KCMETROPOLIS.org
Kansas City's Online Journal of the Performing Arts

The Friends of Chamber Music
Australian Chamber Orchestra with Paul Lewis
Friday, April 24 at 8:00 p.m.
Folly Theater
12th and Central, Downtown Kansas City, MO

How many Kansas City arts organizations would like to have 10,000 subscribers to its concert season?  Well, the Australian Chamber Orchestra does and Kansas City will have a chance this weekend to hear what the excitement is all about.

Founded in 1975, the Australian Chamber Orchestra has performed at many of the world's prestigious concert halls, including Amsterdam's Concertgebouw, London's Wigmore Hall, New York's Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, Vienna's Musikverein, Birmingham, London's Symphony Hall and Washington, D.C.'s Kennedy Center.  The group travels throughout the world and performs more than 100 concerts each season away from its home continent.

For this concert, the Australian Chamber Orchestra will perform the Haydn Symphony No. 44, Rameau's Suite from Dardanus and a work by modern composer Pavel Haas entitled From the Monkey Mountains Suite.  The group will be joined by pianist Paul Lewis, who was a student of Alfred Brendel's, in the Mozart  Piano Concerto No. 12 in A Major.

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

Lyric Opera of Kansas City
The Pirates of Penzance
Saturday, April 25 at 8 p.m.
Monday, April 27at 7:30 p.m.
Wednesday, April 29 at 7:30 p.m.
Friday, May 1 at 8 p.m.
Sunday, May 3 at 2 p.m.
Lyric Theatre
12th and Central Streets, Downtown Kansas City, MO

The Lyric Opera ends its 51st season with one of the zaniest operas in the repertoire, Gilbert and Sullivan's satirical The Pirates of Penzance.  Written primarily for American audiences who had enjoyed illicit (and therefore "pirated") performances of G&S's previous hit, H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance is a delightful rollicking bit of fun on many different levels.

Those steeped in the history of the Victorian era will love the gentle poking of fun at Victorian customs and mores.  Audience members into the background of grand opera will get a kick out of the way the English pair satirizes operatic convention.  Others, who just like to sit back and have a good time, will enjoy the constant stream of jokes and puns along with the charming melodies and patter songs of the characters.

For this production the Lyric Opera's Ward Holmquist has brought together several rising young opera stars, who are gracing the Lyric Opera's stage for the first time.  Baritone Markus Beam, a graduate of the young artists programs of the San Francisco, Santa Fe and Glimmerglass Operas, plays the Pirate King.  The young lovers Frederic and Mabel will be portrayed by tenor Chad Johnson and soprano Nili Riemer, both winners of opera competitions who have appeared on several regional opera company stages across the country.

Singers in the...shall we say, more mature roles...are more familiar to Lyric Opera audiences.  Mezzo Jennifer Roderer, who has appeared in Kansas City in dramatic parts, takes on a much different character in Ruth, the young Frederic's longtime nurse who has designs on his affections.  The Police Sergeant will be sung by a Kansas City favorite, bass John Stephens of the University of Kansas opera faculty.  Major General Stanley, the gentle but befuddled father, will be sung by baritone Robert Gibby Brand, a longtime favorite for G&S roles at the Lyric Opera and also familiar to audiences of the Kansas City Repertory Theatre, Unicorn Theatre, Metropolitan Ensemble Theatre and others.

Andy Anderson, the former artistic assistant with the Lyric Opera (and artistic director of the Civic Opera Theatre of Kansas City), returns to Kansas City from his new post as artistic director of the Mobile (Alabama) Opera to conduct Pirates.  His podium technique and organization is impressive and it will be a pleasure to see him again in the Lyric Opera orchestra pit.

For tickets call 816-471-7344 or online at www.kcopera.org
 

Harriman-Jewell Series
Julia Fischer, violin
Saturday, April 25 at 8:00 p.m.
Folly Theatre
12th and Central, Downtown Kansas City, MO

Those of us who attended the outstanding performance by the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields at the Folly Theater in February may have noticed a talented young violinist and conductor, Julia Fischer, who played a couple of Bach concertos.  It turns out that she has an impressive solo career as well as a career with the celebrated Academy ensemble, and this weekend Kansas City audiences will get a chance to hear her on her own.

A student of famed violinist Ana Chumachenco, Julia Fischer is Germany's youngest professor of violin, at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Frankfurt am Main. She burst onto the classical scene about five years ago, and in 2005 won Germany's coveted 'ECHO' Award for her recording of 'Russian concertos  by Khatchaturian, Prokofiev and Glazounov.'  The following year she was named by BBC Music Magazine the ''Best Newcomer of the Year''. Great Britain's Gramophone Magazine pictured Julia Fischer on the front cover of their July 2006 issue, and in 2007 she was named "Artist of the Year" at the Classic FM Gramophone Awards.

In the last couple of years Fischer has made concert appearances in various venues and with a variety of orchestras around the world.  Last fall she signed a recording contract with Decca, with whom she is producing an album of Bach concertos.

On the program for this recital are sonatas for violin and piano by Mozart, Beethoven, Prokofiev and Martinu.  Joining Fischer for the program will be pianist Milana Chernyavska.

For tickets call 816- 415-5025 or online at www.harriman-jewell.org
 

UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance
Conservatory Connections: Chinoiserie
Friday, April 24 at 6, 6:45 and 7:30 p.m.
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
Large Chinese Gallery
4525 Oak St., Kansas City, MO

The UMKC Conservatory's community outreach program, called "Conservatory Connections," looks like it has come up with a winner in this program of Chinese music performed amidst the Chinese Temple at the Nelson Atkins Museum.  Assembled by husband and wife composers Zhou Long and Chen Yi of the Conservatory faculty, talented Conservatory students will play musical selections inspired by the Nelson Atkins Museum's Chinese collection.  

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

UMKC Conservatory of Music
Signature Series Finale
Vaughan Williams' Dona nobis pacem
Saturday, April 25 at 7:30 p.m.
White Recital Hall
4949 Cherry Street, Kansas City, MO

The UMKC Conservatory of Music's Signature Series of concerts culminates its season presentations with the 100-piece Conservatory Orchestra and 100+ singers of the combined Conservatory Choirs led by Robert Olson, performing 20th Century English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams' Dona Nobis Pacem.

Every year the Signature Series ends with a gala presentation by the assembled forces of the Conservatory's talented students, and often these concerts reveal exceptional musicality as well as spectacular showmanship.  This year should be no exception, as Vaughn William's cantata puts on full display the assembled instrumental and choral forces of the school.  The cantata pulls its text from the Latin Mass, the poetry of Walt Whitman, John Bright's anti-war speech, "The Angel of Death," and Old Testament scripture.  The soprano and baritone soloists will be Rebecca Skaar and William Perry of the Conservatory faculty.

In addition to the Vaughan Williams piece, the Conservatory forces will play the ravishing Suite No. 2 from Ravel's epic ballet Daphnis et Chloé; Chen Yi's Kansas City Capriccio; and Brahms' Academic Festival Overture.  It should be a great end to an academic year and an outstanding concert season.

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

 

Musica Sacra Chorus and Orchestra
George Frideric Handel
Sunday, April 26 at 7:00 p.m.
St. Francis Xavier Church
52nd and Troost Avenue, Kansas City, MO

Fans of large-scale vocal performance works have come to appreciate over the last few years the impressive efforts of director Timothy McDonald and his Musica Sacra group.  They have brought to the ears of this listener and others some of the outstanding choral works of the repertoire, many of which are not often heard, at least in these parts.

The music of George Frideric Handel is all the rage these days, and in this concert Musica Sacra will bring us a Handel composition with which many of us are unfamiliar: the Funeral Anthem on the Death of Queen Caroline: The Ways of Zion do Mourn.  Definitely not to be missed.

An added treat, if you can get there a bit early, is to listen to director McDonald talk about the piece to be performed.  He is always articulate and charming.  Arrive before 6:15 p.m. to hear his lecture.

For tickets call 816- 235-6222 or online at www.rockhurst.edu/musicasacra
 

Northland Community Choir Spring Concert
NCC Off Off Off Broadway
A Concert of Musical Theater Favorites
Sunday, April 26 at 3 p.m.
Graham Tyler Memorial Chapel
Park University, Parkville, MMO

The Northland Community Choir will perform its Spring concert free of charge.  The concert will feature selections from a variety of Broadway shows.  According to the Choir, "from murder and intrigue to love and laughter, this concert will have it all."

Free admission.
 

Youth Symphony of Kansas City
Spring Concert
Sunday, April 26 at 4 p.m.
Jewish Community Center
5801 West 115th Street, Overland Park, KS

The Youth Symphony of Kansas City closes out its concert season for the year with a full orchestra concert led by its conductor, Steven D. Davis.  The selections this afternoon include Brahms' Symphony No. 2 and the Overture to Candide by Bernstein.  The Youth Symphony often gives outstanding performance and these selections should both please.

Free admission.
 

Kansas City Symphony
Symphony Chamber Players: Celebrated Serenades
Friday, May 1 at  p.m.
Visitation Church
5141 Main Street, Kansas City, MO

The Kansas City Symphony's new chamber music series is the brainchild of the Symphony's new assistant conductor, Steven Jarvi.  This concert is the last in the series for this year.  The series offers fans of the Symphony an interesting opportunity to hear the players on a more intimate basis than is allowed in the larger symphonic setting, of course, and the first several recitals in this series have revealed a distinctly different side of the Symphony musicians' talents.

In this program the chamber players will explore the Dvorak Serenade in E Minor, along with Benjamin Britten's Serenade for Horn, Tenor and Strings.  No word yet on who the tenor will be, but the piece features poetry of Tennyson, Keats and Blake, so it should be interesting.

Jarvi is an engaging conductor and his concert comments are always interesting.  This should be a great way to celebrate May Day this year.

For tickets call 816-471-0400 or online at www.kcsymphony.org
 

Fine Arts Chorale
Green Concert
Friday, May 1 at 8 p.m.
Immanuel Lutheran Church
2104 Bob Billings Parkway, Lawrence, KS

Saturday, May 2 at 7:30 p.m.
Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral
13th and Broadway, Downtown Kansas City, MO

The Fine Arts Chorale concludes its 2008-2009 concert season with two performances of a Green Concert which, according to the Fine Arts Chorale, will feature "music that speaks to the beauty of Earth and its resources."  .

For tickets call 816- 235-6222 or online at www.fineartschoralekc.org
 

NewEar Contemporary Music Ensemble
Györgi Ligeti Program
Saturday, May 2 at 8 p.m.
All Soul's Unitarian Church
4501 Walnut, Kansas City, MO

The NewEar Contemporary Music Ensemble finishes its 2008-2009 season this weekend with a tribute to the pathbreaking Trannsylvanian-born composer Györgi Ligeti, whose work has been such a stimulant to contemporary musicians. 

Ligeti was born in 1923, and his early work showed influences of his fellow Eastern European musicians Bartok and Kodaly.  Ultimately he carved a very independent musical path, however, developing a musical concept he called "micropolyphony," which, according to one commentator, is "a style forged from chromatic cluster chords that are devoid of conventional melody, pitch and rhythm, but instead grow into timbres and textures that yield new sonic possibilities."

According to NewEar, "his music was remarkable: devoid of sentiment, whimsical, bizarre, and utterly astonishing in its continuous discovery of new sounds where there seemed to be none left to be found." Among his influences were Bartok, Brahms, Stockhausen and the music of African pygmies.
New Ear's celebration of Ligeti will covers much of the vast breadth of his music, including the early Six Bagatelles for woodwind quintet, Poéme Symphonique for 100 metronomes, the chamber version of his Cello Concerto and the Horn Trio.

For tickets call 816-235-6222 or online at www.newear.org

Liberty Symphony Orchestra
Season Finale Concert
Saturday, May 2 at 7:30 p.m.
Liberty Performing Arts Center
1600 South Withers Road, Liberty, MO

The Liberty Symphony Orchestra is another organization which wraps up its 2008-2009 concert season this weekend, with a final performance which will feature Copland's Appalachian Spring, Debussy's Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun and Bernstein's challenging Chichester Psalms, in conjunction with the Liberty Community Chorus.  These are all popular and sometimes difficult pieces, and the Liberty Symphony certainly demonstrates its willingness to tackle advanced repertoire in this concert.

For tickets call 816-439-4362.

Kansas City Chorale
Spring Concert: Double Concert with Phoenix Chorale
Sunday, May 3 at 2 p.m.
Redemptorist Church
3333 Broadway, Kansas City, MO

Tuesday, May 5 at 7:30 p.m.
Church of the Nativity
119th and Mission Road, Overland Park, KS

On Sunday and Tuesday the Kansas City Chorale and Phoenix Chorale, both directed by Charles Bruffy, will team up for their delayed double concert which was originally scheduled for earlier this season.  It should be worth the wait, as the two talented groups will join forces for the world premiere of René Clausen's new "Mass" commissioned by the Chorale.  Also in store is a selection of Bruffy favorites that will be sung by the Chorale in Seoul, Korea this August.

For tickets call 816-235-6222 or online at www.kcchorale.org
 

Philharmonia of Greater Kansas City
Season Finale Concert
Sunday, May 3 at 3 p.m.
Graham Tyler Memorial Chapel
Park University, Parkville, MO

The Philharmonia of Greater Kansas City, one of the area's more talented community orchestras, play under the direction of Andrés Franco, conductor and music director.

The Philharmonia will complete its concert season with a performance at Park University this afternoon.  The interesting selections will include Borodin's rarely heard Symphony No. 2, an impressive work of the Russian repertoire from the pen of one of the 19th Century's most celebrated Russian composers, along with Walton's Viola Concerto featuring viola soloist Yu-Fang Chen, Viola, the winner of the 2009 Philharmonia Concerto Competition.

It's not often that you get to hear either one of these works, so this concert should be a real treat.  

Tickets available at the door.

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.