Kentwood — The powerful sounds of violins, cellos, electric guitars and keyboards rose to fill the East Kentwood High School orchestra room as students played the haunting song, “Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24.”
Minutes later, bows flew, strings strummed and the keyboard plunked a more upbeat tune as they played Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas is You.”
The Anything But Classical Orchestra was rehearsing for their Friday, Dec. 5 performance, when they will play for guests arriving for the Grand Rapids Symphony’s Holiday Pops concert in the lobby of DeVos Performance Hall, 303 Monroe Ave. NW. The group will also play as part of the high school Holiday Collage concert at 3 and 5 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 14 in the East Kentwood Fine Art Center. (For more information, visit ABC Orchestra.)
The gigs are just the current ones in rehearsal for the 32-member ABC Orchestra, which performs at about 20 events and concerts a year. Its repertoire stretches across styles and genres, offering its own eclectic twists on songs.
Students dedicated enough to arrive at school before 7 a.m. for the class that meets before the regular school day tackle iconic rock music, Top 40 hits, bluesy jazz songs and just about anything else — anything but classical, that is.
“ABC has helped me grow as a musician more than any other musical experience has. We mostly play pop and rock, but we have dabbled in every genre,” said junior cellist Annabel Kowalski.
‘Orchestra in itself is really fun, but being able to play for others … is so fun. It is just bringing good vibes to whatever place we go to.’
— junior violinist Emily Fernandez
Director Ryan Wallace brings his background as a hard rock musician to the group — both in terms of intensity of music and how a group brands and markets itself and lands gigs.
“We are kind of like a low-key professional touring group,” Wallace said. “The most time we’ve had between gigs this year is two-and-a-half weeks.”
They’ve recently performed at concerts and competitions such as Fiddle Fest 2025 at Mona Shores High School, at colleges and at other Kentwood schools.
“One of our taglines is ‘a gig-ready orchestra,’” Wallace said. “My big goal is, you should be able to gig before you graduate. There are so many opportunities that don’t require a classical degree that all of them are really ready for.”
Beyond the Classics
With the focus on playing any music that wouldn’t be found in the normal classical classroom, ABC has been an established orchestra at East Kentwood for nearly two decades, originally directed by Eric Hudson. Wallace brings his own style to the group as a rocker whose background includes touring with a band.
“I grew up in the DIY punk scene — if you wanted to do something, you just found the people who were doing it and talked to them,” he said.
Now, a big part of ABC is playing outside the classroom, both as a group and individual student musicians booking their own performances.
“I’m really big on music as a community, and we are trying to create a bigger community of what’s called eclectic styles,” said Wallace, who explained that he tries to help students develop confidence by staying out of the spotlight and letting them run the show.
“I don’t even go on stage when we play,” he said. “I don’t want to run anything. I kind of want to be very much in the background. This group is very student-led.”
The emphasis on performing aligns with the goal of playing all kinds of music, he said. From bluegrass to fiddle jams to all the related careers in the music industry, opportunities are endless. Plus there’s a lot of fun in doing cool arrangements that people find really entertaining.
“We also focus on a lot of the standards that get missed during the regular classical class, such as improvisation, creative musicianship and ensemble playing,” Wallace said.
Stephen Finley, high school orchestra director, shares music students with ABC and directs the middle school ABC program.
He said ABC appeals to teen culture and students from different backgrounds.
“The kids still learn the classics and the standard orchestra rep, but it might not necessarily be on their playlist. We like to give them the skills they need so they can do whatever they want.”
Finley said ABC connects with other students during their visits and shows.
“Even principals at other schools will say ‘I know that song!’ They will start getting excited about it.”
Junior violinist Caleb Borders said ABC has helped him discover new tastes of his own.
“You learn all these styles in all these genres — rock to pop to R&B,” Caleb said. “We enable ourselves to get to know all these songs. It’s great, because ever since I joined ABC I got to know some of these songs and I was like, ‘I want to listen to this on my own time.’ It just became a part of my life, listening to many different genres.”
Versatile Performers
Senior Maggie Geurink already gigs as a backup violist for a string quartet called Fellowship of the Strings. She said ABC has helped prepare her to play with them.
“It’s really helped me with developing my leadership skills and being more independent, but also playing these different styles of music has really helped me to understand how music is set up,” she said. “There are very different styles of music that are played very differently, so when you are just in classical music you learn one style and you don’t really know about any other types of music.”
Many students are doing their own arranging as well. Maggie has arranged renditions of “All I Wanted” by Paramour, and “Hot to Go” by Chappell Roan. Caleb arranged “Baby,” by Justin Bieber, which he said he arranged as a stand tune for a powderpuff game and got a great response. The orchestra has kept playing it.
“After that, I was like, ‘This would be a really good and engaging song for the audience. It’s a household song, and you don’t have to know the lyrics.’”
Junior violinist Emily Fernandez manages social media for ABC Orchestra, posting on Instagram — a must for building a following.
“Orchestra in itself is really fun, but being able to play for others … is so fun,” she said. “It is just bringing good vibes to whatever place we go to.
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