Music That Feeds the Soul

GLCO looks back over 25 years and ahead to the future

By Ren Brabenec | Nov. 22, 2025

“This is where it all started,” 89-year-old Dr. Robert Pattengale says as he plays a few keys on the old harpsichord in his living room. “I had originally said, ‘If this thing lasts three years, that’d be a good run.’”

Pattengale co-founded the Petoskey-based Great Lakes Chamber Orchestra (GLCO) 25 years ago, so it’s safe to say his humble living room idea has well surpassed anything he and his fellow musicians could have hoped for.

Great Music 25 Years in the Making

GLCO has changed significantly over the last quarter-century. In 2000, Pattengale envisioned the chamber orchestra as a gathering place for local musicians who could come together to play, just for the love of music.

But the program took off, and living-room jam sessions quickly grew into an official nonprofit orchestra that began performing at major venues across northern Michigan, attracting thousands from around the state, country, and world.

“By 2014 when I came on, GLCO was already well established at the heart of all things northern Michigan, providing rural communities with world-class entertainment, education, and inspiration one typically has to go to bigger cities to find,” says Libor Ondras, GLCO’s music director.

Under Maestro Ondras’ leadership, GLCO has grown its performance season into over 30 programs, expanded its MainStage series, and now features more than 70 musicians and 40 chorus members. In its 24th season, GLCO set a record by featuring over 200 artists, many of whom traveled to northern Michigan to perform with the orchestra.

As GLCO has grown, its reach has expanded. They’ve toured Europe, earned a Telly Award, and were selected to perform at the League of American Orchestras National Conference. Currently, GLCO performs year-round at 11 venues, including the Great Lakes Center for the Arts in Bay Harbor and the John M. Hall Auditorium in Bay View. GLCO also performs on college campuses, in high school auditoriums, and at libraries and churches.

Ondras says attendees can expect classical music, certainly, but the orchestra is so much more than that. At one performance, the theme might be video game scores, at another, a new take on “How the Grinch ‘Saved’ Christmas.” Other performances feature collaborations between GLCO talent and ballet, opera, and other artists.

A Passion for Education

“Performing music is just one thing we’re really passionate about,” says Meg Brodie-Ideker, GLCO executive director.

“First, there’s the Little Waves program,” Brodie-Ideker explains, calling it an opportunity for GLCO musicians to introduce young children to music in an interactive, entertaining setting. Musicians bring their instruments and toy versions, giving children the opportunity to pick them up, play, and learn a thing or two about music basics.

Then there is the Charles F. Davis Young Artist Competition. “Any student can participate,” Brodie-Ideker says. “This program involves young people submitting a five-minute piece of music to a panel of judges. The grand prize winner gets to perform with Libor and the orchestra.”

Next, the Legends & Mysteries program. “With this program, we take the orchestra to an area school,” Brodie-Ideker says. “We do this at no cost to the school, and in addition to putting on a performance for the students, we’ll also give curriculum material to the school’s music teacher to use in their classes.”

“We reach over 2,000 students every year with our Legends and Mysteries program,” Ondras adds. “We have around 500 kids in the audience and the recordings of those performances are then sent to over 20 schools and libraries along with the free curriculum.”

In addition to educational programming, GLCO offers free tickets to any student 18 and younger for any concert (veterans and active military receive the same benefit). GLCO also invites special needs students to concerts and dress rehearsals to ensure they can experience the beauty of chamber music and symphony orchestra.

Using Music to Bring People Together

Looking forward, Ondras and Brodie-Ideker hope GLCO continues to establish itself as a cultural anchor in northern Michigan, one that centers community, education, and the importance of bringing people together over a shared appreciation of music.

“We want to become a part of the ‘needs’ of the community, as opposed to just the ‘wants’,” Ondras says. “Aristotle said it best, that art is a necessity to having a healthy and vibrant society because the arts are what create noble and peaceful ideas.”

Ondras highlighted a recent concert GLCO put on, a “Lux Aeterna” (eternal light) performance that was a gift to the community after the historic ice storm in March 2025 devastated the area, leaving thousands without power for weeks. According to Ondras, 600-700 people packed a local church for the free event. Many were first-time attendees.

But these efforts to provide communities with music and educational programming have not come without challenges. Ondras ends on a somber note by telling us that recent federal funding cuts and grant clawbacks by the Trump Administration couldn’t have come at a worse time, as GLCO has relied on such funding for its outreach into its seven northern Michigan counties.

“Music feeds the soul,” Brodie-Ideker says in closing. “And life is a soundtrack of its own. Our goal is to make GLCO’s music relevant to people. I hope that music will continue to feed souls and be relevant to everyone. Music is a reflection of our communities and a bridge to healing cultures and societies.”

Event Schedule

Upcoming GLCO events include:
Messiah by Candlelight, Dec. 11 and 12, 7-9pm
Family Holiday Pops, Dec. 13, 3-5pm
Violins of Hope: Voices of the Holocaust, April 25, 7-9pm
Carnegie Homecoming, June 12, 7-9pm*
Lights. Camera. Music! July 16, 7-9pm

*Perhaps the organization’s greatest honor yet, GLCO will represent northern Michigan when it performs at Carnegie Hall in New York on June 8, 2026. As outlined above, GLCO will bring that performance back to northern Michigan three days later, to be performed at the John M. Hall Auditorium in Bay View on June 12.