beach's "Gaelic" Symphony. In smaller choral programs, expect a cappella and lightly accompanied works by living composers such as Dan Forrest, alongside Bach.