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Kansas City's Online Journal of the Performing Arts

Harriman-Jewell Series
The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center
Tuesday, April 7 at  7:30 p.m.
Folly Theater
12th and Central, Downtown Kansas City, MO

We spoke about this concert in our column last week because it was coming up so quickly after this article.  But we just have to mention it again: the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center is performing the Missouri premiere of Alan Smith's "Vignettes: Covered Wagon Woman" for mezzo-soprano, piano, violin, and cello.

This group is one of twelve constituents of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York, and concertizes throughout the country.

The mezzo-soprano soloist for this performance is Stephanie Blythe, who sang the first title role in Orfeo et Euridice, one of the Metropolitan Opera's movie theater simulcasts earlier this year. She will also star this summer in the Seattle Opera's celebrated Ring cycle of Richard Wagner, so she is a first-class vocalist whom we will be privileged to hear.  Other performers in the evening's concert will include Lily Francis, violinist; Warren Jones, pianist; Ani Kavafian, violinist; Priscilla Lee, cellist; Anne-Marie McDermott, pianist; and Paul Neubauer, violist.

Smith's moving song cycle is based on the daily journal of Margaret Ann Alsip Frink, written in 1850, telling of her passage across the country by covered wagon toward dreams of California gold. It's an appropriate subject for our part of the country where three of the major westward-bound covered wagon trails crossed.

Also on the program are George Gershwin's "Lullaby for String Quartet," Amy Beach's "Quintet in F-sharp minor," and John Antes' "Trio in D minor for Two Violins and Cello."

Tickets available at 816-415-5025, or online www.harriman-jewell.org

Lied Center, University of Kansas
Philip Glass: An Evening of Chamber Music
Tuesday, April 7 at 7:30 p.m.
Lied Center
19th and Iowa Streets, Lawrence, KS

Another performance coming right up is at the Lied Center at the University of Kansas where the famous minimalist composer (well, that's what he is, although we understand he hates the label) will perform chamber music, joined by cellist Wendy Sutter and percussionist Mick Rossi, and perhaps others.

Glass sprang onto the music scene in the 1970's and within a decade had captured the imaginations of lots of audiences who found resonance in his unusual musical style.  Tonal in conception, it appears very repetitive and droning at first hearing, but upon further study reveals subtle and constantly changing musical nuances.  You sort of have to be "into" it to get it, but those who pursue Glass' music claim to be richly rewarded by his unique scores.

Although not for every taste, Glass clearly has an audience that has grown over the years.  His operas, movie scores and symphonic compositions have won much acclaim, and last year at the Metropolitan Opera his opera Satyagraha attracted sellout crowds for a string of performances that won both audience and critical praise.

If you are intrigued by Glass, but not quite ready for a whole opera, this chamber music recital may be just the thing.

For tickets call (785) 864-2787 or online at www.lied.ku.edu

UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance
Musica Nova
Thursday, April 9, 7:30 p.m.
White Recital Hall
4949 Cherry, Kansas City, MO

The Conservatory of Music has many outstanding faculty and student ensembles which give interesting performances throughout the school year.  This listener has always found Musica Nova to be among the more interesting ones.  The group plays contemporary music, some of it by Conservatory composers, and always turns in fine performances.

In this concert, the last of the group's season this year, the players will perform "Tableaux funebre," a work by Conservatory guest composer Claude Baker, on loan from Indiana University.  Also on tap are "Vox balaenae" by contemporary composer George Crumb, and "Synthecisms No. 5" by Brian Bevelander.  Kansas City audiences will most appreciate, however, a composition by Conservatory professor and local favorite Zhou Long called simply "Ding." Sounds intriguing, no?

For tickets call 816-235-6222 or online at www.conservatory.umkc.edu

The Friends of Chamber Music
Ivan Moravec, piano
Friday, April 10 at 8 p.m.
The Folly Theater
12th and Central Streets, Downtown Kansas City, MO

Ivan Moravec, a native of Prague, has been enchanting audiences for 35 years with his idiomatic style. The list of orchestras with which he has soloed reads like a Who's Who of classic music organizations: The New York Philharmonic, the Philadelphia, Cleveland and Minnesota Orchestras, the Chicago, Boston, San Francisco, Toronto and Pittsburgh symphonies and the Los Angeles and Orpheus chamber orchestras, among many others.  As a solo recitalist he has appeared in recital at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center and on the major recital series in Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Cleveland and Philadelphia, along with Kansas City, of course. 

In Europe, Moravec has appeared in recital and as concerto soloist in the major music capitals, including Vienna, Amsterdam, Paris, Berlin, Leipzig, Munich, Oslo, Rome, Milan and many others. He has recorded for the Nonesuch, Supraphon, Connoisseur Society, Dorian, Pro Arte, Quintessence, Vox and the Moss Music labels, and is one of the pianists included on Philips' historic series "Great Pianists of the 20th Century."

A review of a recent performance in London stated that Moravec "belongs to a dying breed of pianists, who devote their entire life to their instrument as well as to teaching. His self-criticism is well known and it can take years until he presents his interpretation of a specific work to an audience. The result is ultimate perfection, whereby technique is only one tool for the many facets of his insight into a composition."

For his Friends of Chamber Music recital, Moravec will present the music of his fellow Czech Janacek, along with Debussy and Chopin.

For tickets call 816-561-9999 or online at www.chambermusic.org

UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance
Conservatory Orchestra with Pianist Karen Kushner
Thursday, April 9 at 7:30 p.m.
White Recital Hall
4949 Cherry, Kansas City, MO

Pianist Karen Kushner is one of the finest local pianists, a faculty member at the Conservatory of Music and Dance, and justly popular with local audiences.  This evening, in the company of the fine Conservatory Orchestra, she will perform Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 9 in E-flat Major.

The Conservatory Orchestra will play a rarity, Ginastera's virtuosic "Variaciones concertantes," and then one of the great classics, Beethoven's "Symphony No. 8."  It all sounds like good fun.

For tickets call 816-235-6222, or online at www.conservatory.umkc.edu

Nelson Atkins Museum of Art
Kansas City Chorale Saturday Easter Concert
Sunday, April 12, at 5:30 p.m.
Kirkwood Hall
Nelson Atkins Museum of Art
4525 Oak Street, Kansas City, MO

One of Kansas City's loveliest Easter weekend traditions is the Saturday Easter concert by the Kansas City Chorale in Kirkwood Hall.  The Chorale's voices sound ethereal in the resonance of the Nelson Atkins, just the thing for the most religious of holidays.

Tickets often sell out earlier, so check today if you want a spot.

For tickets call 816-751-1ART or online at www.nelsonatkins.org

UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance
Faculty Chamber Music Concert with Violinist Benny Kim
Sunday, April 12, 7:30 p.m.
White Recital Hall
4949 Cherry, Kansas City, MO

An annual event, the Conservatory of Music and Dance's Easter Chamber Music Concert has become a popular success over the past few years. This time popular faculty violinist Benny Kim will perform with some of the Conservatory faculty and some of the great artists from around the country, as they join forces to tackle Franz Schubert's "Death and the Maiden" String Quartet, one of the most profound pieces of music in the string quartet literature.

For tickets call 816-235-6222 or online at www.conservatory.umkc.edu

Mid-America Nazarene University
Classic Brass with Fountain City Brass Band
Tuesday, April 14 at 7:30 p.m.
Bell Cultural Center
Mid-America Nazarene University
2030 E. College Way, Olathe, Kansas

No program for this concert has been announced yet.

For tickets call 913-971-3636 or online at www.mnu.edu/events/bellcenter

Carlsen Center at JCCC
Takacs Quartet and Marc-Andre Hamelin, piano
Saturday, April 18 at 8:00 p.m.
Yardley Hall at the Carlsen Center
Johnson County Community College
12345 College Boulevard, Overland Park, KS

A few years ago your columnist attended a Signature Series college at the UMKC Conservatory with a Canadian pianist named Marc-Andre Hamelin, and wondering, "who is this guy?" Well, I quickly found out, as his fabulous technique and dramatic readings almost literally blew me out of the hall.  I concluded that he must be the resurrection of Franz Liszt himself, that master piano showman, but with a more modest personality and lots less hair.

His recordings, several of which were promptly purchased by this listener, revealed a wealth of unknown material.  He tends to specialize in almost impossible-to-perform pieces by composers not often recorded by other pianists, for understandable reasons.  If piano virtuosity interests you, there is no performance who epitomizes it any more thoroughly.

Since that time Hamelin has appeared with the Kansas City Symphony and now is making a reappearance in Kansas City on the stage of Yardley Hall, in the company of the impressive young Takacs Quartet.

This performance, part of a worldwide tour that takes the five musicians to locations throughout North America and Europe, will feature the Schumann Piano Quintet.  It's a piece requiring extraordinary virtuosity, and has found its match, no doubt, with Hamelin and company.  It should be quite a show.

For tickets call 913-469-4445 or online at www.jccc.net.

Topeka Symphony Orchestra
Keyboard Kaleidoscope with Linda Maxey, marimba
Saturday, April 18 at 7:30 p.m.
White Concert Hall
Washburn University Campus, Topeka, KS

John Strickler will conduct the Topeka Symphony in a varied program featuring Samuel Barber's "School for Scandal," Saint- Saint-Saëns' overpowering Symphony No. 3, the "Organ Symphony," and a marimba concerto by Kevin Puts.

The soloist in the Organ Concerto will be Elisa Bickers.  This listener has always found the Saint-Saëns piece to be one of the most explosive in the repertoire.  It might not be the greatest piece of classical music ever written, but it is definitely one of the loudest, in which the composer pulled out all of the (organ) stops to produce overwhelming sound.  Bring your ear plugs.

The Marimba Concert of Kevin Puts, by contrast, takes its inspiration from the more standard concertos of Mozart and is said to be much more sedate.  We'll see.  In any event, this will offer one of your few chances to hear it, and we understand that the featured marimba player in the Marimba Concerto, Linda Maxey, is quite talented.

For tickets call 785-232-2032, or by e-mail at tso@topekasymphony.org.  Tickets are not available online, but for information see www.topekasymphony.org.

Park University
Grand Piano Festival Series
Sunday, April 19 at 3:00 p.m.
Graham Tyler Memorial Chapel
Park University Campus
8700 N.W. River Park Drive, Parkville, MO

Park University is putting on some impressive music recitals these days, and this one will feature pianists Laurence Lesser and Hae-Sun Paik, along with some guest artists and the Quartet Accorda.  As of this date, no program for the recital is available.

Free admission. For more information, see www.park.edu/calendar/arts.html

Kansas City Civic Orchestra
Sunday, April 19, 2:00 p.m.
Folly Theater
12th and Central, Kansas City, MO

The Kansas City Civic Orchestra, now under the direction of Christopher Kelts, is known for tackling large-scale works that you would think would be beyond the capacity of a community group, and performing them surprisingly well.

In this concert the Civic Orchestra plays to this theme, undertaking Dvorak's hauntingly beautiful Symphony No. 9, which he entitled "From the New World" and which is popularly known as the "New World Symphony."  In it, the Czech composer, visiting American from his native Czechoslovakia, supposedly incorporated American themes into his symphony, although some have found it to be much more inspired by Czech folk music than any musical sources he might have found on this side of Atlantic.

But so what?  The music is enchantingly beautiful and is one of this author's all-time favorites.  Besides, it's the only major symphonic composition to have been conceived in the state of Iowa. 
Joining the Civic Orchestra for the rest of the program will be classical guitarist Douglas Niedt (pronounced "Neet"), the head of the guitar program at the UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance and a terrific performer.  His compact disc "Pure Magic" is one of this listener's favorite guitar discs, and has produced many hours of listening enjoyment. 

Free admission.  For information visit www.kccivic.org

UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance
Operatic Scenes
Sunday, April 19 at 2:30 p.m. and
Monday, April 20 at 7:30 p.m.
Performing Arts Center, Room 116
4949 Cherry, Kansas City, MO

This concert of opera scenes by Conservatory of Music opera students sometimes reveals some young talent of surprising sophistication.  The precise selections haven't been announced, but the show is always rewarding and you can't beat the price in today's economy.

Free admission.  For information visit  www.conservatory.umkc.edu

Northland Symphony Orchestra
Sunday, April 19, 3:00 p.m.
Park Hill South High School
4500 N.W. River Park Drive, Riverside, MO

This concert by the Northland Symphony will feature the "Roman Carnival Overture" by Berlioz, "Somerset Rhapsody" by Holst, and the Mendelssohn Symphony No. 5.  Also on tap will be a performance by the winner of the high school soloist competition.

Free admission.  For information visit www.northlandsymphony.org

By Don Dagenais

City Classics Music and Dance Columnist; Classical Contributor

A lifelong classical music fan, Don Dagenais is a frequent preview speaker for the Lyric Opera of Kansas City and has taught classical music and opera courses at several Kansas City venues. He has served on the boards of directors of a number of performing arts organizations including the Lyric Opera of Kansas City, the Lyric Opera Guild, UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance, Opera Volunteers International, the Civic Opera Theater of Kansas City, Inspiration Point Fine Arts Colony, Octarium, and the Friends of the Symphony.  He has been the past president of most of these organizations and is current the president of the Friends of the Symphony. 

Dagenais co-authored a history of the Lyric Opera of Kansas City, published on the occasion of its 50th anniversary (2007) and has written books on the histories of both the Lyric Opera Guild and Opera Volunteers International, as well as an introductory book for opera novices (Your Passport to the Opera).  He has received several local and national awards for outstanding volunteer work for the arts, including a lifetime achievement award from The Coterie Theatre in 2000, the Kansas City Musical Club's annual award in 2001, a Partners in Excellence Award from Opera Volunteers International in 2002, a Bravo Award from Opera Volunteers International in 2004 and a community service award from the Daughter of the American Revolution in 2008 honoring him for his community service to the arts.

In addition to his music interests, Don is president of the board of directors for the Metropolitan Ensemble Theater and has served on the boards of The Coterie Theatre and the Heart of America Shakespeare Festival, serving as president of each organization.  He publishes newsletters for seven arts organizations.  When not involved in the performing arts, Don is a senior real estate attorney with Lathrop & Gage LLP in Kansas City, Missouri, where he has practiced law since 1976 after graduating from the Cornell Law School.