Classical,
Julius Caesar delivers
Make no mistake about it: Kansas City opera-goers were ready, and based on their enthusiastic reception, I believe waiting, for Baroque opera. While 21st-century reproductions of 18th-century serious opera present undeniable challenges regarding casting, staging, narration, and audience expectation, Saturday's performance (aided by a masterpiece musical score and a rousing tale of love, betrayal, supposition, and power trips) delivered an extraordinary punch. The opening-night audience of just over 900 was genuinely engaged throughout Handel's three-hour Julius Caesar.
If a production of Julius Caesar can be adequately described as edgy, then Mark Streshinsky and Ward Holmquist's partnership achieved that and more via striking dramatic moments and strategic artistic choices. The motivation to objectify Lydia (Cleopatra in disguise), for example, did not present as a cheap shot at gratuitous sexual nuance; instead, it demonstrated to the audience early in the opera that Cleopatra knew how to use her womanly guiles and that she was in full command of her "powers." The focused intimacy and physicality of Cleopatra's and Caesar's passionate embraces was bold direction, celebrating what became a very believable chemistry between these two characters.
Handel's story only gradually unveils characters through a careful network of lead and secondary roles the audience, then, is called to imagine how characters might support one another or turn on one another as the story unfolds. Moreover, the genre Handel inherited and perfected was one that typically boasted many subplots, and Streshinsky celebrated to an appropriate extent each one. Achillas' pursuit of Cornelia was explored just enough to emphasize Harris's robust bass-baritone (even if his scalar runs tended to bog down), while Sextus' path toward righteous revenge was a satisfying sequence indeed. The love story between Caesar and Cleopatra was front and center, of course, and their duet in Act III brought the full impact of this fateful historical encounter to culmination.
Handel wrote heroic male roles for the castrato singer-roles that in modern productions are often cast to an alto or mezzo-soprano (the ranges of these female voice types would be comparable to the male castrato, even if the vocal quality differed). Saturday's version participates in the growing trend of casting Caesar and Ptolemy as countertenors: a proficient countertenor partners power and agility with a flexible timbre competent across a broad range. This demanding score challenges even the best singers. David Walker's countertenor did not at first entrance boast dramatic command of the stage, and José Lemos struggled to disguise the break between chest and head voice. Parker's Cornelia, however, settled from the start, consistently elicited audience sympathies as she weaves in and out of three acts. When Sextus bravely denounced tears in his Act I, the audience knew, even via Abraham's mezzo-soprano, that a vengeful soul lurked just beneath the surface and eagerly awaited what Sextus' intentions might yield.
Walker only incrementally unleashed the prowess and agility for which a capable countertenor is known. Caesar's poignant accompanied recitative "extolling the spirit of Pompey" began a sequence that demonstrated Walker was, by late Act I, settling into the dramatic personage, his more powerful falsetto revealed. Walker's experience in theater shines here, and he gives Caesar a profound and credible depth. Caesar's interruption of Lydia's three-part V'adoro pupille was expertly fashioned by Handel and magically executed here; it was clear that Caesar simply had to react to Lydia's spellbinding song and no amount of operatic convention could stop him. The seamlessness with which Walker acted this moment was admirable. Both Brandes and Walker were, though, at their best during scenes of triumph. Caesar seemed so natural during his leisurely "morning after" celebration of Act II, and Cleopatra later shines in her spirited reaction to the realization that Caesar had survived his death-defying "swim."
Baroque opera is admittedly plagued by problems of dramatic sequence, and one major complaint is that the bulk of the action typically takes place off stage, only to be recounted in lengthy, speech-like recitative. The aria that follows conveniently leaves a star singer alone on stage to muse (with vocal acrobats abounding) about what transpired in the preceding dialogue; to be sure, characters do not so much act as react. This formulaic cycle poses for modern audiences a predicament: we crave the visual and dramatic effect of action and cannot help but feel a little left out when a story does not deliver. Streshinsky's alternatives eased this for Saturday evening's audience: the "exit aria" convention was avoided, and there was a substantial fight scene in Act III, cleverly choreographed in slow motion and definitely worth the wait. The director also allowed for an on-stage murder so that the vengefulness hinted at in Sextus' Act I soliloquy was brought to bear. The collaboration between musical and stage direction brought to this production an impressive range of artistic ideas and called for more animation from (and more interaction among) peripheral characters; this option was crucial to dramatic depth and narrative continuity.
Handel's brilliant orchestral score was in capable hands: brisk, never sagging tempos and a sensitive balance contributed immediate and impactful text painting; only rarely did the instrumental dynamics need tempering. Character personages were brought into focus with exquisite costumes, while adept lighting drew viewers' attention across an engaging set. Certain scene changes were handled behind the curtain, which allowed the action to continue up front to provide the lengthy story much-needed momentum (even if those changes were at times clumsy and distracting).
To be sure, it has been a historic week. What a luxury to have baroque opera brought to life in Kansas City, particularly in Saturday's brilliant synthesis of resources. The Lyric Opera deserves congratulations for not allowing one of Handel's most representative accomplishments to languish in obscurity. The lively chatter during intermission (yes, this reviewer eavesdropped some) negates any misgivings about how this work might be received here-attendees were intrigued and inspired; no doubt the company made some converts. Here's hoping that the Lyric continues to stretch and to choose wisely from the available repertoire to give performers and audiences alike such a wealth of artistic opportunity.
REVIEW
Lyric Opera of Kansas City
Julius Caesar
Saturday November 8 at 8 p.m.
Lyric Theater, 11th and Central, Downtown Kansas City, MO
Still running:
Monday, November 10 at 7:30 p.m.
Wednesday, November 12 at 7:30 p.m.
Friday, November 14 at 8 p.m.
Sunday, November 16 at 2 p.m.
For tickets call 816-471-7344 or online at kcopera.org
theSTEADY,
I Was Grumpy
I was grumpy that night. What's new? Election Day had gone OK, but I still felt a little uneasy. I had not found much to applaud in recent American political theater. I had hope, but also I felt the whole nation's spirit had been beaten down by the wars, the economy, health care, and stretching ends to meet.
The presidential campaign did not alleviate my wariness of the whole political system. There was a curtain drawn across America that cast a shadow of insecurity.
I went to see David Ford's gallery installation I Like This Country on election night. The event was hosted by The Mercy Seat Tattoo Parlor at 16th and Grand. I stood in line for about 20 minutes just like I had that morning to vote.
There were big scary tattooed Hell's Angels looking men that were patrolling the premises and providing security. Some drunk guy tried to butt in line but they didn't see him. I signed a Release Form relinquishing my rights. "Americans will sign anything," quipped someone standing in line. I stopped to pose for my photograph in front of Old Glory. I was let in to the gallery.
Before I could stop them, two curvy young ladies in tight costumes pushed a cup of liquor to my mouth. It was something that stung my tongue and took my breath. I didn't resist. Another girl carried a tray of red-white-and-blue sugar cookies. I took one shaped like the state of Missouri with sprinkles. An emcee greeting new entrants to the gallery, reported election updates.
David Ford's paintings hung on the wall of the gallery space inside. There was a giant "You" sign, a color-wheel-of-fortune, and a man with his leg in a paper cutter.
The drunk guy from outside had made it in and was dancing in the middle of the room, spinning around and trying to balance. There was a man in a mouse mask and work overalls wearing bondage gear. On an elevated platform two erotic dancers in lingerie danced in a beach scene among palm trees while a man in a wheel chair put dollars in their under-wire bras.
If I hadn't been working, I would had another shot of whatever it was.
As I left the gallery space I was directed out the backdoor by security. I emerged directly onto the stage of a live band playing. The Hearts of Darkness, an Afrobeat based horn band with a great rhythm section, grooved in the alley behind Mercy Seat.
The drunk guy broke into song and caroled out the Star Spangled Banner and America like some world-class tenor. The music broke into a slower more grounded beat. The people dancing moved down lower with their legs apart and arms in front of them or above their heads, beating out the rhythm.
What internal rhythm drives us to mingle in these cross-wired constructions of expression, voyeurism, vice, risk, privilege and duty that reflect our own lives and influence our decisions? Do we indulge in our liberty or our debauchery?
REVIEW:
David Ford "I Like This Country"
Tuesday, November 4
Mercy Seat Tattoo Parlor
Classical,
newEar's Kansas City Connections II
"Kansas City Connections" was the second concert of the series Crossings by the contemporary chamber ensemble newEar. The concert featured works by five composers, all of whom were in attendance at the performance, and had a connection to Kansas City. The concert also featured Roger Landes who played the Irish bouzouki in two of the compositions.
An introductory talk preceded the concert. Questions from the audience led to a discussion about a shift in contemporary music away from the technical processes involved in composition and toward the end result, or 'Process vs. Product.'
One of the composers in the concert was Ingrid Stölzel whom I interviewed this last September about her piece With Both Eyes. In that interview Ingrid noted that she considers herself a melodist, or one concerned with the melody. She is more concerned about the emotion conveyed by the melody rather than the technical discipline used in constructing the piece. In the discussion at newEar she remarked that she sees herself as having matured into a more emotional composer. She has become less shy. She had been afraid to indulge in melody in the past because she felt it had no place in contemporary music.
Much of 20th century music is based on process. The technical part of arranging the music takes precedence in producing the overall result. The composers at newEar conveyed a perspective that their own music and new music, in general, is making a shift toward reversing that trend.
Stölzel's work With Both Eyes is all about melody. The work is strung together with strands of the melody played by all the members in the ensemble. This particular quartet was flute, guitar, piano and vibes. The piece is comprised of melodic fragments that are woven together into a seamless fabric of sound. The resulting form is more organic and emotional than a more process-driven structure.
Stölzel also commented on the challenge of writing for two instruments of similar tone and range, piano and guitar. One of the other composers on the newEar concert was the ensemble's Artistic Chair, David McIntire. His piece also involved two instruments of similar tone and range, bass clarinet and baritone saxophone. A percussionist on marimba and vibes completed the trio for From the Gland of Intention.
Counterpoint for two instruments of similar tone is a bit of a departure from previous styles. It complicates the 'Process' part of composition to use instruments this way. Some would say that two instruments of similar color would "fight" over the same place in the composition. McIntire's piece, like Stölzel's, also played with melody and fragments of melody but is now in a chase to a culminating motif. At the finale this motif is stomped out on the low range of the marimba and the other two bass wind instruments with a force that seemed to tap the ground. This sound was otherworldly as if opening a door on something beyond. McIntire said he thought of this piece as a sort of bagatelle--an innocent messenger. It was also an overture that opened the curtain with subtle variation in analogous counterpoint juxtaposed with surprising extremes. Throughout the concert each piece varied in the contrast of the counterpoint and the limits of the extreme.
Composer Narong Prangcharoen's Whispering is an emotional prayer from humanity to Heaven in regard to recent natural disasters throughout the world. The composition begins with one of the instrumentalists dropping a heavy metal chain on a low tom-tom drum, literally throwing down the trappings of grief. There were other sounds from the beyond: a prepared piano, breath through the bass clarinet, as well as melismatic notes and glissandi on the soprano saxophone and heavy use of percussion that lilted of an Asian influence. At one point the bass clarinet player got up and moved to the back of the stage and played to the back of the house. The sonic and observable effect of distance was explored and gave way to inclusion as the performer returned to his chair while playing. Utilising sounds that are unfamiliar and asking one of the instrumentalists to walk to the back of the stage and play away from the audience are both examples of using emotional response instead of technical precision.
There were two more compositions in the concert, both that incorporated Roger Landes on bouzouki. This is a medium sized tear-shaped 8-stringed instrument reminiscent of a large mandolin. It is essentially an Irish folk instrument derived from a Greek ancestor. Roger collects and plays many rare and unique stringed instruments.
Paul Elwood wrote In Blue Spaces for bouzouki and an ensemble of piano, flute, clarinet, cello, and two violins. Using folk idioms is nothing new to music, but to make the composition itself idiomatic by including the actual folk instrument is another departure from process-based music. It removes that part of the compositional process that would interpret a folk tune, and replaces it by actually including the folk instrument in the piece. And then takes that instrument to a new place as it explores combinations of pitches and phrases unusual to it. The bouzouki is more resonant of the emotional attachment to Irish tradition than an interpretation on another "classical" instrument.
Paul Rudy composed Sibling Rivalries for bouzouki and electronic accompaniment. He made samples of Roger Landes playing his collection of stringed instruments and other sounds to form a soundscape in which the solo live bouzouki explored. Rudy remarked in the pre-concert discussion that he has noticed the "shift from process to results" in composition. He said his music has "less to do with thinking and more to do with feeling." He thinks that artists are coming back to feeling and emotion and away from theory. He tries to compose as the listener.
The entire performance rendered great examples of new chamber music. The pre-concert discussion delved into a perceivable shift from 'Process' to 'Product' in new music. All five pieces were world premiers with one exception; Ingrid Stölzel's piece was premiered earlier this year. All the pieces showed an emphasis on emotion and a departure from process at varying degrees. All had an organic quality. Whereas before process-based music was looking outward to prove its character; now music is looking inward to uncover emotion.
REVIEW
newEar Contemporary Ensemble
"Crossings - Kansas City Connections"
Saturday, November 1 at 8 p.m.
816.235.6222 or www.newEar.org
theSTEADY,
KCM VID: Urban Noise Camp
VIDS here...
Beautifully filmed by Jeff Peak.
Editor: Nathan Granner
Interviewer: Scott Easterday
Charlotte Street
Foundations Awards Show
Friday, November 14 at 7:30 p.m.
Copaken Stage, One H&R Block Way,
13th between Main & Walnut
The Charlotte Street Awards for Generative Performing Artists, a new program designed to nurture and stoke the grassroots performing arts community in Kansas City will be held on Friday, November 14. These Awards aim to support and recognize outstanding, innovative, original generative performing artists with unrestricted cash awards, as Charlotte Street Awards to Visual Artists have done for over a decade.
Envisioned as an annual program, these Awards are intended to recognize artists in the fields of dance, theater, music, experimental music performance, theater/performance art, and hybrid/interdisciplinary versions.
This year's recipients are dancer DeAnna Hiett, producer/actor Ron Megee, and musician Mark Southerland. Each artist will perform a live original work in lieu of an awards ceremony in honor of the occasion.
For tickets 816-235-2700 or charlottestreet.org
theSTEADY,
KCM VID: An interview with David Ford
VID here...
The performance is Tuesday, November 4 - Dusk until 10 p.m.
at the Mercy Seat Tattoo Parlour
Enjoy!
Film work done by Jeff Peak.
Edited and engineered by Nathan Granner.
Music by Morocco's Mahmoud Guinia and Faiza Ahmed.
Dance,
KCM VID: Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre Youth Programs
One of the most striking things about the Ailey company is not their talent, superb delivery or choreography, all of which they have, but the easy self-confidence and strength of this company. At age 50, the Alvin Ailey Dance Company still feels fresh, with all the vitality of a young company coupled with the assurance of five decades of experience. Ailey doesn't have to prove itself and is not trying to live up to their reputation: Ailey dancers just dance. And then you understand why they are among the best dancers in the world.
Kansas City Friends of Alvin Ailey (KCFAA) has made an impressive commitment to community outreach by annually producing 10 programs that serve over 3,000 students in the metro area. Each year KCFAA presents either "Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater", under the direction of Judith Jamison or "Ailey II", under the artistic direction of Sylvia Waters. Each ensemble showcases excerpts from its diverse repertory, including Alvin Ailey's choreography.
This year, students enrolled in the Youth Program were able to see performance excerpts of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater on Thursday and Friday mornings during the four-day run at the Midland Theatre.
For more information on performances and programs visit www.kcfaa.org
Film,
FILM REVIEW: The Godfather Trilogy: An offer no one can refuse
The three Godfather pictures, especially the first two-and in particular, Part II-stand apart from the usual Hollywood fare or foreign-language films as a work of art on par with the greatest art in other mediums. Lovingly, daringly, meticulously, Francis Ford Coppola and his brilliant cast and crew nurtured something that the presiding studio, Paramount, never believed in - and indeed, always wanted Coppola off the project. In adapting Mario Puzo's trashy novel (a commercial hit after the failure of his critically-acclaimed novel, A Fortunate Pilgrim), Paramount presumably expected a low-budget gangster film on the order of the lowbrow Mafia comedy written by Jimmy Breslin a year earlier, The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight.
The new movie was offered first to Costa-Gavras, who had successfully directed the European rough-and-tumble thrillers Z and State of Siege, and then to Arthur Penn, whose breakthrough crime drama Bonnie and Clyde five years earlier, brought a new sensibility to the movies. Throughout much of the first Godfather film, like a punishment from the Gods, Coppola was followed around by a "replacement" director who could step in at any moment at the studio's nod.
What the disparate elements combined-Brando and Pacino's unwanted casting; the slow theme music by Fellini's composer, Nino Rota; the textured cinematography by Gordon Willis reminiscent of the charioscuro of George de la Tour; Coppola's refining Puzo's pulp-when presented onscreen was something even the studio heads understood was closer to theatre, to literature-to opera, really.
Sitting in a darkened theater watching Brando materialize out of the darkness and Pacino turn from a young naïf into a cold-blooded killer was aheightened experience, like being at Bayreuth listening to Die Walküre. When you watch The Dark Knight with its moody lighting and synthetic violence, or any number of gun dramas built for pseudo-psychological fishing, it is the long tail of the comet that was The Godfather Trilogy still lighting the way; by now, substance has shriveled to style for most of Coppola's followers (even if they do not consciously acknowledge him). Meanwhile, the three original movies only burn brighter.
With the digital advances now available, Coppola has supervised a massive restoration, not unlike that of Lawrence of Arabia some years ago: the newly mastered and re-recorded prints-showing at Tivoli, in Westport Square, one movie per week-are a revelation. In a special DVD released in conjunction with the special screenings, Coppola himself pronounces his astonishment at the movies' newly burnished appearance. Once more, the black hues of Don Corleone's office reveal nothing except a shadowy presence; Michael Corleone's profile is often split into darkness and light in a way far superior to The Joker's screen portrayal; while the Sicily/ Little Italy sequences with the young Vito-magisterially played by Robert de Niro-are wreathed in a golden light that would be appropriated by Zhang Yimou and other Chinese filmmakers twenty years later. Willis's seemingly revolutionary camerawork is never studied in the photographic style of Antonioni, Bergman, Resnais or Godard the 60's cinema icons who used the camera as a philosophical or propagandist instrument.
Coppola and Willis, notably in the elaborate wedding sequence in The Godfather and in the flashbacks in Part II-here I am thinking of the complicated scenes building up to the street festival and ultimately Vito's murder of the head gangster at the time, Don Fanucci-never get entangled in their intent. They move slowly, methodically: they want the audience to enjoy the movies. It is the same thing as a 19th century novelist like Thomas Hardy painting the background of the characters and the landscape in prose to set the story not only in motion but also in tone. Coppola, it was clear then and is clear now, was not trying to out-Welles the Orson Welles of Citizen Kane with all his tricks up his sleeve. We are touched by the intimacy of the storytelling.
Of course, the look of The Godfather films is classic; but the charged atmosphere of the dialogue defines them as much more. Coppola and Puzo's scripts read like foul-mouthed librettos. What seems hokey on the page, when spoken in the right cadence and at the right moment, can bring together a scene (or an entire theme). Michael's line "It's not personal, Sonny. It's strictly business"; Don Corleone's maxim "A man that doesn't spend time with his family can never be a real man"; Clemenza's much quoted line after a killing, "Leave the gun. Take the cannoli"; and the line of lines, repeated by the young Vito, Don Corleone, and Michael alike, "I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse," in context, reverberate like Church epistles. The filmmakers made an offer no one can refuse, not if it is a matter of taking that leap, the way that Shakespeare's tragedies or Mozart's operas or Wallace Stevens's poetry demand.
The thriller genre until then had been loosening up in America; the outré success of Bonnie and Clyde paved the way for hip studio hits like The Getaway, Bullitt-and Scorsese's Mean Streets, his take on the New York gang, which was released betweenThe Godfather and Part II. (In its cranked-up rock soundtrack and full-bore camerawork, it comes across almost as an anti-Godfather.) What the other movies of the time represented was freedom: aesthetic, cultural, and political. Coppola's epics (the first film runs three hours, Part II runs three hours and twenty minutes, and Part III is two hours and forty minutes) are on to something different: the end of the Old World as a tradition of honor first, in the face of the New World's ruthlessness and riches. In a personal sense, one can say that Coppola and Company symbolically killed off Old Hollywood.
The influence is indisputable. Grandiloquent epics like De Palma's Scarface (with Pacino reprising his role of the damned from a more ridiculous characterization) to, yes, The Sopranos (with its direct postmodern play on the movies' influence on small-time mobsters, who can recite the dialogue perfectly without understanding it vilifies rather than extols them) seek to evoke the original trilogy. If The Godfather movies are still blamed for making killers into charmers, the interpretation is not Coppola's; the violence is of a piece with the rest of the drama. The tragedy of following such a life is ever-present. (By Part III, which was released in 1990, Coppola and the actors seem frayed by the weight of their achievements, which is unsurprising, though the wait for the masterful revenge killings in the last third of the picture, including the scene when Don Lucchesi is stabbed to death with his own pair of glasses, is riveting as much as revolting.) As movie art, these three pictures reach for something even Coppola was never able to duplicate in his career, forcing him to look elsewhere for inspiration. How they came together is entirely onscreen for anyone to follow. If the movies are an art form especially given over to memories, rarely has the screen been the right size to contain the story presented expressly for it; in this instance, the screen is as big as our memories can contain.
REVIEW:
The Godfather Trilogy
Begins November 28 with Part I and then each film successively for one week.
Tivoli Cinemas, Westport Square, 4050 Pennsylvania Ave.
For information and showtimes, go to www.tivolikc.com.
Film,
FILM REVIEW: Synecdoche, New York
The fifty-one-year-old screenwriter Charlie Kaufman is sui generis in a way that either stumps audiences or makes them want more. His movies-he's written five before his newest and most improbabable, Synecdoche, New York, including Being John Malkovich,Adaptation and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind-can get to you in the way that sitting through a great performance onstage can leave you sitting up straighter. His comedies are at heart tragedies; yet like the best film writers, Kaufman understands how the head gives in ultimately to the heart in movies. If he were Russian, he might be Tarkovsky; if he were German, he could be Werner Herzog (without the loop-the-loopiness). His connection to writing for the movies is as much a cinematographer's search for images as a screenwriter's need for expression. If you read his published screenplays, they are flat-like reading about Gaudí's architecture rather than seeing it in person. Synecdoche, New York, Kaufman's first film as writer and director, is a kaleidoscopic comedy of more than two hundred images: twice the usual movie, but thenSynecdoche, New York tries to speed up a life without losing the person to piled-up memories.
Philip Seymour Hoffman plays a Schenectady, New York theater director, Caden Cotard, whose own life is in search of a final act. His neurotic artist wife, Adele (played by properly whiny Catherine Keener), loathes him; she tells their couples therapist she wishes he was dead (and she says so in Keener's sing-song-y monotone that drips boredom). Early on, Caden discovers medical issues: these will gradually overtake him, and Kaufman the director seems to enjoy the Halloween creepiness of making his actor feel punished simply for living. Adele leaves Caden, and takes their young daughter to Europe. Caden is left with unresolved feelings for a theater production more personal than restaging the classics, as well as for Hazel (Samantha Morton), a mousy assistant who responds to his longings because of her own sadness. When they begin a relationship, he visits her house, which inexplicably is on fire inside-an image out of David Lynch or Buñuel, but which Kaufman the writer knows he need not explain. How the two Charlie Kaufmans overlap for you will determine how you respond to the film; but not having all the answers is the movie's one answer. How much need-to-know do you need to know about a person's life?
If the movie takes its own time setting forth its plot, it is not for lack of activity on the screen. As a member of the Hiccup Generation, the group of mostly-young for whom MTV speed-editing has become the norm (i.e., Spike Jonze, who directed Being John Malkovich, and Michel Gondry, who directed Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), Kaufman's directorial eye is overstuffed; his editing sense is a hummingbird's: together, the material and the technology are stretching toward truths that, in the movies at least, are all but extinct. We don't go to the movies much any more because we care; the movies are a night's entertainment, like going out to a restaurant. In all of Charlie Kaufman's movies, in his own fabulist's way, he wants to slow us down (even by speeding things up). And damned if he does not succeed here: while the audience is busy trying to keep track of what is real and what might be a manifestation of Caden's inner troubles, the movie's title pun-synecdoche, refers to a part corresponding to a whole-develops into something deeper than a joke.
Once Caden receives a genius grant to carry on with his far-reaching theatrical concept, the conceit takes shape. Caden turns his own life inside-out, by using actors for him, Adele, Hazel, and his second wife, an actress, Claire (Michelle Williams). Over time-the movie does wonders with expressing the fluctuating mental aspect of time-he has an entire city built in an abandoned warehouse. The human mirrors (played by Tom Noonan and Emily Watson, among others) fuss over recreated incidents, such as arguments between Caden and one or another of his women. (Noonan's Caden argues with Caden over what he would do). As the multiplications continue, our empathy increases for Caden: he is the archetypal stand-in for the author whom we have seen in movies (Marcello Mastroianni for Fellini, Liv Ullmann for Bergman) and in the theater. But Kaufman goes one step further. One zip of a frame explains it all: a copy of Proust's Remembrance of Things Past, open to the first page, announces Kaufman's belief that, under any name, the artist ultimately plays himself. In Proust's epic, Marcel remembers his entire life in a blink of an eye, though it takes him through some two thousand pages of details. And not until the end of the last volume does Marcel come to understand his life is his work and his work is his life. For Caden, the epiphany does not happen until the end of his life; for Charlie Kaufman, the finished film is his work about his life. When Caden says there are millions of people who act like extras, but "they're all the leads of their own stories," Kaufman, the writer, is channeling writers as far back as Shakespeare and as modern as - well, who's texting you now?
Synecdoche, New York opens Friday at the Tivoli Cinemas, in Westport Square, 4050 Pennsylvania. For information and tickets, go to www.tivolikc.com.
Classical,
Quartet Accorda: Schubert, Mendelssohn and heart-wrenching beauty
A full house packed the Graham Tyler Memorial Chapel in Parkville last Saturday night to hear Quartet Accorda, resident string quartet of Park University, perform works by Schubert and Mendelssohn. The evening began on a high note as music critic Paul Horsley shared his program commentary with an audience that has sorely missed his erudite voice in the pages of The Kansas City Star. By way of introducing the artists, Horsley proclaimed the Accorda to be his "favorite string quartet in America," a sentiment that resonated true as an evening of sublime music-making unfolded.
Mendelssohn's Capriccio for String Quartet in E minor, Op. 81, No. 3, written in two sections, opened with tender expressiveness from first violinist, Ben Sayevich. His dolce tones sang the haunting melody of the melancholy Andante section to the accompaniment of the Quartet, which featured Kanako Ito on second violin, Chung-Hoon Peter Chun on viola, and Martin Storey on cello. The Quartet rendered a marvelously impassioned second contrapuntal fugue section, and ended that short work in a firestorm of energy.
Although the program began splendidly, nothing could have prepared us for the heart-wrenching beauty expressed by cellist Martin Storey and pianist Lolita Lisovskaya in Schubert's "Arpeggione" Sonata in A minor, D. 821. From the first notes of its dreamy, introspective piano introduction, brought to life by an extraordinarily sensitive interpretation by Lisovskaya, the performance was pure magic. Storey seems to have tapped into the very soul of Schubert and brought forth a profoundly moving expression of this work, and Lisovskaya, ever attentive to maintaining a supportive balance, collaborated with rather than accompanied Storey - it was chamber music at its finest. In the second Adagio movement, Storey played from his heart in what could only be called an expression of pure beauty, or the essence of love. Cello and piano played as one instrument, with nuance and depth of expression that revealed the divine.
Schubert wrote the sonata in November 1824 for his friend Vincenz Schuster, a virtuoso of the arpeggione, a fretted, bowed guitar-like instrument that was only in use for about ten years. By 1824, the year that both the sonata and the quartet performed on the Accorda's program were composed, Schubert's health had significantly deteriorated due to two years of progression of his infection with the syphilis that would eventually end his life in 1828. While Schubert was in the throes of grappling with the mortality of his body and the immortality of his soul, he also recorded that struggle in the transcendental language of his music. Storey and Lisovskaya realized Schubert's musical intent with such insightful beauty that, in this ciritc's opinion, their interpretation deserves to be recorded for posterity.
The String Quartet No. 14 in D minor, D. 810, Death and the Maiden was composed in March 1824, and takes its name from a song by the same title that Schubert wrote in 1817. The lengthy second movement of the quartet is based on the song's accompaniment. In March 1824, Schubert wrote a letter to his friend, Leopold Kupelweiser voicing his anguish:
In a word, I feel myself to be the most unhappy and wretched creature in the world. Imagine a man whose health will never be right again, and who, in sheer despair over this, ever makes things worse and worse, instead of better... I go to bed hoping never to wake again, and each morning only tells me of yesterday's grief.
The pathos and despair that underlie and unite the movements of this quartet performed as it was Saturday night by the Quartet Accorda, revealed music as vital and daunting today as it was the day it was written.
The Accorda's opening unison exclamation set the tone for an intense and soulful realization of this masterpiece. With Ito leading on first violin, a shift into a slightly darker, warmer blend of sonority arose from the ensemble, fitting well with the character of the work. Notable in the second movement was the beautiful violin solo by Ito in the first variation, and a soaring cello solo by Storey in the second variation. The galloping rhythmic obbligato of the third variation built relentlessly and showcased the Quartet's superb ensemble, and a violin obbligato glimmered sublimely above sustained chords in the fourth variation.
Violist Chun brought the deep liquid beauty of his lyrical tone to enliven the viola solo line in the trio of the third movement scherzo.
The moto perpetuo finale, with its driving rhythm and thrilling unison arpeggio jabs at the end of phrases, seemed to convey relentless death, the horseman, savagely riding home with his prize. The Accorda kicked into a pounding accelerando for the ending measures that propelled the audience to its feet in rapturous applause.
REVIEW
Park University presents
Quartet Accorda
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Graham Tyler Memorial Chapel
Schubert is the featured composer in the remaining Quartet Accorda concerts this season at the Graham Tyler Chapel at Park University. Mark your calendars for these exciting programs, free of charge.
Friday, March 6, 2009, at 7:30 pm with Quartet Accorda and Friends, guests Jeff Kail, bass and Lolita Lisovskaya, piano - Schubert 'Trout' Quintet in A Major, D. 667.
Sunday, April 19, 2009, at 3 p.m. with Quartet Accorda and Guests, Laurence Lesser, cello and Hae-Sun Paik, piano: Schubert String Quintet in C Major, D. 956.
Saturday, February 7, 2009, at 7:30 pm. with the Park Piano Trio with Stanislav Ioudenitch, piano, Ben Sayevich, violin, and Martin Storey, cello will include the Schubert Trio No. 1 in B-flat Major, D. 898.
For more information visit www.park.edu/ata .
Classical,
Ars Nova II: The Carray Baroque Consort
Instruments have come a long way since 1450. One only need explore a collection of Renaissance art to be struck by the odd assortment of instruments held by minstrels and cherubim alike. Shawms, lutes, and lyres often catch our eyes first, but upon closer exploration we see that what appears to be a violin or cello has also undergone significant evolutionary change in these last 500 years. My friend Marie, a devoted professional viola da gamba player, often recounts an educational concert she gave in New York. The students in attendance, all elementary age beginning string players, were observing her closely while she played. Their confusion over this cello-like instrument could be ascertained by their interjections. "That lady must've broken her endpin off" and "That lady's cello has a head on it" and the even more observant "Why's she holding the bow upside down" and "She has too many strings on that thing" all came from different sides of the room simultaneously. She was, however, less than amused by the child uttering, "She must be really bad if she's a pro and still has finger-tape" who had noticed the presence of frets (like a modern guitar) on the gamba's fingerboard. What strikes me is that not only are the visual differences so interesting, but the sonic ones are as well.
Here in Kansas City, a number of musicians have sought out Baroque performance equipment and playing techniques. These folks are giving us regular opportunity to hear them alongside a number of 'period' ensembles brought in by The Friends of Chamber Music and Harriman Jewell series. The Carray Baroque Consort, a small ensemble of Baroque players here in town, is gaining recognition of its skillful playing and educational agenda. I spoke with Trilla Ray-Carter, the group's organizer.
JC: What can you tell me about making the transition from modern instruments to period-specific ones? What is so different about them in your experience, and what works better than on a modern instrument?
TRC: The first and biggest hurdle is perhaps psychological; the willingness to try something new, or in this case old. With each historically accurate performance I have had the opportunity to hear - especially live concerts - I have become more enamored of the characteristic sound and musical language of the Baroque. This eventually became much more motivating than the fear of trying something different. The world of modern playing carries with it a strong state of consciousness that can prevent us from looking at alternative music with open ears and minds. Although our modern day approach to music-making has its origins in this era, the recent efforts to research and illuminate historically informed performance practice feels very much like an alternative style to the modern player.
From a string player's perspective, there are some physical differences in the Baroque instrument, bow and strings, and some differences in how we hold the instrument. The greatest difference is the use of gut strings (typically dried sheep or ram intestine) and the Baroque bow, which is lighter and curves outward more like an archer's bow. These two elements have the greatest influence on the unique sound of Baroque strings. Baroque string instruments have a straighter, more vertical neck, and therefore a shorter bridge. This produces less tension, and a lighter sound. Baroque instruments also have a shorter bass bar (a long narrow piece of wood glued to the underside of the belly on the bass string side), and therefore a smaller sound. Several modern accoutrements had not yet come into use, namely the chin rest and shoulder pad on violins and violas, and the endpin for cellos. It takes some getting used to playing without these aids.
My greatest 'aha!' moment occurred when I realized that musicians of the Baroque period were not concerned with volume of sound. They played in small spaces for chamber music, concertos were written with a small ensemble accompaniment. There was not the need for, and subsequent obsession with, BIG SOUND that we have as modern instrumentalists. When we take away that ingredient from the mix, there are many more opportunities for subtlety and nuance. It is quite freeing!
JC: There is obviously a huge variety of potential repertoire to cover here. What is becoming your favorite rep to play, and what are your hopes in terms of future music that you might cover?
TRC: There is an extraordinary variety of repertoire from the Baroque period alone. I am continually thrilled to discover new composers, who in modern terms would be considered obscure but were extremely prolific, and held quite important posts in their day. This past summer's theme at IBIL (International Baroque Institute at Longy, Cambridge, MA) was England, Ireland and Wales, and although we did a fair amount of Handel works, I was delighted to work on several Geminiani selections (yes, he's Italian, but lived in London for quite a bit of his professional life). But my surprise find this summer was a couple of sets of Cello Sonatas by the Dutch composer Willem de Fesch. They are beautiful, charming and rather quirky, and provide real delight to the player and listener. Although Bach will always remain a central part of my musical journey, exploring the works of the many, many Baroque composers who came before him puts his contribution in an ever more meaningful light.
JC: What can you tell me about your own experience making the transition from playing this repertoire on modern instruments and bows to playing this on more historically accurate ones?
TRC: My initial experience with gut strings was quite frustrating. Nearly two weeks of squeaks and squawks, and since I was doing this exploration on my own without the advantage of an experienced Baroque player to guide me, it was a lot of trial and error - mostly error. So I nearly gave it up. But a call to my Baroque violist friend from Musica Angelica in Los Angeles offered a few key points in making this transition. The technique of drawing sound from the string is completely opposite from modern playing. Modern steel strings take fast, strong bow strokes, and there is an intensity in the pulling and pushing of the bow. Gut strings need slow and light strokes, and there is not the pulling and pushing of the stroke as in the modern bow. There is, in essence, nearly always a "curve" in the sound, a lightness near the end of the stroke. This becomes intuitive as soon as we recognize how the shape of the bow directs us toward this sound. We can then begin to experience how the bow and gut string provide the organic element of the Baroque phrase and color. This then opens the door to exploring the rhetorical element in baroque music. But that perhaps is another interview!
JC: And one I hope to pursue!
Trilla and the Carray folks aren't simply happy to sit content on their own exploration of this repertoire, but are at the helm of a unique experience for other explorers later this month. They will present alongside William Bauer, a Saint Louis-based Baroque string player, an opportunity for area string players and other interested parties to have some hands-on learning. Bauer is in high demand throughout the country as a Baroque violist and a Baroque violinist and has played in many of the nation's leading period ensembles.
The Kansas City Baroque Consortium presents:
A Baroque Workshop for All Strings
with William Bauer, Baroque violinist and violist
Saturday, November 29 and Sunday, November 30
Location and exact times to be announced.
$50 participation fee, $35 for auditors
For more information contact Trilla Ray-Carter at trillmont@kc.rr.com or 816 550-3375
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Theatre ,
A little scheme writ large
"I have endeavored in this Ghostly little book, to raise the Ghost of an idea, which shall not put my readers out of humour with themselves, with each other, with the season, or with me. May it haunt their houses pleasantly, and no one wish to lay it." Thus reads the author's dedication to his most popular work, A Christmas Carol, written in six weeks and published in December, 1843. Dickens's masterpiece, bound in red cloth with both full-color illustrations and woodcuts, sold for five shillings and more than six thousand copies were purchased by Christmas Eve, with two thousand more of the second and third editions immediately planned; the "little scheme" (as he wrote in a letter) he had to make money to ease his debts as well as to rail against the increasing greed around him transformed into something larger-than-life even for Dickens, whose wildly successful career had changed the nature of the novelist from a private figure into a public celebrity. Thackeray noted, "It seems to me a national benefit, and to every man or woman who reads it a personal kindness."
A Christmas Carol was written in a self-induced trance-throughout are personal references to Dickens's past, his humble childhood and a sense of what poverty can do in adulthood-and if we do not notice or know of the details we still sense the effects, so powerful and headstrong is the prose. Just as he underlined "The End" three times in the manuscript, so too the emotion of creation feels underlined. And so charged is the story that even in a dramatic adaptation, like the annual Kansas City Repertory Theatre's version, it needs little in the way of ghostwriting to improve it. Indeed, a stage production may be the best way to go-certainly better than the foundering movies and TV versions, full of clinking songs and magic-of-Christmas performances-because the story is essentially a communal experience. Dickens himself was a well-known actor, who performed one-man versions of his work; I imagine him cheering on the Rep's version, appreciative of its shared past spirit in performances present and future.
As directed by Linda Ade Brand once again, the show is a showcase for Kansas City talent. She loads up the stage with a cast brimming with energy that can fill the multifarious characters' outsize characteristics. Gary Neal Johnson's Scrooge spends most of the time in a bed shirt and tasseled cap; he strikes a balance between Scrooge as King Lear wandering in delirium and Scrooge as a lost tourist hoping for directions. Johnson's role leaves him to react, which he does effortlessly, drawing both the other actors and the audience (in the preview I attended) to his onstage presence. After so many performances, Scrooge's character ought to be diluted, like Willy Loman or Blanche DuBois; that he is not is partly the power of the original character as written by Dickens-"I feel my power now more than I ever did," he wrote in a letter to his good friend John Forster, just a month before setting forth A Christmas Carol-and partly the actor's ability to shoulder thousands of different performances and perceptions on him. Johnson's Scrooge befits a man who needs only a nudge to reform, and brings everyone with him.
Dickens wrote an annual Christmas tale: what distinguishes this one is its ferocious appeal for change. Peter Ackroyd in his biography countenances that Dickens was not religious, nor was the work intended as a church sermon. He was possessed by the idea of transformation; it is inherent in novels such as David Copperfield, Oliver Twist, and Martin Chuzzlewit, the dark drama of family fortune that he was writing in 1843 and having trouble finding its rhythm. The elements that strike us most readily-Scrooge's dour comic relationship with Bob Cratchit; his terror at humanity's touch; the readiness of the three Ghosts to take Scrooge through his life-form the core of A Christmas Carol. It was personal to him and for it to be successful it must be personal to us. If the miserly theme in Martin Chuzzlewit gave him pause, it burst through pointedly in the smaller story; the Rep's faithful adaptation (by Barbara Field) keeps the humbug alive. The production, though, with its deft touch of a rising and lowering stage, the author (played by Robert Gibby Brand) as roving narrator, and cast members moving from the aisles to the stage, lifts the story from the ghostly to the friendly. The use of the cast members, such as Merles Moores and Ruby Dibble, in multiple roles adds to the ensemble quality. After all, Scrooge's nightmare is peopled by individuals he knows; why not us? His nightmare is our dream for two hours that things really can change. The Rep ought to repeat the play until everyone in Kansas City wakes up one morning like Scrooge thinking, Yes, we can.
REVIEW:
A Christmas Carol
by Charles Dickens
Runs November 22 - December 27
Call or visit the website for performance times.
Spencer Theatre, 4949 Cherry, Kansas City, MO
For tickets call 816-235-2700 or online at www.kcrep.org
Theatre ,
Sister Meshugganah
Compared to the fates of the many heretics who have wrestled with the Roman Catholic Church over the centuries, Faust had it easy. His contract with Lucifer was a cakewalk when examined in the dark light of apostates who dared to contradict the tenets of the Church: the fifteenth-century philosopher Giordano Bruno was burnt at the stake; Galileo was imprisoned (and his case overturned only recently, five hundred years afterward); while Madonna's criticism was repaid by her marriage to Guy Ritchie. Writers, too, have had their difficulties: James Joyce's first book, the incomparable short-story collection, Dubliners, would never have seen the light of publication had the original printer who had been contracted to assemble the book had his way in refusing to see it through, because of what he viewed as Joyce's slander. In the rebellious 60's, the Irish authoress Edna O'Brien saw her début spoiled by her parish priest, who bought up all available copies of her book and burnt them on the church's steps-though better books than authors. Some writers mete out their own punishments in return; chief among contemporary playwrights is the imp Christopher Durang, who along with Wallace Shawn has demonstrated the savage streak that lurks behind the mask of propriety. The Unicorn Theatre's production of Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You focuses on the Church, but by evening's end the sister could be easily an ayatollah or a fringe rabbi. Durang has created an ecumenical monster-she might answer to Sister Meshugganah.
The one-act play keeps opening up like a maryushka nesting doll. After strolling down the side aisle to the stage, like a nun walking into a classroom nodding to her students, Sister Mary begins her day's lecture. She uses a slide projector to illustrate her comments on Heaven, Hell and Purgatory-one of the highlights is her list of sinners, which include various porn stars and, lastly, Adolph Comden and Betty Green: "Broadway musicals," she shudders deliciously-as well as the qualitative distinctions between mortal and venial sins. She answers questions from index cards, ignoring the repeated query "Why is there evil in the world?" yet happy to talk about her early family life. Gradually, we see more into Sister Mary than she seems to see, herself; as in a Hitchcock movie where the audience knows what the hero does not, we wait anxiously for the bomb to explode. It occurs in the second half, when four former pupils show up, ostensibly to present a Christmas Pageant for the good sister. As their own stories unfold, we discover that their years of training and being poked in the head with a pencil have shaped them, all right-only not the way that Sister Mary has come to expect. One woman is a lonely unwed mother ("You're a prostitute!" the nun blurts out); another has contemplated suicide; one man is an alcoholic and the last is homosexual. Dysfunction did not originate with Shakespeare, but the stage here is heavy with enough to keep Hamlet's family on their toes.
Sister Mary, played-or rather, incarnated-by Ron Megee, makes the Rev. Jeremiah Wright seem like Mother Teresa. Megee's scowling, twitching face and ever-moving hands draw in the audience immediately. The reverse casting feels natural, as if Durang had written in the script, "Use a woman if you must, but look for a man." After watching Megee, I wondered at the performances throughout the years by Lynn Redgrave, Diane Keaton and the like: Megee's edginess gives his performance an edge that an actress would need to affect, since so few of us know how to portray nuns. The grownup students, played by Rachel May Roberts, Gary Campbell, Ryan Laws, and Corrie VanAusdal, circle his fiery center like planets in his (or her) orbit. The spare set is matched by Jeff Church's direction. The actors seem as surprised by what they blurt out as the audience; as the stories build to Rachel May Roberts's keening monologue, which equals almost everything Sister Mary has presented before, Durang's attitudinal humor becomes shrapnel that scatters to the last row.
This is a comedy about tragedy. (Though what great comedy is not?) The more we see, the less we want to see: if Sister Mary's students had never shown up, she would continue on her merry way. Yet as it is, the play ends with her still in control, still content to be top dog. What exists, however, is the tiniest of cracks in the firmament. Christopher Durang wrote Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You in 1982. The years since have been unkind to the Church hierarchy. But who knows? Perhaps a playwright shall lead them into the Promised Land.
REVIEW:
The Unicorn Theatre presents
Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You
Runs now through December 28, 2008
Unicorn Theatre, 3828 Main Street, Kansas City, MO
For tickets call 816-531-PLAY or online to www.unicorntheatre.org
Dance,
Azteca dancers keep ancient traditions alive
Guadalupe Center was transformed into a wonderfully mysterious place, on Saturday, November 1st, for "el Dia de los Muertos" (The Day of the Dead). The Center was filled with the smell of incense, the vibrant sounds of native drums, the athletic leaps of dancers, and the exquisitely beautiful indigenous costumes, festooned with colorful feathers and bright beadwork. Playing traditional instruments, the native performers presented ancient songs, music, and dance to an appreciative audience.
The audience filled the small Guadalupe Center auditorium to capacity, spilling out into the lobby, and filling the balcony in order to take part in the Mexica ceremony to celebrate "el Dia de los Muertos". The dance performance by the Calpulli Tonalehqueh Aztec Dancers, (brought in from the National Hispanic University in San Jose, CA for the event), was part of an annual memorial service to honor those who have passed on.
The performance was given in an informal setting, very typical of small communities and folkloric events. The event did not follow a strict timetable, and local community leaders spoke in both Spanish and English, acknowledging those who helped the event come to fruition. Once the ceremonial music and dancing began, however, the audience was held in rapt attention.
Although the "Day of the Dead" is often considered a Mexican version of Halloween, and has been long associated with the Catholic All Saints' Day holiday, its history is actually much older with roots reaching back into antiquity. The original holiday has origins even older than the Aztecs (or "Mexica", the actual tribal name for the Aztecs), stretching as far back as the earliest known Mesoamerican civilization, the Olmec culture. In ancient times, the holiday was celebrated as a festival for several weeks. Different days were devoted to honoring different groups of people who had passed on. For example, one day would be devoted to honoring children and infants, another day would honor the elderly, another day would honor those who had fallen in battle, and another day would honor women who had died in childbirth. (Considered female fallen warriors who would ascend to a place of honor in the heavens).
This lively and colorful presentation was a smaller representation of a much larger tradition, but one that worked well for a community event. The dances were modified so as to be shorter and choreographically more aesthetic for modern audiences, but lacked none of the devotion or enthusiasm on the part of the dancers.
After the performance, there was a semi-private healing ceremony preformed for a young boy, Santos, who is struggling with cancer. The family had made a request for a special ceremony just for their child.
Members of Calpulli Tonalehqueh circulated after the performance, and the ceremony, to interact with audience members to allow photos, answer questions, and share information about ancient indigenous traditions and their participation in these traditions. They were very open about how they came to be involved with the Mexica dance and culture. The dancers all admit to having indigenous blood, although the actual genealogy may be somewhat murky.
"Many details of indigenous lineage are lost to history.... and people forget.... It is our hope to share our customs [by means of performance] with those who might not know that much about our culture, and to help us remember our own heritage," said singer, Temaquizcuini ("She Who Offers Songs"). "My own journey started when I saw a performance eight years ago... and it seemed like the drum called out to me to join the circle."
"Joining the circle is about reaching back to your roots," said dancer, Atezcazolli ("Ancient Wise Crystaline Stone"), dressed in white and red feathers. "But it is also a commitment... a commitment to yourself, to your group, to the ancient ways, and to the teachings you receive... each performance, each ceremony, each rehearsal is an opportunity to learn these ancient traditions."
The commitment of the dancers is apparent in their words and actions, as they describe the dances and explain the details of the costuming. The costumes are very expensive, costing thousands of dollars to assemble, not counting the labor of love required to create the costumes in minute detail. The feathers are very large, long and fragile. Each kind of feather used for the headdresses can range in cost from $10 to $25 for a single feather, and there are countless feathers contained in each costume.
"Each feather is very expensive, and the feathers come from a variety of bird species" said local folkloric dance teacher, Jaime Reyes. "I cannot imagine how much these costumes must cost."
Each dancer has been bestowed with a name during a ritual naming ceremony, a name that has been chosen for them by tribal leaders as appropriate for their character, destiny, and their place in the cosmos as related to the four elements. These tribal names are how the dancers introduce themselves to the public, complete with an explanation of the meaning of the words and the significance of the name.
"For example, my name means 'Four Faces' and refers to the directions of the four winds," said Nauhxayacatl. "We have each been given names that have been chosen for us as appropriate for our characters and where we are in the world."
Although more exposition during the performance would have been welcomed and appropriate, the dancers did not want to interrupt the ceremonial aspects of the presentation, and thus, preferred to explain the details of the dance after the event. The dancers were very approachable and patiently explained their experiences and devotion to the ancient customs, while also posing for numerous photos to anyone who asked.
Nauhxayacatl, the designated leader of the dance group, has been involved the longest with the dance, having grown up with the Mexica culture all around her. Her family has been involved with the Mexica movement for the last 20 years, and after several years of encouragement, she became active in the movement and has been involved for the past 15 years. In addition to teaching, lecturing, and performing, she also creates indigenous style artifacts, jewelry, and clothing.
"At first, the motivation for joining the circle is to learn about finding out who you are, and awakening genetic memory," said Nauhxayacatl. "Then it is about learning the culture, traditions, and customs, including the dance and the music.... Later, it is about taking the initiative to pass along that wisdom to the children, and finally, to share the traditions with everyone else around you. Ultimately, our traditions are about the future of humanity.... not just one culture or another, or about blood per se, but about eliminating boundaries that divide us as a people... as humans... how to learn to get along with each other... and with the environment... the earth... we have to find our way... it is about saving humanity and the planet."
REVIEW:
"Day of the Dead"
Calpulli Tonalehqueh Azteca Dancers
November 1, 2008 at 7p.m.
Guadalupe Center, 1015 Avenida Cesar E. Chavez
Photos by Mike Strong, KCDance.com
Dance,
An impressive show draws a large audience
UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance annual Choreofest Fall Concert treated audiences to an impressive array of choreography by both well-known artists in the field and dance faculty, performed heroically by the latest remarkable group of students in the dance program. Patrons turned out in large numbers on November 7 and 8, filling White Recital Hall nearly to capacity for both nights.
Each year, Conservatory dance students seem to get better, both coming into the program and going out. And this year's ensemble were true to form. Although these young dancers can sometimes get rattled and make minor errors, on the whole, their technique and performances were quite good and are at least competitive with local semi-professional dance groups.
The Conservatory's Dance Division has a good reputation for quality teaching and producing professional-ready dancer. It has really blossomed in recent years under the leadership of Mary Pat Henry and Paula Weber, and with the generous support of former Conservatory Dean, Randall Pembrook. And their efforts have certainly paid off. The UMKC Dance Program was recently academically accreditedon the whole. And so is the choreography that the dance students are performing.
Choreofest 2008 included performances of choreography by Robert Battle, Mary Pat Henry, DeeAnna Hiett, Sabrina Madison-Cannon, Paula Weber, Rodni Williams, and Twyla Tharp. The student arrangement of a popular Tharp work was quite competently performed by Chloe Abel, under the auspices of William Whitener, artistic director of the Kansas City Ballet.
The show opened with Off Center, choreographed by Paula Weber to the music by Kenji Bunch. This was a fun, contemporary ballet performed in white shorts and medium-length tutus. Entertaining and engaging, this ensemble piece gave the show a lively, light-hearted start.
The next piece on the program was In the Midst of.... Choreographed by modern dance faculty, Rodni Williams, to music by Full Circle and Diane Reeves, this dark, moody piece was a barefoot modern composition along the lines of Alvin Ailey with a dash of Alwin Nikolai, but in a style unique to Williams. The number was performed in skirts composed of ragged strips, under high-contrast earth-tone lights reminiscent of firelight. The Williams' work was effectively primal and woeful.
Next on the program was a delightful sextet, Cappriccio, choreographed by Conservatory Assistant Dean, Mary Pat Henry. Borrowing from the court dances of the Renaissance, Henry used steps that later became the roots for the classical ballet. Using the Renaissance forms of the Galliard and Volte as a character motif, Henry skillfully wove classical ballet steps into the court dance structure. It was choreographed to music by Carlo Farina, but performed by jazz violinist, Noel Pointer, giving the piece an added dose of whimsy.
The Twyla Tharp piece, Torelli, was arranged by a very promising student Chloe Abel, a junior in the dance program. No stranger to contemporary music, she is the daughter of famed KC jazz musician, Milt Abel. She distinguished herself early as a student at the Kansas City Ballet School, and was hand-picked by William Whitener, artistic director for the Kansas City Ballet to assist him when he reconstructed the Twyla Tharp piece, Deuce Coupe. She performed a section of it for the KC Ballet's Spring show last year. As a result, Abel was asked to teach the Torelli choreography to KC Ballet School students over the summer, which then lead to the opportunity to set the choreography for UMKC dance students. This was a task of extraordinary responsibility and skill for one so young, and speaks well to her abilities as future dancer, choreographer and dance mistress.
Abel was true to the Tharp style and timing, using all the dancers available to her in typical Tharp staging. The Tharp technique uses very natural movements in a style of choreography that overlapping layers of ensemble work one atop the other, making a very complicated, busy motif. It uses lots of dancers moving in lots of directions simultaneously, with overlapping vignettes. Despite the complexity, Chloe Abel and her dancers managed to pull off the intricate choreography with great enthusiasm, making a fine showing.
After the intermission, the show reopened with Igor Stravinsky's Ebony Concerto, played live by members of the UMKC Conservatory's Music and Wind Ensemble, conducted by Steven D. Davis and featuring Dr. Jane Carl as clarinet soloist. This barefoot modern piece was performed by a small ensemble of dancers dressed in brown unitards, and was a wonderful abstract interpretation of Stravinsky's stirring music.
Ironically, the next number was a contemporary ballet ensemble work, White, choreographed again by Dance Division Chair, Paula Weber. This was an award-winning piece that originally had been choreographed in 2004 for the Regional Dance Craft of Choreography Conference. It was a large ensemble piece with two couples dancing duets and a corps de ballet of 12 women, all in dressed in white leotards and tops. The choreography was very flowing and breezy, and because of the large number of dancers, by necessity, the choreography was also very tight and very coordinated.
Next on the program was a new arrangement of DeeAnna Hiett's outstanding work, Passage, set to music by Vas and Micky Hart. A recent recipient of the Charlotte Street Award, DeeAnna Hiett is returning after recovering from a serious knee injury last season to the Conservatory as tenured faculty in modern dance. Typical of Hiett's style, her choreography was performed in loincloths and panel skirts, which complimented the choreography. A barefoot modern piece set on three couples, this dance was exciting, stirring, primal, and very visual, bearing the distinct stamp of Hiett. A great crowd pleaser, the work received sustained applause and much yelling of approval.
Last on the program was Battlefields, choreographed by Robert Battle. Battle's dance group recently presented a dance concert at the Conservatory and agreed to work with students in a master class.
True to Battle's style (and his namesake), Battlefields was very militaristic and incorporated movements very suggestive of Battle's martial arts background. Many of the movements were counter-intuitive, and left the viewer guessing what the next move would be. It was also very energetic and athletic choreography requiring a great deal of stamina to execute. According to dance mistress, Sabrina Madison-Cannon, the stamina was probably the greatest challenge the piece presented to the students.
Battlefields was performed by a large ensemble of 18 dancers dressed in black pants and tops. It opened with the haze of artificial smoke under lighting that was very suggestive of a war-time scene in the trenches. This was a very strong piece set to very aggressive, percussive music by Les Tamboures Du Bronx. Caught up in the excitement of the sound of the music and the vivid imagery, the crowd responded with long, enthusiastic applause.
The concert was a high-powered evening of dance, competently executed by the UMKC students. Audiences should eagerly look forward to next year's Choreofest concert.
REVIEW
UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance presents
Choreofest 2008
Friday, November 7 at 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, November 8 at 7:30 p.m.
White Recital Hall, PAC, UMKC, KCMO
Photo by Mike Strong, KCDance.com
Dance,
Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre
Beneath the lovely, ornate facade of the beautiful Midland Theater, Kansas City dance audiences were treated this week to a varied set of concerts highlighting one of the biggest influences in contemporary concert dance choreography, the late Alvin Ailey.
The Alvin Ailey Dance Theater celebrates its 50th anniversary this year with a tour featuring a wide selection of pieces from their repertory in an historical retrospective of the company's work. Sponsored in a collaboration by the Kansas City Friends of Alvin Ailey, Harriman-Jewell Series and others, a number of different performances were presented.
The Thursday night and Sunday matinee programs featured Alvin Ailey's earlier works, mostly choreographed by Ailey himself. In the last few years of his life, before his untimely death in 1989, the company began to use more pieces from other choreographers that fit the Ailey style of dance.
This review will cover the special school performances given by the Ailey company for KC area school children, as well as the Saturday matinee.
Each show opened with a short video, titled Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater at 50 -- A Golden Anniversary Celebration , which gave a narrative account of the history of the Alvin Ailey dance company. This video served to give a context to audiences for the part of the repertory they would be viewing for that day's program.
The first number on the Thursday matinee's program was Night Creature (1958/1963), a 17-minute suite of Ailey's sensuous choreography interpreting the smoky jazz sounds of Duke Ellington. Performed in white and blue outfits, under patterned light designs, the mood of the piece was nocturnal and the moves were sinewy and fluid, articulating every part of the body to the bluesy rhythms.
The second piece on the program was the 1986 piece, Vespers choreographed by Ulysses Dove to the music, Quorum , by Mikel Rouse. Also running 17 minutes, the music for this piece is composed basically of complex combinations of electronic rhythms, and it is used as the vehicle to express in movement the internal emotional dialogues of women in a religious setting. Performed in simple, plain black dresses by an all-female cast in identical bun hairdos, the movements in this piece seemed to contrast the reaching for enlightenment with the earthy, raw (and often conflicted) feelings of female physical power. Dove, a former Ailey dancer, has had his choreography as part of the Ailey repertory since 1980. Dove successfully articulates the Ailey style within his own work, making an appropriate addition to company's repertoire.
The last work was a new addition to the Ailey repertory, Festa Barocca , choreographed by acclaimed Italian choreographer, Mauro Bigonzetti. This long piece (44 minutes), had several movements set to operatic music in contemporary Baroque style. The dance integrated classical moves, inspired by court dances, with athletic modern moves to present an almost satirical (and sometimes humorous) caricature of performance dance. This piece was almost reflective in its self-referencing pastiche, as the dance called on many styles and juxtaposed them in opposition with each other. Performed in colorful satin skirts on both male and female dancers, the complex choreography was often as challenging to watch as it was to perform, because of the concentration of complicated moves in a small amount of space and time, creating a flurry of activity. An unusual piece, it not only displayed a great deal of the dancers' technical ability, but also seemed to present a commentary on the evolution of dance into a very technical art form.
Comments:
The original Ailey works still have a great deal of power, and we tend to forget today how innovative his style was for its time. When Ailey began, the choreography was unique and new to audiences, as well as very political, since there were not mnay black companies at the time, especially those highlighting black culture in their themes. These early works still pack a wallop.
One wonders, however, where the Ailey company will go from here. So much of the Ailey movement and style has become an integral part of regular modern dance vocabulary, it is likely to either change its style (which it has over the years), or risk being frozen in time as codified masterpieces, not unlike the Balanchine ballets (which seems to have also occurred). It is always a difficult balancing act to try to capture the ephemeral art of dance, and inscribe it in some way, as a legacy work of art, and yet keep the creative work fresh and timely and relevant. Both approaches are very important and needed, but the approaches are often in conflicting tension with each other.
REVIEW:
Kansas City Friends of Alvin Ailey
Harriman-Jewell Series
Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre
November 13-16, 2008
Midland Theatre, Downtown Kansas City, MO
Dance,
Flamenco show offers insight into the art forms strengths and weakness
A very excited audience poured out of a packed Folly Theater last Saturday night abuzz with commentary and childlike giddiness. This is the bedazzling effect even the most banal Flamenco can have on a person (when a Flamenco show runs on all cylinders, it is a highly seductive and emotive catharsis for both performer and audience). Unfortunately this particular company seemed to sputter and stall until the last few pieces of their performance.
Flamenco is considered to be one of the world's most culturally rich expressions of dance and music. Arising from Andalucía, the southern region of Spain, Flamenco has evolved from the interaction of Spanish, Moorish, Jewish, and Gypsy cultures. Rhythms from Northern Africa and South America have also influenced this diverse art form. Universal themes of passion, honor, sorrow and love permeate to make it highly accessible to anyone. Many purists such as the famed Andalucían poet Federico García Lorca believe that once Flamenco is tainted with even the slightest hint of commerce it becomes invalid, leaving only the humble artists from Andalucía's pueblo culture to carry on the immense tradition of Flamenco's Cante Jondo (deep song). This conflict of "making a living" vs. "purity" have always generated enormous artistic problems for the modern Flamenco theatre production.
The Flamenco spectacle Kansas Citians witnesses last Saturday night was entitled Alma Flamenco (Flamenco Soul) and was created by the companies director, José Porcel (the only dance soloist on the program). There were six other company dancers, three female archetypal Spanish beauties and three grimacing males sporting the obligatory long-in-back, short-in-front Flamenco "mullet" hair style. They were accompanied with the full compliment of back-line Flamenco musicians (two guitars, two singers, percussion and flute). Although they were not actually present at the performance, the choreography and music was created by some of Spain's leading heavy weights, José Carlos Gómez, Jesús Torres, Rocío Molina and Isabel Bayón. Aside from Porcel and the flautist Fernando Bravo, no one in the entire company could have been more than 25 years of age. Although technically perfect, the "greenness" of the young performers was evident in the way that everything was present onstage but themselves.
The program was divided into eight palos (Flamenco forms) that are often so old than no one knows their original origins. The program opened with a Tanguillo, the lively dance originally from the joyful Andalucían town of Cadíz. While musically very compelling, the choreography suffered from what I call the "Flamenco Blob". One must understand that all Flamenco palos are usually realized with a single dancer reacting in an improvisatory manner with musicians. Aside from Porcel's two solos almost all of the choreography was performed as a group using set choreographies originally intended for soloists. This leads to the appearance of closely grouped bowling pins moving around the stage to the exact same choreography. While possibly appropriate for a dance school recital, in a professional setting it leads to very boring usage of so many bodies and so much room on a large stage.
The "Flamenco Blob" is endemic in theatre Flamenco and I really wish these fine young dancers were given more opportunity to work as soloists. One could see much individual personality and artistic ability during these group numbers within the company, particularly Ricardo Sanchez's steely line in the third number Fuerzas, which was based on the male dance "tour de force" known as the Farruca.
The one instance in which this ensemble treatment worked well was an absolutely beautiful Rondeña performed by the women near the end of the show. The first half of the dance accompanied the extraordinary solo playing of guitarists Rubén Campos - a welcome highlight to the entire evening. The women wore the famed "bata de cola" or long train dress that one sees on tourist postcards from Spain. From the balcony, this had the effect of an old Hollywood ensemble dance number as the dresses were kicked, thrown and spun around the stage in bright, colorful unison. They also played the castañuelas (castanets) very well, which is something rare in most modern Flamenco shows. I've always loved the way a dancers hand looks cupped around a castañuela.
The two solos offered by José Porcel could not have been more different in form or performance. Second on the program was a Seguirilla, one of the mother-forms of Flamenco and by far the most anguished and deep. The musical accompaniment is an incessant minor ostinato in twelve beats that feels as ancient as the gypsies themselves. In this company's rendering, this form seems to have been given a major dose Lexapro and a disingenuous smiley face.
The singer Manuel Soto sang one of the most famous verses of the Seguirilla "Siempre por los rincones" about a tortured soul who lives in the corners and shadows, but literally fantasizes that he could be a piece of furniture. Soto realized this psycho-drama in a modernized major key with light smooth-jazz like harmonies. I'm no staunch traditionalist, but some things should be left alone. Porcel's dancing was equally vapid and conveyed nothing of this majestic palo. The penultimate piece of the evening was Porcel's solo Alegrias a very light-hearted form, also from Cadíz, in which he pulled out everything he had for an amazing half hour solo with all the drama of a James Brown encore. He even wrenched much of his clothing off one piece at a time to hoots and hollers of the Folly audience. This was an absolute straight-up Alegrias with no funny business. The ensemble woke up from its long sleep and the push and pull of a great Flamenco performance was finally underway.
The finale was the traditional Fin de Fiesta Bulerias, a form that gets its name from the word bular (tomfoolery). It's the point in the performance where anything goes. Singer, musician and dancer often switch roles and the madness ensues. Another group choreography was offered utilizing chairs and a "guys vs. girls" interplay; But the highlight of this number was the singer Caridad Vega. She is definitely the artist to watch from this company as she sang every piece with absolute authority and an aficionado's respect of the great contributors of each style that came before her. Vega brought the emotion of the show to a personal climax when she left the back line to join the dancers upstage in a small circular group juerga style - just as if she were in an impromptu party in the streets of a small pueblo. Along with a commanding final song verse, she offered a few brief simple street dance moves that were filled with "aire,' demonstrating that in the art of Flamenco it's often not what you do but how you do it.
REVIEW:
Harriman-Jewell Series presents
Compañía Flamenco José Porcel
Saturday, November 15 at 8 p.m.
Folly Theatre, Downtown Kansas City, MO
Classical,
Judith conquers
The Friends of Chamber Music's presentation of Croatian singer Katarina Livljanić in the medieval work Judith on November 8 was the second concert in The Friends' Early Music Series this season.
Actually, the work doesn't quite qualify as "genuine" medieval music, although it comes close. As Livljanić, the producer and star of the one-woman show (with two instrumental accompanists) made clear in the production's program notes, the words of the presentation are taken directly from the work of the 15th-century Croatian poet Marko Marulic, based upon the Biblical* story of Judith. The poem had no music, however, and the musical score of the presentation was "a reconstruction, using Gregorian (Latin) and Glagolitic (Slavonic Croatian) sources of medieval Dalmatia, as well as Glagolitic chant from its oral tradition. So the music was found in "related music sources" and included "melodies corresponding to the suggestions of the original text." A scholarly medieval musician, Livljanić used "archaic melodic material...to create a new musical piece."
Regardless of the music's source, it well characterized the dramatic story of the scriptural heroine, and Livljanić's performance of the score, accompanied by a lirica (a traditional Croatian stringed instrument) and wooden flute, was dramatic and moving.
The performance utilized no sets, although the beautiful stone interior of Grace and Holy Cathedral, long one of this reviewer's favorite musical venues, served as an appropriate backdrop. A screen behind the performer served to hide the performers in various switches of scene, and even as a scrim when the instrumentalists behind it were occasionally lit. In general, the lighting of the piece was as effective as scenery would have been, especially in the key moment of the murder, when a sudden shift to red light bathed the scene in unexpected color.
Thankfully for the audience, the Croatian text was projected in translation above the performer, making the story easy to follow. The rise and fall of the melodic line was simple but effective, reminiscent of much of medieval music including the Gregorian tradition, and occasionally slipping into spoken lines. The performer was more of a narrator than a character, although clearly depicting the actions of Judith at appropriate moments. Minimal costuming was accomplished with a veil here, a wrap there, to suggest the heroine in various dresses at different points in the story.
As for the story of Judith, it is stark enough, and still controversial today: a young attractive Hebrew widow, seeking to free her people from the tyranny of the Assyrian conqueror Holofernes, seduces him and then murders him in his sleep, carrying forth his head to prove to her people that the tyrant is dead.
Members of the audience would never have seen this dramatic piece were it not for Livljanić's research and performance skills, which the audience rewarded with lusty applause. Livljanić served the story and the music well.
* The Biblical book of Judith is included in the Septuagint and the Roman Catholic version of the Bible, but not the Hebrew Bible or the Protestant Old Testament. It hails Judith as a heroine, and the text of the performance states that "Judith's glory shall last until the circle of this earthly world begin to burn," but the tale has become controversial in recent years, 2,200 years after its creation, as supporting the actions of some modern terrorists who have cited it as inspiration.
REVIEW
The Friends of Chamber Music presents
Katarina Livljanic in "Judith"
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral, Downtown Kansas City MO
Classical,
Estonian Chamber Choir & Tallin Chamber Orchestra
To be in hearing range of Tönu Kaljuste's twin ensembles, the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir and Tallinn Chamber Orchestra on Saturday night was to be intensely pulled toward the singers and instrumentalists, while at the same time transported in time and space.
Kaljuste, founder and long-time conductor of both ensembles, is the conductor for this U.S. tour, rather than present artistic director Daniel Reuss or former conductor Paul Hillier. The choir is, without question, rightly recognized as one of the best choirs in the world.
Kaljuste's program balanced the works of two of Estonia's most noted composers, each represented with an orchestral work and a large choral-orchestral composition. Although Arvo Pärt is much more better known in the United States as a choral composer, both Erkki-Sven Tüür and Pärt have considerable international reputations as orchestral composers as well.
The concert began with Tüür's orchestral work Passion, the second of a three-movement set for strings, Action-Passion-Illusion, dating from the mid-'90s.
From the earliest barely audible sounds from cellos and basses, the music was constructed in easily defined sections, each incorporating another adjacent body of strings, with added complications of musical patterns and fragments of melody, finally leaving the lower instruments until the highest violin pitches begin to form tone clusters, seeming to knot, untangle and drift away, leaving nothing save breathless silence.
Tüür's Requiem is, although constructed in discernable movements, actually a work entire. Although built on traditional requiem texts, he has eliminated sections from it, like Schubert and others before him, leaving it without liturgical purpose but a requiem for the concert listener.
The entering bass chant, low, solid and brimming with tone was arresting and wonderfully sung by the section of seven basses. As shimmering strings enter and longer chant like-like melodies appear, we were given the basic materials Tüür uses to construct his taut music. Long melodies, similar to the melodies of Hildegard of Bingen, were both cohesive and rhapsodic, almost always accompanied by multiple contrasting sounds - the drone of insistent pedal tones, gauzy clusters of strings, interruptions of the piano (making very un-pianistic sounds, rumblings and roaring, being played directly from the strings themselves). Several long phrases of accompanying treble voices in wordless slides and swoops managed somehow to lend connection and stability to the music going on around them.
The dense mixed voices singing the Lacrimosa text felt clutched together, and far from emotionally quieting. The Sanctus began with sudden clusters of melody, passing from violin to viola to cello, again in section-like form much like the Passion structure. TheRequiem ended as it began, with the dark, clear sounds of the basses sinking into the earth itself.
Arvo Pärt's Te Deum is a well-known work, and received as thrilling a performance as one is liable to hear. The Estonian singers were split into three choirs, women on one side of the orchestra and men on the other, with an eight-voiced mixed choir at the rear of the stage.
One of the most revealing parts of Kaljuste's vision of this piece was his tonal design for the choir, using the mixed choir for a very human sound, with vibrato consistently in the tone. The side choirs were steady and without vibrato, giving the structure a sense of something steady quite beyond humanity.
The Carlson Center's artistic director Charles Rogers is to be congratulated for bringing to this community an ensemble of such renown and consummate skill. Though many of us have long enjoyed their recordings, the reality of their expertise was very reassuring, and the audience's long standing ovation reassures us that audiences are ready for contemporary music in performances of this stature.
REVIEW:
The Carlsen Center at JCCC presents
Estonian Chamber Choir and Tallin Chamber Orchestra
Tönu Taljuste, conductor
Friday, November 7, 2008
Carlsen Center at JCCC, Overland Park, KS
Classical,
Emanuel Ax - Yefim Bronfman duo recital
Pianists Emanuel Ax and Yefim Bronfman, both renowned soloists in their own right, have been performing as a piano duo for a number of years, and with good reason. Their sensitive pianism, robust style in attacking the keyboard, and fluid communication make for a well-matched pair.
All of these strengths were on display at the Folly Theater on Thursday, November 6, as they performed under the sponsorship of the Harriman Jewell Series. Three of the featured works were classics of duo piano repertoire, but the fourth was the one that perhaps most intrigued the audience.
The recital opened with Brahms' brilliant Variations on a Theme of Haydn, where Brahms takes a simple theme and then embellishes it with increasing complexity in a series of eight variations, plus a final movement returning to the simple theme and then ending with a flourish. This allowed ample opportunity for the two pianists to showcase their formidable skills. In some of the variations they displayed an appropriate light touch and sensitive collaboration, but in later variations requiring a more robust attack, their vigorous pianism showed to best advantage. Mozart's Sonata for Two Pianos in D Major, the last piece on the first half, was deft and luscious, as you would expect.
The centerpiece of the first half of the program, however, at least to these ears, was contemporary composer William Bolcom's Recuerdos for Two Pianos. In the first two movements Bolcom calls for an airy, dancelike technique with a few dissonances thrown in to leave the audience guessing, now and then, but not often, whether the two pianists are on precisely the same measure. These charming passages reminded this listener of an immaculately dressed elderly high-heeled lady stepping not too accurately down the walk, perhaps staggering just a bit because of lameness but determined to carry off a good show. The music was vaguely satirical of much of the classic two-piano repertoire.
The third movement of Bolcom's work, however, required the pianists to pull out all of the stops and embrace an energetic attack. These two showmen were more than up to the task. The audience loved it, as did I, and I was a little disappointed upon purchasing the Ax-Bronfman compact disc at intermission to find out that the Bolcom was not on it (the recording is strictly Brahms).
The recital's second half was given over to Rachmaninoff's Symphonic Dances for Two Pianos in three longish movements, filled with the predictably sweeping Rachmaninoff melodies and lush Romantic support which made this Russian composer, himself a formidable pianist, one of the most popular if backward-looking of twentieth century masters. His underlying Russian sensibility only adds to this music's appeal.
For an encore Ax and Bronfman played a delightful Slavonic Dance from Dvorak, sitting at the same piano rather than at two instruments, proving, as Ax noted in an aside to the audience, that the two of them could share the same keyboard when they had to.
In all, the evening was an outstanding reminder of the excellence of two of today's masters, who have lost none of their ability to charm and thrill during their decades-long careers.
REVIEW
Harriman-Jewell Series presents
Emanuel Ax - Yefim Bronfman recital
Thursday, November 6, 2008
The Folly Theater, Downtown Kansas City, MO
Classical,
Village Choir’s Faure feeds the body and the soul
Professional musicians are a cynical lot. Almost every one of us have participated in church work at one time or another, and as a rule a number of us make regular appearances alongside volunteer, that is non-professional, ensembles. These experiences are sometimes positive, sometimes very negative but most often painfully mediocre. It was this expectation of ‘pretty-good-but-not-spectacular’ that was shattered when I attended Sunday’s performance of Faure’s Requiem and Philips’ Dies Gratie given by the Choirs of Village Presbyterian Church. On the whole the concert was expertly prepared and stunningly delivered.
The Village crew wisely chose to use John Rutter’s edition of Faure’s work that corrects the numerous errors in the score perpetuated by the original edition prepared by one of Faure’s students. Rutter’s reconstruction’ also restores Faure’s intent regarding orchestral forces and eliminates all violin parts with the exception of a solo obligatto violin. With violas as the top sounding instrument, the choral timbre cut through the orchestra with remarkable effect and powerful clarity. Not only were all parts easily heard but they meshed together is a rich sonic mélange that exhibited beautiful tone from all players and singers and was delivered with the rhetorical subtlety often missing in other performances of this work. I think that the absence of the uppermost string lines allowed this to happen to great effect. No offense to my many friends in the violin playing community, but if this is purely the result of letting the violas ‘drive,’ I’m all in favor of future works along this line.
In a remarkable display of professionalism, the choir and players all seemed to take cues from each other to function as a well-oiled machine propelled by symbiotic synergy. Singer’s phrasing was echoed by the instrumentalists and vice versa. I never felt as though any singer or player ever undermined the communal effort. Apart from the excellent ensemble of adult voices and orchestral musicians, particular standouts in the Faure included Geoff Goyer’s skilled Hostias and Judy Bliss’ even and elegant Pie Jesu.
The Village Voices, a small chamber group of Middle and High School age students also made significant and beautiful contributions in the Sanctus and in Paradisum. Young violinist Ian Wisemann played his two obligatto passages with panache and all the indicators of continued success as a violinist. He wisely played a beautiful, simple, and never over-romanticized tone. Stephen Casurella conducted the work with a sense of stability and grace befitting it, and always seemed to be assisting the music rather than controlling it.
Craig Phillips’ Dies Gratiae: Requiem Reflections with texts by John Thornburg was an excellent partner to the Faure, both in terms of sound and rhetoric. Each movement was divided up into two sections. The first, a direct quote or ‘prologue’ from the Requiem Mass; the second, a Reflection upon the Requiem text. The musicians grappled well with Phillips’ sometimes thorny passages and delivered the text up with a sense of straightforward ambiguity that left room for many different levels of meaning to be discerned from the text. Although well delivered, the prologues sometimes seemed a bit stilted, and left me wanting for a slightly more profound musical delivery of the ancient texts. Thornburg’s text was rife with memorable lines such as “I searched to see if underneath my masks a person could be found.” His inclusion of a powerful series of ‘one-liners’ from the Torah and the New Testament in the penultimate movement, lent credence to the idea of a less exclusively Christian interpretation of the Requiem texts.
The choir served up excellent and clear diction, and both Kathy Joyce’s tender solo in the third movement and Matthew Shepard’s organic and beautifully rendered solo in the second movement played effectively into the drama of the piece. Echoes of the juxtaposition of Wilfred Owen’s texts with Requiem texts as constructed by Benjamin Britten in his War Requiem certainly seemed appropriate.
It wasn’t a perfect performance; there were very occasional intonation issues, and some unclear releases of unvoiced consonants. However, it was entirely successful and musically satisfying for me as a listener and I was seldom, if ever, distracted by these occasional ‘bumps’. This concert, presented under the auspices of a benefit for the Village Food Pantry, certainly nourished my soul. In a society where many church music programs have abdicated their prior tasks of producing fine artistic content, or only pay it occasional lipservice, the music department at Village Presbyterian Church seems to really understand what it is to select fine pieces that have stood against the ebb and flow of trendy fads. Furthermore, they have concentrated on presenting them in a fashion that is artistically sound rather than hijacking them for a particular event and then resorting to disposable music for the remainder of the year. They stand amongst a handful of exceptional congregations in this fine city that deserve our admiration, respect, and support. I can only look forward to future musical offerings from these upstanding members of our musical and broader community and wish Mark Ball and his crew continued success.
The Village Choir, Village Voices, and orchestra
Faure Requeim and Phillips Dies Gratiae: Requiem Reflections
Sunday November 2 at 5 p.m.
Village Presbyterian Church
Classical,
Jitro brings world-class singing
Imagine sitting in a beautiful space preparing yourself to hear the singing of children - when 25 high school-aged young women stride purposefully onto the stage and explode into singing that is so brilliant in clarity and depth that that there is nothing to do but sit, stunned, and let the sound capture all in its path with beauty. Here it is again... and again.
Kansas City is surely experiencing choral music concerts that would ennoble any concert hall anywhere.
It is virtually impossible to understate the high quality of the singing The Children's Choir Jitro offered in their wide-ranging concert at Visitation Catholic Church on Wednesday, October 29 as a part of Visitation¹s concert series. If the term "world-class" has any validity, it surely applies to this choir. From the modestly sized city (100,000) of Hradec Králové in the Czech Republic, Jitro stands atop a local school of singing that encompasses choirs from pre-school to adult mixed ensembles. The Skopal family has maintained and strengthened this tradition, now with conductor Dr. Jiri Skopal who, with his son Jiri, mark the family's third and fourth generations. Dozens of concerts in major concert halls all over Europe, the United States and Japan testify to their durability and excellence.
Jitro's concert in Kansas City included works from the Renaissance and Baroque eras by Gallus, Lotti, Vodnansky and Pergolesi. Lotti's Crucifixus a 8 made the transition from an eight-part mixed voice motet to eight-part treble much more successfully than the GallusAscendit Deus, which was hampered by a tempo so brisk that the part interplay was largely lost in a mishmash of sound - even if it was beautiful sound. The choir was captivating in its singing of Verdi's Laudi alla Vergine Maria, from the Quatra pezzi sacra, as well as Randall Thompson's American classic Alleluia. Having never heard Thompson's piece in the arrangement for treble voices only, this hearer felt introduced to an almost new work, with edgy harmonic relationships that are simply not so close and pungent in the mixed choir version.
Contemporary composer Henk Badings would have been amazed at the intonation and harmonic tension during his mesmerizing Kyrie eleison, sung with winning heartfelt expression. Speech and singing, complete with slides and whoops, marked Fekka Rostiainen's music, and was met with surprise and much delight from the audience of more than 300.
The concert's second half was given over to the music of Benjamin Britten and Petr Eben. Eben, who died in 2007 after enjoying a successful international career, seems to be the choir's great favorite. This was reflected in the number of his works included in this concert, as well as in the choir's repertory over many years. Eben's music is filled with fluid, seductive melodies, while still exploring the outer reaches of standard tonal harmonies. It was during Eben's Liturgicke zpevy that the top soprano part seemed to have a spell of fatigue, causing some flatting of the pitch; however, they recovered completely during the rest of the program, returning to their pitch-perfect singing. Benjamin Britten's Ceremony of Carols received a performance marked by full-voiced chant, and a rhythmic vigor and precision not often encountered in ensembles so young. Every note of this well-known work satisfied, and there were enough moments of tender clarity to melt even the coldest heart.
A pre-concert presentation offered an opportunity to hear two local choirs of young women, Schola Cantorum from Lee's Summit High school, conducted by Chris Munce and Filia, and another from the Community Music and Dance Academy of UMKC, conducted by Jennifer Benjamin. To conclude the concert the combined choirs sang jazz-great Oscar Peterson¹s Hymn to Freedom with great élan.
REVIEW
Visitation Fine Arts Society presents
Jitro
Wednesday, October 29 at 7:00 p.m.
Visitation Church, 5141 Main Street, Kansas City, MO
Classical,
Willam Baker Singers open 11th season
The 36-member William Baker Festival Singers opened their 11th season from the choir gallery in the rear of the Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral, singing Samuel Barber's well-known and much-performed Agnus Dei. Barber's otherworldly sounds were assisted by the choir's location, creating an additional sense of distance to good effect. The singing was beautiful with solid intonation, a laudatory feat in itself.
Stephen Paulus's Pilgrim's Hymn is a lovely setting of a poem by Michael Dennis Browne, excerpted from Paulus's opera The Three Hermits. The simple syllabic setting was a good foil for the Barber.
From the front of the cathedral, Baker paired a brilliant homophonic Baroque work with one whose simultaneous melodic lines (polyphonic) are independent of each other. It was during the beautiful singing of Tallis' A New Commandment that the choir's rather unfocussed, blurred tone didn't change appreciably. This was the trade-off. While making the choir's admirable blend much more accessible, it tended to rob them of the possibility of changing the sound to reflect the ethos of each piece. This proved to be the case during the most of the concert.
Michelle Patton sang well in an arrangement of the American folk song In the cool of the day, the first of three folk song settings, all capably sung. The choir seemed to be truly in its element here. During My song in the night, the singing was without audible diphthongs in words like My (mah), Night (naht) and Joy (jaw). While this technique did manage to keep the diction uniform, it was a distracting aberration from standard American English. However, Melissa Overton sang this beautifully.
The centerpiece of the concert was Sir John Tavener's Village Wedding. The music moved back and forth from tenor soloist to choir to treble choir and from lively text to chant-like responses. Jacob Rodman did fine tenor work. Tavener's piece is a modest, but not easy, masterpiece, and Baker's singers are to be congratulated for tackling it. There remained a few loose ends to tidy up, but the piece was well suited to the choir, despite some places when the pitch tended to wander.
William Dreyfoos, the arranger of a set of Holocaust songs, was present to hear the presentation of his work. The songs proved to be simple and moving, with plaintive eastern-European inspired melodies, and Dreyfoos wisely didn't try to overburden them with complexity in these settings. Melissa Ann Shallberg was a touching soprano soloist.
The program closed with three African-America- inspired works. Spirituals are a specialty of the choir, and Baker always pleases his audience and singers by including them in most concert programs.
A setting of Psalm 23 by the noted orchestral and choral composer Adolphus Hailstork, was the final piece. Hailstork, through his skills as an experienced composer and augmented by his African-American heritage, managed to deliver a work that balanced seemingly different worlds, even sliding into a gospel-almost-bluesy feeling for a while. Pianist Wayne Smith played beautifully, as always.
William Baker has built a good choir and a loyal audience. He seems to have hit upon ways to aid the enjoyment, credibility and success of his ensemble. The group rotates many spirituals and folk songs over time, creating a repertory that the singers can sing from memory and can be used for a good portion of many concerts, therefore ensuring that not every singer is preparing an entire concert at the beginning of every season.
He has also chosen to have the group sing with a tone that gives quick cohesion and blend. Of course, the downside of that choice is that almost everything tends to sound rather alike, although it must be noted that the same thing can be said of many fine ensembles that choose to make a particular sound choice identifiable as their "sound."
A good concert by a good choir offers an enjoyable afternoon.
Classical,
Requiem for Broken Souls
To enter the cave-like room that is the sanctuary of Community Christian Church is to immediately feel a connection with those around you - perhaps 150 others - and the intent focus below and forward where the choir and orchestra sit, ready to begin. Perhaps this sense was created by the occasion: a concert sponsored by Artistic Advocates for Healing featuring the first performance of a work called Requiem for Broken Souls by Barbara E. Garrett, for soloists, mixed choir and orchestra.
The chorus was made up of members of the Heartland Men's Chorus and Kansas City Women's Chorus as well as several students from Missouri Western State University and other local players. Maestro Joseph Nadeau held things together with a sense of steady firmness throughout this difficult work.
Barbara Garrett's work calls out to be taken seriously. It began with heart-rending poetry and other texts, some written by her, interspersed throughout the standard requiem mass texts. Her musical approach to the mass was utter disorientation. This continued through the first two movements with an almost queasy confluence of never-settling lines without discernable tonal orientation or cadential shape until the movement ended suddenly with startling a two-beat triadic cadence.
The utter aimlessness of the melodic lines pictured the chaos of those whose lives have been interrupted by domestic violence, especially children. The music was composed polyphonically, with several lines of simultaneous melodies, but in this case each one was without any discernable relationship to the other. Players have little difficulty reproducing this kind of music, but singers must struggle to begin on their entering pitches - much less stay on track.
One good thing about this kind of writing is that it can be very difficult to know whether lines are correct or not, so the overall effect is not greatly damaged by problem pitches. Such a lack of orientation makes for very difficult listening though. And it is challenging to search for some kind, any kind, of orientation to provide a sense of context for the never-ceasing moving lines of eighth-notes, without sense of shape or cadence until those two final chords of each movement. That the chorus and orchestra sometime struggled to sing their parts with enough brilliance and power to be heard clearly was no surprise.
The Dies Irae relaxed slightly with pairings of solo voices or voice and single instruments, with the Quid sum Miser soon falling back into the directionless eighth-note melodic wandering.
In the a cappella Recordare, for women's voices, parallel vocal lines sounded as a canon. The singers struggled somewhat to keep things together
Garrett's insertion of the Gloria, not a regular part of the requiem, was both startling and a great relief. Some fine brass section playing, particularly first horn Peter Jilka and trumpet play TJ Menges, was aided by the straightforward form and catchy, upbeat melody. By the time the movement had ended and the opening refrain had returned several times in a quasi-ritornello form, some light had broken through.
The rest of the Requiem had more sense of direction, with movement toward a discernable goal. Even when the initial continuous earlier movement returned, it seemed less lost. Alternating sections of choir, soloists, men's and women's voices made for very interesting listening, with the brass, wind and string sections joining in statements against each other.
A beautiful choral unison line appeared in In paradisum, and the final movements used well-paced chant-like melodic lines to good effect. Though overlong, the Lux Aeterna andPax did indeed move heavenward, with a sense of peace and timelessness.
The four soloists should receive medals for handling their very demanding parts with generally good aplomb. Finding pitches from a musical fabric which gave little or no sense of anchor, must have been daunting; with entrances often seemingly plucked from the ether. This challenge continued, on occasion, throughout the entire work, making the soloists candidates for combat pay as far as pitches were concerned.
Tenor Andrew Childs was the strongest of the soloists. Childs has a clear, beautiful voice with upper range power, good balance in middle and lower registers, and excellent diction. It will be good to hear him again.
Counter-tenor Chad Payton acquitted himself well, with generally clear diction and an interesting bloom in the upper voice that almost sounded like a contralto in full flight, with round fullness of sound and a generous vibrato. Throughout the middle and lower voice there was a gradual clarifying and focus of the tone.
Soprano Lucille Windsor has a beautiful voice and, though occasionally struggled with Garrett's difficult lines, sang beautifully the entire evening, maintaining both ease and power in the upper range
Mark J. Van Order was a capable and steady bass with a warm, less focused tone. Van Order had a more difficult time balancing the other voices and orchestra, at least partially because of the middle and lower ranges of the lines he was given.
This work cannot but help remind each thinking person of the troubling plight of friends and neighbors who are victims of domestic abuse. Barbara Garrett has managed to shine a light on them and remind us that we are, indeed, our brother's and sister's protectors and caregivers.
REVIEW:
Artistic Advocates for Healing presents
Requiem for Broken Souls
Friday, November 1, 2008
Community Christian Church
Dance Around the City,
Dance Column for November 17 - December 1
City in Motion Dance Theater presents
New Voices Dance Concert
Friday, November 21 at 8 p.m.
Saturday, November 22 at 8 p.m.
3925 Main, Kansas City, MO
One of the most active and visible dance groups in the Kansas City area, City in Motion presents dance ranging from student performances to professional-level concert work. A not-for-profit organization, CIM also offers dance lessons on scholarship to area children, opportunities for students of all ages to perform, and semi-professional performances for various civic and community events.
This particular show is the second concert in the New Voices Series, and will showcase new, original works of dance, created and performed by the teachers, choreographers and talented students who work with City in Motion, (including those of Ann Shaunassey, Tiffiny Sizemore, Jared Solace, Matt Carney, Jane Gotch, and others). This event is a fund-raiser for the organization to support dance in the community and will be held as a studio concert at the City in Motion school.
For tickets call 816-561-2882 or www.CityInMotion.org
Carlsen Center at JCCC presents
Irving Berlin's "I Love a Piano"
Friday, November 21 at 8 p.m.
Saturday, November 22 at 8 p.m.
Carlsen Center at Johnson County Community College
College and Quivera, Overland Park, KS
This nostalgic musical takes a journey through time to present American history through the eyes, song, and music of Irving Berlin. It is an historical retrospective of Berlin's work presented in a delightful show of music, song, and dance. The show highlights some of Berlin's most popular works, including such family favorites as God Bless America, Puttin' on the Ritz and White Chrismas, as well as others.
Berlin's music never fails to give hope and inspiration to patrons, and epitomizes the very image of Americana and family. This is an event that would be very approprite entertainment for the holidays and a delight for family members of all ages.
For tickets call (913) 469-4445
or online at www.jccc.net/home/depts.php/001440/site/Chronological_Listing
Seamless Dance Theatre presents
Tomorrow's Too Late
Saturday, November 22 at 8 p.m.
Gem Theater,
18th & Vine Jazz District
Kansas City, MO
Founded by UMKC Conservatory alum, Erin Novak, Seamless Dance Theatre is a not-for-profit dance company that offers free performances to area school children, and performs in concert several times each year. Influenced by Horton, Graham, Lewinsky styles of modern dance, Novak feels that dance is a way for the artist to communicate to the audience without words.
This concert, their third as a professional company, presents Tomorrow's Too Late, which takes as its theme that it is important to live "in the moment", i.e., act now, live for today... for tomorrow may be too late. The concert will feature Erin Novak capably executing her multiple roles as artistic director, choreographer, and lead dancer, as well as featuring out-of-town talent, such as Julius Rubio, from Los Angeles, CA, who will be performing with the group.
This up and coming dance group, performing exciting and contemporary choreography, is definitely worth watching.
Tickets are available at the door or at www.SeamlessDance.com
Dance Around the City,
Dance Column for November 3 - 16
Kacico Dance presents
Choreographer Showcase at the Lawrence Arts Center
Friday, November 7 at 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, November 8 at 7:30 p.m.
Lawrence Arts Center, Lawrence, KS
Kacico Dance is a barefoot contemporary dance company that specializes in original works, and dance compositions that often interact or engage the audience, and appeals to all ages. One of the most prolific dance companies in the Kansas City Area, Kacico Dance is always innovative, interesting, and experimental. They will be present their Choreographer Showcase at the Lawrence Arts Center.
For more information go to www.kacicodance.org
UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance
Choreofest Fall Dance Concert
Friday, November 7 at 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, November 8 at 7:30 p.m.
White Recital Hall, Performing Arts Center,
UMKC, 4949 Cherry St., KCMO 64110
The annual Conservatory Choreofest showcases the choreographic talents of the Dance Division Faculty and other well-known choreographers. Their works are set on the talented dance students of the Conservatory, giving the students semi-professional experience on the concert stage and giving the public an opportunity for quality entertainment at minimal cost. This year's program includes the choreography of Paula Weber (Off Center, White), Rodni Williams (In the Midst of...), Mary Pat Henry (Cappriccio), Twyla Tharp (Torelli), Sabrina Madison-Cannon (Ebony Concerto), and Robert Battle (Battlefields). The Ebony Concerto piece will also feature the live music of the Conservatory Wind Symphony playing music composed by Igor Stravinsky, and featuring clarinet soloist, Jane Carl.
For tickets visit conservatory.umkc.edu/calendarofevents.aspx
Harriman Jewell Series presents
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
Thursday, November 13 at 7:30 p.m.
Midland by AMC, 1228 Main St., Downtown Kansas City, MO
For tickets call 816-415-5025 or online at harriman-jewell.org
Presented by Kansas City Friends of Alvin Ailey
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
Friday, November 14 at 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, November 15 at 2:00 p.m.
Sunday, November 16 at 2:00 p.m
Midland by AMC, 1228 Main St., Downtown Kansas City, MO
For tickets call 816- 471-6003 or online at
www.ticketmaster.com or www.midlandkc.com
This year, the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater Company is celebrating its 50th anniversary since founding, the 40th year since its debut in Kansas City in 1968, and the 25th year since the establishment of the Friends of Alvin Ailey in Kansas City. The Company returns to Kansas City under the artistic direction of Judith Jamison, and features pieces from the popular Alvin Ailey repertoire. The program includes excerpts from Blues Suite (1958), Streams (1970), Choral Dances (1971), Mary Lou's Mass (1971), The Lark Ascending (1972), Hidden Rites (1973), Night Creature (1975), Phases (1980), Landscape (1981), For "Bird" -- With Love (1984), Caverna Magica (1986), Opus McShann (1988), and Cry (1971). The program will also feature one of Alvin Ailey's most famous pieces, Revelations (1960), presented in its entirety.
Charlotte Street
Foundations Awards Show
Friday, November 14 at
Copaken Stage, One H&R Block Way,
13th between Main & Walnut
The Charlotte Street Awards for Generative Performing Artists, a new program designed to nurture and stoke the grassroots performing arts community in Kansas City will be held on Friday, November 14. These Awards aim to support and recognize outstanding, innovative, original generative performing artists with unrestricted cash awards, as Charlotte Street Awards to Visual Artists have done for over a decade.
Envisioned as an annual program, these Awards are intended to recognize artists in the fields of dance, theater, music, experimental music performance, theater/performance art, and hybrid/interdisciplinary versions.
This year's recipients are dancer DeAnna Hiett, producer/actor Ron Megee, and musician Mark Southerland. Each artist will perform a live original work in lieu of an awards ceremony in honor of the occasion.
For tickets 816-235-2700 or charlottestreet.org
Harrian Jewell Series presents
Compañía Flamenco José Porcel
Saturday, November 15 at 8 p.m.
Folly Theater, 12th and Central
in Downtown Kansas City, MO
Spanish-born José Porcel is a dancer and choreographer who is known for his unique style of Flamenco dance that blends both traditional and contemporary themes. Accompanied by live music and song, this vibrant company of lithe dancers present Ballet Flamenco. Their raw, sensuous interpretation of the dance breathes new life into what we think of as Flamenco. This year's program, Alma Flamenco, includes "Aire Fresco", "Soledad", "Fuerzas", "Vivencias", "Union", "A Mi Manera", "Fiesta Flamenco", and "Mujeres", which is a Kansas City debut.
For tickets call 816-415-5025 or online at harriman-jewell.org
The Lion King
October 2 through November 16
Kansas City Music Hall, 301 West 13th Street, Kansas City, MO.
The Lion King is the award-winning Disney film adaptation for the Broadway stage. Awarded Best Musical, the show captures the narrative portrayed by the Disney film in colorful costumes, song and dance, as well as African culture and themes. The musical production is delightful entertainment suitable for the entire family.
For tickets visit www.ticketmaster.com
City Stage,
Theatre Column for November 24 - December 8
Now Running...
Chunk Light and Filled with Fun: John-Michael Zuerlein & Jim J. Bullock in AHT's A Tuna Christmas. Photo by Shane Rowse
American Heartland Theatre (AHT)
A Tuna Christmas
by Jaston Williams, Joe Sears & Ed Howard
November 6 - December 28
American Heartland Theatre (Crown Center 3rd level)
For tickets call 816-842-9999 or online atwww.ahtkc.com
A Tuna Christmas is a hysterical two-person show depicting the zany characters of Tuna, Texas - the third smallest town in Texas! From a disastrous production of A Christmas Carol, a haunted 15th annual lawn display contest, and only 24 hours left until Christmas, witness how the townspeople of Tuna cope with it all! Join Jim J. Bullock from T.V.'s Too Close for Comfort and The Hollywood Squares, and John-Michael Zuerlein from AHT's Perfect Wedding and A Dog's Life, as they take us on this holiday hoopla and hooray.
The Coterie Theatre
Seussical
By Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty
Runs November 11 - December 28, 2008
Crown Center (lower level)
For ticket call 816-474-6552 or online at www.coterietheatre.org
A production that won three Drama Desk Awards and a Tony for Best Actor in a Musical (Kevin Chamberlin as Horton), Seussical received a very warm applause from audiences in New York. After some 34 previews and 198 performances, the Broadway production closed on May 20, 2001. However, this fantastical musical was revived and rewritten here in the Metropolis. The Coterie Theatre was critically acclaimed by The New York Times for originating this version suitable for all ages, and is now one of the most performed musicals by educational theatres across the country. Using several characters from Dr. Seuss's classic stories and taking plots from Horton Hears a Who and Horton Hatches the Egg, book writers and composers Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty (known for such musicals as Ragtime and Once On This Island) musically weaved the two stories together to create an adventure suitable for elementary children and adults alike. Filled with learning opportunities in courage, risk-taking, and recognizing perspectives of others, this production doesn't just entertain it captivates. If you're a teacher looking for a field trip,Seussical has curriculum ties in communication arts, literature, science and social studies.
Attending to the attendant: Craig Benton (Bernard) and Heidi Van (Gloria) in New Theatre's Boeing-Boeing. Photo by Mark Baltzley
The New Theatre Restaurant
Boeing-Boeing
By Marc Camoletti
Runs November 12, 2008 - February 1, 2009
9229 Foster, Overland Park, KS.
For tickets call 913-649-SHOW or online atwww.newtheatre.com
Praised as the "best dinner theatre operation in the country," by The Wall Street Journal, The New Theatre Restaurant presents the 2008 Tony award winning Best Revival of a Play Boeing-Boeing; a retro comedy of farce and mayhem. Bernard, a bachelor, is juggling three airline stewardesses (yes, three!) who are also his fiancés. With the help of his traffic controlling housekeeper (Marla Gibbs from television's The Jefferson's) Bernard manages to balance each relationship by juggling flight schedules and near misses. With the arrival of the new double speed Super Boeing, and his old college pal Robert, a comedic whirlwind ensues as we watch the bombastic bachelor balance love by trick and skill. A major hit in London's West End and still running on Broadway with Christina Baranski at the helm, artistic directors Richard Carrothers and Dennis Hennessy bring another contemporary production to their tasty stage.
Quality Hill Playhouse
Christmas in Song 2008
Runs November 20 - December 28, 2008
303 W. 10th Street in Kansas City's Art District
For tickets call 816-421-1700 or online at www.qualityhillplayhouse.com
Proclaimed as Kansas City's most intimate theatre, Quality Hill Playhouse has its own niche in the metropolis theatre scene as presenters of musicals and cabaret. This year's annual holiday event holds true to their mission. Christmas in Song 2008 will help ring in this holiday season with music and cheer. The first act features of Christmas favorites followed by a more contemporary second act.
Kansas City Repertory Theatre (KC Rep)
A Christmas Carol
By Charles Dickens
Runs November 22 - December 27, 2008
Spencer Theatre
For tickets call 816-235-2700 or online at www.kcrep.org
In his classic novel of the same title, Charles Dickens used the word carol as a metaphor for what was to happen to the tales protagonist. Knowing the word meant "a joyful hymn" he understood his story to be far from joyful. Continuing with this theme of music, he divided his story into five staves like the five staff lines in music with rising action that resembled a crescendo, as seen in musical compositions. In the end, however, as we go on the transformative journey with Ebenezer Scrooge, darkness becomes light; from death comes life. This universal theme has made A Christmas Carol a favorite each holiday season.
During their 1981-82 season, KC Rep mounted the first production of A Christmas Carolwhich quickly became a beloved Kansas City holiday tradition. This year's production is directed by Linda Ade Brand and will mark her eighth directorial production of this Dickens' classic here in the metropolis. Brand has been praised by critics and theatre aficionados for "keeping the annual production fresh and true to Dickens' intentions." Assistant artistic director, Kyle Hatley, along with Brand, was given the charge to diversify this year's cast. The result has many veteran and seasoned actors reprising their roles, along with some new surprises and casting choices.
One more thing: Be sure to catch this year's production, rumor has it that Kansas City may see an all new version of this Dickens fable next Christmas.
Unicorn Theatre
Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All
By Christopher Durang
Runs November 21 - December 28, 2008
3838 Main Street
For tickets call 816-531-PLAY or online at www.unicorntheatre.org
Giving her yearly lecture on heaven, hell and the truth behind Sodom, Sister Mary Ignatius truly does explain it all until ex-students come crashing in to perform Sister Mary's least favorite Christmas play. Making it clear that they loath Sister Mary for pounding her dogma during their formative years, their disturbing, yet funny tales, turn Sister Mary into a very angry nun. Outraged and upset, the now indignant woman of the cloth performs a cleansing ritual to damn out their demons and restore them to faith and glory. Written by one of America's most hysterical comedic playwrights, Christopher Durang weaves in reflections of ourselves as we laugh at the hilarities of being human in a religious world. Ron Magee, as Sister Mary Ignatius, is joined by an experienced comedic cast who will have you keeling over with laughter. For the most sinful or the most spiritual audience members you can up-grade your seat for $10 and sit at the front of the class in Sister Mary's special Communion Cabaret Seating, but you must order by phone to take advantage of this opportunity.
One more thing: Unicorn Theatre will host Play Before the Play Party on December 11th at 6:30pm in their theatre lobby. This special event is a great way to meet other like minded and artistic people from around the metropolis.
Theatre for Young America
The Little Snow Girl
Runs December 2 - 30, 2008
H&R Bloch City Stage (Union Station lower level)
For tickets call 816-460-2020 or online at www.unionstation.org
For more information visit www.tya.org
Based on Russian folk tale titled "The Legend of Snegurochka," The Little Snow Girl is the story of a girl who was made from the frost and snow to bring happiness to an old couple. When the couple's love turns into greed, the little girl leaves to return to the winter land she came from. However, a magical effect takes place when the girl realizes the couple is filled with heartbreak and loving remorse. Connecting curriculum with Russian culture, family dynamics, fantasy, folklore and adoption, this winter tale is appropriate for preschool children and up.
Unicorn Theatre
The Women of Brewster Place: The Musical
By Tim Acito
Runs December 5, 2008 - January 11, 2009
3838 Main Street
For tickets call 816-531-PLAY or online at www.unicorntheatre.org
From the original novel by Gloria Naylor, to Oprah's television adaptation, all the way to Tim Acito's score and lyrics, The Women of Brewster Place has a universal message that is worthy of print, screen and stage. Ten diverse and strong African-American women reside in a dilapidated and deteriorating housing project on the outskirts of a big city surrounded by a wall. Going head on against severe poverty, racism and prejudice, the women decide to tear down the wall as they build up each other. With an eclectic cast of local actresses, jazz and gospel performers, this Unicorn production will not only enlighten, but will also entertain.
One more thing: Join other arts minded audience members at "Play Before the Play Party" - Unicorn's dessert and drink reception on December 11th at 6:30pm before the 8:00 show!
KC Theater 101 - an association of CrossCurrents
Voices: A Play for Women
By Susan Griffin
December 5, 6, 7 & 12, 13
Just Off Broadway (3051 Central)
For tickets call 1-800-838-3006 or online at www.crosscurrentsculture.org
An award-winning poet, playwright and author of 19 books, Susan Griffin was awarded an Emmy for the PBS production of her play, Voices: A Play for Women, which aired in 1975. Born in 1943, Griffin was a recipient of the MacArthur Grant for Peace and International Cooperation and a fellowship from the National Endowment for Arts; a runner-up for the Pulitzer Prize and is widely known for being an eco-feminist. Named as one of the top 100 visionaries of the new millennium for her 2001 book Wresting with the Angel of Democracy, Griffin's play Voices is a shaping of five women from different backgrounds, different generations, experiencing different circumstances who share one voice and realize they are no longer bound by their trials, their struggles or by society.
COMING UP . . .
The Barn Players & River City Community Players
A Christmas Carol...Gone Amuck
By Eric Van Horn
December 14 at 2 p.m.
Off Center Theatre (Crown Center - Upstairs)
For tickets call 913-432-9100 or online at www.thebarnplayers.org
Offering another opportunity for local playwrights to submit their work, The Barn Players - teamed up with River City Community Players - will present a one-time performance of Eric Van Horn's A Christmas Carol...Gone Amuck. Armed with a pregnant drama teacher, a janitor, a doorman, and various other staff, a small-town AM radio station goes haywire when the hired actors don't show for their big Christmas Eve radio play A Christmas Carol. With scripts and determination, the group of non-actors performs their very own heartfelt - and comical - rendition of the classic Christmas tale.
Musical Theater Heritage
George Harter's Christmas Spectacular
Runs December 18-21, 2008
Off Center Theatre (Crown Center - Upstairs)
For tickets call 816-221-6987 or online at www.musicaltheaterheritage.com
Featuring the vocal styles of Tim Scott, Heidi Gutkneckt, Jerry Jay Cranford, Lauren Braton and Cary Mock, this Christmas party will ignite everyone's holiday spirit as you listen your holiday favorites!
Metropolitan Ensemble Theatre (MET)
Hedda Gobler
By Henrik Ibsen
Runs January 8 - 25, 2009
METspace, 3614 Main
For tickets call 816-569-3226 or online at www.metkc.org
Often considered as the "female Hamlet," Hedda Gobler is the masterful work of Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. Published in 1890 and premiering in 1891 in Germany, Ibsen's story of a newly-married woman struggling with a new existence was plagued by negative reviews. Today, his play is considered the hallmark of classical realism and produced the world over. The character of Hedda has been portrayed both controversially and questionably; from a heroine taking on society, a feminist, a manipulative villain, to a man in drag. It will be interesting to see how MET will portray this strong woman with local metropolis actress, Katie Gilchrist, at the helm.
Actor's Theatre of Kansas City (ATKC)
Death and the Maiden
Ariel Dorfman
Runs January 16 - 25, 2009
Previews: January 9 -15, 2009
Off Center Theatre (Crown Center - Upstairs)
For tickets call 816-235-6222 or online at www.kcactors.org
From the artistically driven company, ATKC, comes a spellbinding work by Chilean playwright Ariel Dorfman. Her 1991 play Death and the Maiden continues their theme of "oppression and triumph of the human heart," and will be directed by James F. Mitchell, a well-known production stage manager here in the metropolis. Premiering at the Royal Court Theatre in London on July 9 of that same year, Dorfman reveals to us a story about Paulina Escobar, a one-time political prisoner in an unnamed Latin American country, who many years after a the countries dictating regime had fallen rediscovers the man who led her torture. A parable on how people desire justice for the wrong done to them, this play is sure to captivate and promote dialogue among audiences in Kansas City.
City Classics,
Classical Column for November 24-30
Kansas City Symphony
Juanjo Mena, Guest Conductor
Anton Nel, Piano
Works by Arriag, Rachmaninoff, Bizet and De Falla
Friday, November 28 at 8 p.m.
Saturday, November 29 at 8 p.m.
Lyric Theatre, 11th & Central, Downtown Kansas City, MO
Anton Nel
Sunday, November 30 at 2 p.m.
Carlsen Center at Johnson County Community College,
College Blvd. and Quivera Rd., Overland Park, KS
To fans only casually acquainted with the piano repertory, the most instantly recognizable piano concerto may be the Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2 (okay, "Rock Two" to those of you who are into such mod abbreviations). The first few notes alone let you know right off the bat that this is a great one. There's just something special about the size of the piece....big concepts, big pounding chords, lush string writing. The final movement with its riveting and ultra-emotional finish is one of the great moments in all of pianistic history. This is music writ large, just the way the Romantics (and their enthusiastic audiences) loved it.
The funny thing, however, is that Sergei Rachmaninoff wasn't a Romantic composer at all. Born in 1873 in Novgorod, Russia, he lived until 1943, long after Romanticism was on the wane and Schoenberg, Berg, and the other atonal composers were on the upswing. Even such a traditionalist composer as Richard Strauss had long since abandoned the big-tune-and-rich-accompaniment formula of the Romantic masters such as Tchaikovsky, Gounod and Verdi.
But Rachmaninoff held his ground against the modernists, as if to prove that tuneful composition was not dead, even in the midst of a schizophrenic 20th Century. Unyielding in his support of the classical forms and traditional harmonies of 19th Century music, he carved for himself an enduring popularity that far surpassed that of most of his contemporaries.
Where did this seemingly lost Romantic come from? Born of an aristocratic family, he showed a prodigious talent at the piano at an early age and entered the St. Petersburg Conservatory at the age of ten. His teacher, Alexander Silot, would give him long and demanding pieces to learn and the young man would memorize them overnight. His professors were baffled; he was up to any challenge they could throw his way. "Whatever composition was ever mentioned," one said, "if Rachmaninoff had at any time heard it, and most of all if he liked it, he played it as though it were a work he studied thoroughly."
In no time he was one of the world's three or four greatest pianists, in an era of great pianists. He would come onto the concert stage "stiff and severe," one critic wrote, and then wait for audience to quiet down with "terrible dignity." He played with a brooding concentration, and "from his fingers came an indescribable tone: warm...reaching into every corner of the hall, capable of infinite modulations." In an age of spectacular technicians, his technique was peerless. And he played with great emotion in addition to his virtuosity.
When Rachmaninoff turned his prodigious talents to composition, he wrote music that moved securely, confidently and apparently without any regard for modernistic influences. "Rachmaninoff may not have contributed anything to twentieth-century form or harmony," wrote the music historian Harold Schonberg, "but he did suffuse the old forms with something highly personal, and was one of the better melodists of his time."
To critics Rachmaninoff was a throwback, often a freak, and he was often and loudly denigrated for sticking to outdated musical concepts in an era of exciting change. But he stuck true to his course, and the audiences always loved him even when the critics sneered. "There was never a time when Rachmaninoff was out of the repertory," Schonberg noted, in sharp contrast to the up-and-down popularity of most other 20th Century composers.
His Piano Concerto No. 2 is perhaps the most expressive example of his elegant musicality, and at this weekend's concerts the Symphony audience will have a chance to luxuriate in the boundless beauties of perhaps this greatest of 19th Century throwbacks. Just put your history button on pause, and tune in and enjoy the music. The soloist is Anton Nel, winner of the first prize in the 1987 Naumburg International Piano Competition at Carnegie Hall whose nearly three decades of concertizing include performances with the Cleveland Orchestra, the symphonies of Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle, Detroit, and London, among many others.
This concert also features Arriaga's Overture to Los exclavos felices, the Suite No. 1 from Carmen by Georges Bizet, and Da Falla's Suites No. 1 and 2 from Three Cornered Hat. What a series of treats!
For tickets call 816-471-0400 or online at www.kcsymphony.org
Kansas City Chamber Orchestra
Handel for the Holidays (Royal Fireworks)
Tuesday, December 2, 2008, 7:30 p.m.
Unity Temple on the Plaza
707 West 47th Street, Kansas City, Missouri
For tickets call 8160-235-6222 or online at www.kcchamberorchestra.org
Classical music offerings on Thanksgiving weekend are a little slim, other than the Symphony concert described above, but on Tuesday right after the holiday weekend, the Kansas City Chamber Orchestra will give its annual holiday concert featuring the works of Handel. This concert os definitely for those of you who just didn't get enough of Handel during the Lyric Opera's recently completed run of Julius Caesar (and, by the way, how is it possible to ever get enough of Handel?!).
The Music for the Royal Fireworks featured on this concert is a showpiece composed by Handel to impress the British King James in honor of the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1743, and impressive it is. The Royal Fireworks contains some of Handel's most exhilarating music, so it's perfectly appropriate for the holidays.
The real treat of the concert, though, will probably be the Handel Gloria featuring virtuoso soprano Sarah Tannehill. Tannehill, one of this writer's favorite local sopranos (remember her astonishing performance as Ophelia for the Lyric Opera few years ago, stepping in on almost no notice to sing the role from the pit after the principal singer fell ill?). Even for Handelians this may be "new" music - it was rediscovered in London during the last decade and had not been heard for over two hundred years.
Lionheart
The Friends of Chamber Music
Lionheart
Tydings Trew: Feasts of Christmas in Medieval England
Thursday, December 4, 2008, 8:00 p.m.
Cathedral of Immaculate Conception
416 West 12th Street, Kansas City, Missouri
Lionheart, one of America's leading ensembles in medieval and Renaissance a cappella music, has appeared at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall, the Kennedy Center, the National Cathedral, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and in various festivals throughout Europe, to say nothing of its celebrated appearances at The Cloisters in New York City and at Saint Ignatius of Antioch Episcopal Church.
The Friends of Chamber Music is bringing the group back for a holiday concert featuring medieval songs for the season. This is bound to be one of the more unusual, and thus one of the most refreshing, concerts of the season. Plus, who can not feel the holiday spirit seated amidst the giant columns and towering windows of the Cathedral of Immaculate Conception?
For tickets call 816-561-9999 or online at www.chambermusic.org
UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance
Conservatory Wind Ensemble
Wednesday, December 3, 2008 at 7:30 p.m.
White Recital Hall, Performing Arts Center
4949 Cherry St., Kansas City, Missouri
The Conservatory Wind Ensemble is always one of more interesting groups to perform at the Conservatory of Music and Dance. The program for this concert includes Kubik's Fanfare for the Century, Dello Joio's Variants on a Mediaeval Tune, Fascinating Ribbons by Joan Tower, and Gould's Ballad for Band and Symphony for Band.
For tickets call 816-235-6222 or online at www.conservatory.umkc.edu
City Classics,
Classical Music Column November 3 - 9
Carlsen Center at JCCC presents
Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir
with Tallinn Chamber Orchestra
Carlsen Center at Johnson County Community College
College and Quivera, Overland Park, KS
Estonian Chamber Choir
The Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir consists of twenty-seven voices that have become renowned for performances of contemporary Eastern European music, particularly from the three northern countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. These countries have produced a large number of composers whose music has become world-famous since their emergence on the international scene.
The Chamber Choir is accompanied by the Tallinn Orchestra, formed to accompany the Chamber Choir. The two organizations have performed together at many prestigious music festivals including the Bach Cantatas Festival in Milan, Bremen Music Festival, and Huddersfield Festival of Contemporary Music. Concert tours have taken orchestra and the choir to Canada, Japan and many European countries as well as throughout the United States.
In this performance the Choir and Orchestra will perform music of Arvo Pärt and Erkki-Sven Tüür, two of today's leading Eastern European composers.
For tickets call 913-469-4445 or online at
http://www.jccc.net/home/depts.php/001440/site/Chronological_Listing
Lyric Opera of Kansas City presents
Julius Caesar
Saturday, November 8 at 8 p.m.
Monday, November 10 at 7:30 p.m.
Wednesday, November 12 at 7:30 p.m.
Friday, November 14 at 8 p.m.
Sunday, November 16 at 2 p.m.
Lyric Theatre, 11th & Central, Downtown Kansas City, MO
Beginning on November 8, and continuing with performances through November 16, the Lyric Opera will present its first-ever production of a Baroque opera, Georg Frideric Handel's Julius Caesar. For only the second time, the Lyric will feature a countertenor onstage...actually, two of them, singing both the title role and the role of the Egyptian ruler Ptolemy. If you like the Messiah, you'll love Julius Caesar, as the gorgeous music of this opera has made it an audience favorite ever since Beverly Sills "rediscovered" it in 1966 and brought it to modern audiences after more than a century of neglect in opera houses worldwide.
Last week's issue of KCMetropolis.org had a complete two-page preview of the opera, so for more information, so be sure to check it out. This opera should be one of the most memorable productions of recent Lyric Opera seasons.
A free preview by this author is available to all ticket holders, beginning one hour before the performance.
For tickets call 816-471-7344 or online at www.kcopera.org
Judith
The Friends of Chamber Music present
Judith, by Katerina Livljanić
Saturday, November 8, 2008, 8:00 p.m.
Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral
13th and Broadway, Downtown Kansas city, MO
Fans of Renaissance music will have a rare opportunity to hear a performance of Croatian Renaissance music this weekend as The Friends of Chamber Music presents musicologist and director, Katarina Livljanić, in a portrayal of the Biblical story Judith. She will be accompanied by fiddle, lirica and archaic flutes. The staged musical drama tells the highly emotional tale of the beautiful enchantress, Judith, who seduces and then beheads a general in a quest to liberate her people.
Livljanić, singer and musicologist, is a native of Croatia and graduate of the Zagred Music Conservatory. She also studied in France and has been directing the vocal ensemble Dialogos, specializing in medieval chant and liturgical theater of the Glagolitic tradition. For her work in this field, she was decorated for cultural achievement in 2002 by the president of Croatia. I, for one, am eagerly awaiting this unique opportunity to hear music to which we are rarely exposed.
For tickets call 816-561-9999 or online chambermusic.org.
Harriman-Jewell Series presents
Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra
with Leon Botstein, Conductor
Saturday, November 8, 2008, 7:30 p.m.
Folly Theater, 12th and Central, Downtown Kansas City, MO
Last week, I wrote about Leon Botstein and the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra which is performing at the Lied Center at the University of Kansas on November 5. The orchestra brings the same program on November 8 to the Harriman-Jewell Series at the Folly Theater in Kansas City.
As we reported last week, Botstein is one of today's best-known conductors, who leads not only the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra but also the American Symphony Orchestra, which resides at Avery Fisher Hall in Lincoln Center, New York and at the new Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College, New York. The Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra reflects the character and identity of Israel's diverse population, and is the country's oldest and most important musical institutions, having been "born" at almost the same time as the country of Israel itself.
In this concert, the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra celebrates the American Jewish Diaspora, performing the same program as at the Lied Center: works by Erich Walter Sternberg, Leonard Bernstein and Aaron Copland.
For tickets call 816-415-5025 or online at harriman-jewell.org
City Pipes,
November Organ Column
The American Guild of Organists presents
Dr. Joe Utterback, organ
Monday, November 17 at 7:30 p.m.
Village Presbyterian Church at 67th and Mission, Mission, KS
Adam Peithmann played a little gem by William Bolcom entitled Gospel Prelude on "What a friend we have in Jesus." at the Organ Spectacular held at the Community of Christ Auditorium on October 19th, The work hardly fits the stereotype of what most of us consider music for the organ: monumental fugues, massive organ symphonies, music of mysticism and the like. But it certainly does show that a pipe organ can handle just about any style of music.
And so, you will really hear some 'rocking' organ music when Dr. Joe Utterback comes to Village Presbyterian Church to lecture on, and play jazz compositions for the pipe organ. "Dr. Utterback has been performing jazz for more than forty years since his first gig at the age of 17 in Wichita, Kansas." (from Dr. Utterback's website)
Indeed, Dr. Utterback is a Kansas native and holds degrees in piano from Wichita State University and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Kansas. His jazz-influenced works for piano, organ, harpsichord, voice and instrumental combinations have won him ASCAP awards since 1991.
Dr. Ann Marie Rigler of William Jewell College will join Dr. Utterback to play works for piano and organ.
There is no admission charge.
913-262-4200 or www.villagepres.org
Or for more information on the American Guild of Organists, Kansas City: www.kcago.com
Hellmuth Wolff organ at Bales Recital Hall
Bales Recital Hall
KU Division of Church and Organ Music Concerts
It is well worth the drive to the Bales Recital Hall on the western edge of Kansas University in Lawrence to hear the extraordinary Helmut Wolff organ. Set in a space that sounds just like French Cathedral acoustics, the organ has a French outlook, but is perfect for music from all countries and periods of time.
November Schedule:
Laura Palmer - Monday, November 3 at 7:30 pm.
Katerina Gotsdiner - Tuesday, November 11 at 7:30 pm.
Brian Campbell - Monday, November 17 at 7:30 pm.
Marie Rubis-Bauer and Michael Bauer - Tuesday, November 18 at 7:30 pm.
(Continuing their examination of all the works of Dietrich Buxtehude)
Dr. Susan Marchant. - Friday, November 21 at 7:30 pm.
For more information visit www2.ku.edu/~organ/brh/brh.shtml
Community of Christ Auditorium "Dome and Spire Fine Arts Series"
For those who want to hear the organ more than just once a month, you can hear some fine players each Sunday at 3 p.m. at the Community of Christ Auditorium. Check their website calendar for upcoming organists. www.cofchrist.org/dome_spire
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