RSS 2.0 FeedLuscious sounds of the Lyric Arts Trio
Tue, Aug 31, 2010
The Lyric Arts Trio showcased very good taste; their program, including a world premiere by Jean Belmont Ford, was enjoyable from start to finish for both the performers and audience.
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Classical Archive
JCCC announces fall Ruel Joyce Recital Series
Tue, Aug 24, 2010
The Ruel Joyce Recital Series at Johnson County Community College marks its 22nd year with another line-up of Kansas City’s finest classical musicians. The recitals, which are free and open to the public, are scheduled at noon Monday for nine weeks, Sept. 13–Nov. 8, in the Recital Hall of the Carlsen Center, JCCC.
Music and Dance through September 15
Tue, Aug 24, 2010
September! It’s the end of summer vacations, back to school time, and the beginning of a new classical music season for many of Kansas City’s classical music ensembles. In the first couple of weeks of September you will have the pick of several favorites. The Kansas City Symphony kicks off with a Labor Day weekend pops concert, the Carlsen Center features the always charming Takacs String Quartet, and the Symphony’s music director Michael Stern makes his first appearance of the season, but not at the helm of the Kansas City Symphony, but rather leading the forces of the Conservatory Orchestra of the UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance. Speaking of dance, the young Ailey II ensemble of the Kansas City Friends of Alvin Ailey opens their season this month at the Folly Theater. And if contemporary music is your thing, the new music ensemble newEar opens its concert season with the music of Takemitsu and others. Sit back and enjoy!
Top Ten of KC's 2009–10 season
Mon, Aug 23, 2010
Who says top ten lists need to be created at the end of year? Here is a list of KCM contributor Lee Hartman's personal favorite performances in Kansas City from last season broken into two categories: Local and Visiting.
UMKC Conservatory renames presenting series and establishes partnership with Friends of Chamber Music
Fri, Aug 20, 2010
The Conservatory of Music and Dance is pleased to announce that it has renamed its popular Signature Series to underline its new collaborative nature. Conservatory Artist Series (formerly known as Signature Series) will present six concerts in the 2010–11 season, three of which are part of our new series partnership with The Friends of Chamber Music called the Music Alliance.
Creating Kansas City’s Concert Organ
Tue, Aug 03, 2010
Kansas City’s Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts will open in the autumn of 2011: nearly two decades since the first serious discussions for a new performing arts center and a superlative quality concert organ for Kansas City took place. David Peironnet recently interviewed John Obetz about his design for the Kauffman Center's new organ.
Music and Dance Fall Preview
Mon, Aug 02, 2010
August may be a slow month for classical music performances in Kansas City, but the good news is that many of our local classical music and dance performing organizations are gearing up to begin their seasons in earnest in September.
Shape Note Singing: Honoring the early American hymn
Tue, Jun 29, 2010
From the moment the pilgrims stepped off of the Mayflower, a capella congregational singing became an important symbol of religious freedom in America. It was clear that sacred music was no longer going to be the domain of the professional Kapellmeister, but a function of the people.
A finale full of sound and fury
Tue, Jun 15, 2010
Two 20th century works and a favorite Romantic piano concerto capped off the Kansas City Symphony’s concert season last weekend. The overwhelmingly jovial program of all-Russian music celebrating man’s pure spirit, happiness and freedom was certainly a crowd-pleaser and left me feeling excited for next season with the Symphony.
KCM VID: Gamelan Genta Kasturi
Tue, Jun 15, 2010
Gamelan is the orchestral musical tradition of Indonesia and involves a large group of metallophones, gongs and drums that perform alone or with dance. Gamelan Genta Kasturi is an eighteen-member community ensemble that operates in partnership with the UMKC Conservatory's Community Music & Dance Academy.
Dual choruses take the stage with American music
Tue, Jun 15, 2010
Last Saturday night at the Folly Theater saw an enthusiastic and supportive crowd for the Heartland Men's Chorus’s joint effort with the Portland Gay Men's Chorus. These ensembles presented a wide offering of American music sourced from patriotic and traditional tunes to African- Mexican- and Native-American folk music.
Courageous programming for Musica Vocale
Tue, Jun 15, 2010
Musica Vocale’s final local concert of the season showcased Aaron Copland’s Four Motets and Arthur Honegger’s King David. This was challenging music, not only for the musicians, but for the audience as well. Those expecting to hear sounds similar to Appalachian Spring and Pacific 231 were probably disappointed, but the Motets and King David were worth the listen.
Splendid music in the grass
Tue, Jun 15, 2010
The fifth annual Symphony in the Flints Hills went on as scheduled this past Saturday, June 12, despite the threat of storms throughout the day and the buckets of rain that fell everywhere but on Ed Bass’s flint hills ranch, Bluestem Cattle Company, in Bazaar, Kansas. Over 6000 people descended on the prairie, traveling unimproved gravel and dirt roads to reach the South Clements Pasture and get in touch with nature—complete with porta-potties.
Mozart’s death mass brought to life
Mon, Jun 14, 2010
The Kansas City Chamber Orchestra closed their concert season last Friday with an ambitious program featuring Mozart’s legendary "Requiem in D minor." A work shrouded in mystery and intrigue, this was the star of the concert under the direction of Bruce Sorrell, the Kansas City Chamber Orchestra and a combined chorus comprised of members from the Village Presbyterian and St. Paul’s Episcopal Churches, and Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral.
VID: "What do you think I fought for at Omaha Beach?"
Wed, Jun 02, 2010
A VID rehearsal performance of Melissa Dunphy's winning work for the Simon Carrngton Chamber Singers. The work was premiered last weekend in Kansas City and Lawrence.
Kansas City's new voice
Tue, Jun 01, 2010
This past Saturday, the Simon Carrington Chamber Singers (SCCS) presented two concerts of "Go, Song of Mine," a program full of high-quality music that focused on British composers. The assembled choir, consisting of singers from around the country - most with Kansas City roots - displayed near-flawless execution and seamless blending. Carrington is an excellent leader whose gestures were an effective blend of clear patterns and shaping that were never self-indulgent or extravagant and always in good taste.
Russian favorites end KCS season in style
Mon, May 31, 2010
The Kansas City Symphony ends their season with one of the monumental works of the symphonic repertoire, the Prokofiev Symphony No. 5 and one of the most popular piano concertos ever written, the Tchaikovsky "Piano Concerto No. 1." To round out the program, the orchestra plays another Russian work, the rarely heard "Overture to Colas Breugnon" by Dmitri Kabalevsky.
Repetition rules the Symphony
Wed, May 26, 2010
In the penultimate concert of the 2009-10 season, the Kansas City Symphony offered up repetition. Thankfully repetition did not equal boring. Under Michael Stern's baton, Debussy's simple descending-ascending oft-repeated solo flute passage, Higdon's arch-form and textural reiterations, Hindemith's passacaglia, and Ravel's incessant ostinato and melody showcased how four different composer approached the valuable technique of musical repetition.
KC Civic Opera Celebrates 25 Years
Tue, May 25, 2010
Kansas City Civic opera celebrated its 25th anniversary in style last weekend: "I Pagliacci" was a staged concert version with only a platform as the set, no costumes and minimal staging. The chorus and small orchestra conducted by Jeremy Mims were located on the stage. Directed by Rick Truman, this pared down production really allowed the audience to focus on the intensity of Leoncavallo's score.
PROFILE: Melissa Dunphy, composer
Mon, May 24, 2010
This Saturday's Simon Carrington Chamber Singers dual concerts will feature the world premiere of their first composition competition's winning work, Melissa Dunphy's "What do you think I fought for at Omaha Beach?" Melissa took some time recently to answer a few questions about the piece, her compositional process, and her reaction to winning the SCCS competition.
Beginnings and endings for the KC Symphony
Tue, May 18, 2010
Friday night was an emotional evening for the Kansas City Symphony. This weekend marked the final Classical Series performance for ten-year veteran concertmistress Kanako Ito and the official Classical Series debut performance for Associate Conductor Steven Jarvi.
Unsteady rhythm
Tue, May 18, 2010
Jean Belmont Ford's two works were the most successful of the evening for the KC Chorale. The 'Magnificat' from "Electa" was the set-piece of the concert and rightfully so. More Salome-esque, Delilah-ish than Mary-like, the exotic rhythms played on bass drum and timpano were highlighted by a seductive, sultry solo sung by Rebecca Lloyd. Progressing from the exotic, through more traditional choral writing, and finally ending with vocal effects, the piece was a stunning sonic journey.
PROFILE: Kansas City Symphony Chorus
Tue, May 18, 2010
In Part III of my profile interviews of Jennifer Higdon's "The Singing Rooms," I interviewed two members of the Kansas City Symphony Chorus, Tanya Dixon and Teresa McCalley - and they both offered fascinating insights into what performers are thinking as they rehearse music
PROFILE: Jeanne Minahan
Tue, May 18, 2010
Part II of Jennifer Higdon's "The Singing Rooms." Composers are inspired by others. Higdon's work was written around poet Jeanne Minahan's work of the same name.
Clarinetists celebrate virtuosity
Tue, May 18, 2010
The Kansas City Wind Symphony's split program of profane and sacred-esque selections last week provided for an enjoyable evening featuring many warhorses of the wind band repertoire. They have some fine players especially in the horns and clarinets with technique to spare. Phillip Posey has crafted a fine ensemble that is capable of making some great music.
PROFILE: Jennifer Higdon
Tue, May 11, 2010
Composer and recent Pulitzer Prize awardee Jennifer Higdon talks with David Peironnet about her work "The Singing Rooms" which will be performed by the KC Symphony and Chorus over the May 21-23 weekend.
Resurrecting Clérambault
Tue, May 11, 2010
Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic Church may just be one of the best venues to hear Baroque music in Kansas City. Hearing the Kansas City Collegium Vocale directed by Ryan Board and the Kansas City Baroque Consortium directed by Trilla-Ray Carter in the beautiful and resonant space for the first time, I was struck by the fact that one doesn't need to go to the Boston Early Music Festival to hear rich and rewarding programming.
KC Symphony Concertmistress resigns after ten seasons
Tue, May 04, 2010
The Kansas City Symphony announced this week that Concertmistress Kanako Ito will resign from her position effective August 31, 2010. Ito has served in her role with the Kansas City Symphony for ten seasons.
Flawless endings
Tue, May 04, 2010
The Brentano String Quartet was flawless. Now - flawless can be a dangerous and misleading word. In the strictest sense, nothing is ever really flawless. And even after a "flawless" concert if you talk to the performers and ask for a self-critique, there will always (trust me...always) be things they felt weren't quite perfect.
Another cohesive collaboration for newEar
Tue, May 04, 2010
newEar Contemporary Chamber Ensemble ended their season of guest curators with "Regenerations" last Saturday night. Composer James Mobberley, a professor at UMKC's Conservatory, programmed this concert with "compositional lineage" in mind. In addition to one of his own, Mobberley selected works by his teachers and their influences as a look back, and a work by a former student as a look towards the future. The music heard was clearly reflective of connections between teacher and student.
Premiere performance by KCCO
Sun, May 02, 2010
With a program of modern classics for chamber orchestra and a world premiere, the Kansas City Chamber Orchestra performed in the sanctuary of the Old Mission United Methodist Church last Thursday. During the pre-concert talk, director Bruce Sorrell enthusiastically described the program as "lovely....not Baroque and not Classical" and gave the audience some personal insight into the evening's performance.
Italian favorites with the VBO
Tue, Apr 27, 2010
Both jovial and regal in its sound, the Venice Baroque Orchestra clearly takes pure pleasure in what it does and has a deep respect for Baroque music. They play with vigor and exuberance, sometimes to their detriment, yet there is no question that this is an exceedingly talented group of musicians.
Finale concert a rousing success
Tue, Apr 27, 2010
With a record four year winning streak at the North American Brass Band Association Championship under their belts, I anticipated great things from the Fountain City Brass Band at their finale performance of the season last weekend. Intense musicality and determined devotion have made this homegrown ensemble an international tour de force, placing in both national and international competitions, including the Scottish Open and English Open.
KcEMA: Quadrivium Novum
Wed, Apr 21, 2010
Quadrivium is a non-traditional quartet of top notch talent. Rebecca Ashe, flute, Cheryl Melfi, clarinet, Mark Stuaffer, cello and Kari Johnson on piano, mix it up with energy and attention to minute detail. Together just over a year, the ensemble plays everything "from Beethoven to Weber" but love collaborating with living composers.
An evening of musical mystery
Tue, Apr 20, 2010
Last week Venue Visitation presented the Choir of New College Oxford - a choir of thirty-two men and boys that produced an astonishingly clear mixed harmony sound only possible with a row full of young trebles. Known for their interpretations of Renaissance and Baroque music, the Choir was founded in the 14th century to provide the liturgy for the Oxford chapel.
Good medicine with the Kronos Quartet
Tue, Apr 20, 2010
After interviewing first violinist David Harrington of the Kronos Quartet the week before, I went to the concert at the Lied Center on April 13 knowing full-well that I was in for an enjoyable evening. The performance did not immediately grab me however. It was not until after the concert was over that I realized the genius of their programming.
Heroic finale for the KC Civic Orchestra
Tue, Apr 20, 2010
The volunteer Kansas City Civic Orchestra showcased some rare musicality all too often absent from amateur ensembles. Under the musical direction of Christopher Kelts, the orchestra presented an enjoyable evening of works by Bruch and Beethoven.
"Don Giovanni."
Tue, Apr 20, 2010
PREVIEW: As their final performance of the season, the Lyric Opera of Kansas City tackles one of opera's most imposing - but most rewarding pieces - Mozart's "Don Giovanni."
A little bit of heaven
Mon, Apr 12, 2010
It is rare when each piece on a Kansas City Symphony program perfectly complements the others and is individually compelling, and this weekend's program achieved just that with rousing success. Each work contained impressions of idyllic reflection and wistful imagery, and the Symphony along with guest soprano Heidi Grant Murphy performed at an impressively high level which further enhanced this divine and inspiring selection of music.
From art song to opera
Mon, Apr 12, 2010
It's been a long time since I've heard two great artists share a recital stage - but Saturday night the Harriman-Jewell Series brought three of Canada's finest musicians together. Tenor Michael Schade, baritone Russell Braun and his wife, pianist Carolyn Maule presented a program full of poetry, prayer and pent-up passion.
PREVIEW: KCS to perform Mahler's Monumental 4th Symphony
Tue, Apr 06, 2010
This weekend's Kansas City Symphony concerts might be said to be all about love. One piece is about love for a countryman, another about love for one's country and the about the love of a child.
Kronos defines the modern quartet
Mon, Apr 05, 2010
For more than 30 years, the Kronos Quartet has been expanding the range and context of traditional quartet music. Through long-running collaborations with today's foremost composers, they have released more than 45 recordings that celebrates the breadth of their creative vision. KCM's Lee Hartman recently spoke with first violinist, David Harrington about his music-making and their upcoming performance at the Lied Center.
Bach continues to delight and inspire
Wed, Mar 31, 2010
All musical roads lead to Bach. Not one of the many J.C. Bach's or the significant W.F or C.P.E Bach but - the big guy - Johann Sebastian Bach. From the simple educational pieces in the Notebook for Anna Magdelena Bach to the mind blowing complexity of the Concertos for Solo Violin, musicians all over the world have grown up with Papa Bach.
Imani Winds is a breath of fresh air
Tue, Mar 30, 2010
The New York City woodwind quintet Imani Winds is perfect blend of individual personalities, accomplishments and sheer talent. During last weekend's UMKC Signature Series performance, it was wonderful to see a traditional chamber ensemble express such exuberance for new music.
Cheeky queens
Tue, Mar 30, 2010
It might be easy to dismiss the Heartland Men's Chorus "British Invasion" performances last weekend as campy fun, but that would be a great disservice to these gents who can actually sing! The flash, pizzazz, and humor were just an added bonus.
PREVIEW: Bill's Bach
Tue, Mar 23, 2010
William McGlaughlin and the Bach Aria Soloists are "Inspired by Bach." Bill McGlaughlin is sentimental about Kansas City. "The look of the town, the rolling hills, the Missouri River and the Flint Hills further out in Kansas, it's a beautiful place with the nicest people."
Four choral finds
Tue, Mar 23, 2010
Musica Vocale, directed by Arnold Epley, with guest ensemble the Kansas City Baroque Consortium (lead by cellist Trilla Ray-Carter) presented four vastly different multi-movement works in their woefully under-attended concert this past Sunday. As volunteer choirs go, Musica Vocale put forth a wonderful concert of pieces that demand more attention.
PROFILE: Heidi Grant Murphy, opera singer
Tue, Mar 23, 2010
Life as an international opera star. You stride purposefully, but calmly down the platform of a Paris train station, pursued by an army of redcaps with numerous bags containing costumes for the next performance. You spot familiar faces among passengers on the Orient Express enroute to the lounge car to begin the journey with a light refreshment...
Cool start, sensational finish
Tue, Mar 23, 2010
The snow storm on Saturday night cast a potent curse on the Lyric Opera's performance of Verdi's "Rigoletto." The production was, however, worth the extra effort it took to navigate treacherous roads to downtown, and Kansas City was again fortunate to enjoy world-class performances from star singers.
Commanding cello
Tue, Mar 23, 2010
Performing to a packed house, Yo-Yo Ma and Kathryn Stott on piano showcased the peak echelon of musicianship. They commanded the stage. It was evident that the audience wanted to clap for every note Ma played - but he and Stott ended each movement with such authority and poise that no one dared.