RSS 2.0 Feed2012 Bach Festival: Brandenburgs
Sat, Jan 28, 2012
The Friends of Chamber Music's 2012 Bach Festival began Tuesday night with the Kansas City Chamber Orchestra's performance of the Brandenburg Concertos.
| Sign up for our weekly e-blast |
Major funding for KCMetropolis.org
is provided, in part, by:
Erik Klackner
Classical Contributor
Erik Klackner loves music enough to try and write about it. After receiving a bachelor's degree in horn from the University of Kentucky and a master's in orchestral conducting from the University of Utah, Erik worked as a freelance musician in the Pacific Northwest before relocating to the Midwest. There is an 85% chance that he is engrossed is some random Varèse piece or Bruckner 9 as you are reading this sentence. His unedited thoughts can be read at klacknermusic.wordpress.com.
Ice skates and summer serenades
Fri, Aug 05, 2011
With works ranging from the Classical period through 2006 and a scope encompassing the light and brief to the musical sprawl of Brahms’ great Serenade, Summerfest closed its adventurous and transformative season.
Gauntlet thrown on grand Gloria
Wed, Aug 10, 2011
Concluding the Jewell Early Music Summer Festival with "Handel, The Ultimate Cosmopolitan" it was the continuo and vocalists that showcased Baroque music's exciting and powerful potential.
Local label making big waves
Wed, Aug 24, 2011
Is the recording industry dead? Not so for local label Irritable Hedgehog. The spiky upstart has carved out a niche in recording minimalist and post-minimalist works. Their efforts have received great critical acclaim, but here's the story of those behind the tracks.
Fall 2011 preview: Bands and wind ensembles
Tue, Aug 30, 2011
For those with an interest in wind music, the fall offers a heavy dose of performances including major concerts from every large university in the area.
Lieder by Liszt and his contemporaries
Wed, Sep 21, 2011
UMKC's Liszt 200 Series, celebrating the bicentennial of the composer's birth, continued this week with a sampling of lieder by Liszt and his contemporaries. Strong repertoire and impassioned performances prevailed over the concert's programming, where the evening's honoree, Liszt, was sometimes upstaged by his contemporaries' compositions.
Mahler maestro shines
Wed, Sep 28, 2011
The University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory Orchestra held the opening concert of their season, featuring works by Verdi, Adams, and Mahler. While it may have lacked the precision and accuracy of a professional performance in some spots, the passion and enthusiasm for the music was palpable, and those in attendance were rewarded with fine performances.
As American as apple pie
Wed, Oct 19, 2011
With music by Aaron Copland, Samuel Barber, and George Gershwin, three of America's most popular and populist composers, the Kansas City Civic Orchestra began its 53rd season Sunday afternoon at Yardley Hall.
"Fantastique" is still fresh and fun
Tue, Oct 25, 2011
The UMKC Conservatory Orchestra concert was a study in contrasts. From the elegant simplicity of "Appalachian Spring" to the passion and intensity of "Symphonie fantastique," the orchestra and conductor showed their full range of expression.
Topeka Symphony tackles the 5th
Wed, Nov 02, 2011
Well executed and programmed, the Topeka Symphony Orchestra's performance of Britten, Theofanidis, and Beethoven should have been one for the ages but it lacked that certain je ne sais quoi of a truly great concert.
Skill and musicality in equal measure
Wed, Nov 09, 2011
James Galway's Harriman-Jewell Series recital at the Folly Theater found the seasoned Irish flutist delivering both dazzling virtuosity and evocative and sensitive musicality in a well-balanced program.
Spring 2012 preview: Orchestras
Wed, Dec 28, 2011
The Kansas City Symphony continues its first season in the Kauffman Center and the numerous local orchestras provide an embarrassment of riches for fans of orchestral sound this spring. Some superb foreign orchestras will also be gracing the stages of the KC metro area.
Spring 2012 preview: Orchestras
Wed, Dec 28, 2011
The Kansas City Symphony continues its first season in the Kauffman Center and the numerous local orchestras provide an embarrassment of riches for fans of orchestral sound this spring. Some superb foreign orchestras will also be gracing the stages of the KC metro area.
Hamburg's meaty program
Mon, Jan 30, 2012
The Harriman-Jewell Series presented the Hamburg Symphony under Jeffrey Tate with violinist Guy Braunstein Friday night with a meat-and-potatoes program of Vaughan Williams, Beethoven, and Dvořák.
Master class in bel canto performance
Wed, Feb 22, 2012
Tenor Juan Diego Flórez’s recital at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts for Harriman-Jewell Series was a master class in technique and stage presence—as well as a level of talent that simply can’t be taught.
Live from Caracas and into the cinema
Wed, Feb 22, 2012
The “LA Phil LIVE” series of movie theater broadcasts continued on Saturday with a performance of Gustav Mahler’s gargantuan-in-the-truest-sense-of-the-word Symphony No, 8 “Symphony of a Thousand.”
Earthly limitations in "Sacred Service"
Wed, Mar 07, 2012
Three member choirs of the William Baker Choral Foundation and assorted soloists gathered on Sunday to present Ernest Bloch's "Avodath Hakodesh," one of the few major liturgical choral works outside of the Christian tradition to be regularly performed.
Great expectations met by Goode
Wed, Mar 14, 2012
Richard Goode’s program for the Friends of Chamber Music was plucked straight from the very core of classical music’s heart but his exceptional skill and commitment met exceedingly high expectations.
Conservatory’s closing collaborations
Tue, May 01, 2012
The UMKC Conservatory Orchestra finished their spring season with a triumphant performance of Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring” in Helzberg Hall with a program that included Chen Yi’s “Chinese Myths Cantata,” which featured a successful collaboration with the Conservatory Singers.