Young elementary students throughout the Hastings school district got a taste of the fine arts on Wednesday thanks to the Grand Rapids Symphony and Grand Rapids Ballet.
Members of both world-class organizations visited the Hastings Performing Arts Center to perform the Grand Rapids Symphony Lollipop Concert, which caters to young children, giving many of them their first experience with a live performance from a symphony.
Instead of wearing formal attire and playing classics from the world's most iconic composers, members of the symphony wore color-coded T-shirts to highlight which group of instruments they belonged to.
Grand Rapids Symphony Assistant Director Duo Shen introduced all the groups of instruments and explained how to tell them apart.
For their performance, the symphony collaborated with dancers from the Grand Rapids Ballet to depict the story of Little Red Riding Hood. A narrator read through the story as ballerinas danced and the symphony provided the soundtrack.
The organizations put on two performances on Wednesday morning so that students from all four elementary schools could attend and enjoy a great performance.