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Editor's Choice: Lee's Picks
The 2011–12 season launches in a few short weeks and with it some of the most exciting events ever to grace the stages of Kansas City. 2010–11 was no slouch though with many ensembles and artists leaving lasting impressions. Here are Editor-in-Chief Lee Hartman’s favorites of 2010–11.
The 2011–12 season launches in a few short weeks and with it some of the most exciting events ever to grace the stages of Kansas City. 2010–11 was no slouch though with many ensembles and artists leaving lasting impressions. Here are Editor-in-Chief Lee Hartman’s favorites of 2010–11 divided between local and visiting talents.
Local Talent
6. Owen/Cox Dance Group and newEar: Chromatic Collaboration
Louis Andriessen's Workers Union found Jennifer Owen's choreography and newEar musicians matching wits in delightfully aggressive whimsy. The last half of the mammoth work was an endurance challenge for musicians and dancers alike in this successful first-time collaboration. (April 2011)
5. Lyric Arts Trio: Summer Concert
Nearly one year ago and I can still remember the Lyric Arts Trio’s remarkable premiere of Jean Belmont Ford’s equally remarkable En la memoria, Yda Garcia Lence. The trio of Sarah Tannehill Anderson, Elena Lence Talley, and Dan Velicer performance this past August was a collection of their favorite pieces. They have impeccable taste. (August 2010)
4. Kansas City Symphony: Season Finale Tchaikovsky’s Fourth
When the Kansas City Symphony fires on all cylinders, it is a wonderful concert experience. With three such performances, I had a hard time picking the Season Finale over Martin Grubinger’s solo turn on Avner Dorman’s Frozen in Time and the over-the-top bombast of the Verdi/Respighi concert, but everything aligned for the Symphony’s farewell to the Lyric. Having violinist Stefan Jackiw as the soloist certainly aided in tipping the scales in favor of the finale as well. (June 2011)
3. R. Andrew Lee: An Hour for Piano
Though he shortchanged the audience by 1.2 seconds, Andy Lee’s performance of Tom Johnson’s minimalist masterpiece, An Hour for Piano was a study in stamina, concentration, and the subtlety of musical economy. (October 2010)
2. Lyric Opera of Kansas City: Carmen
With leading lady Sandra Piques Eddy at the fore, the Lyric’s production of Carmen was ear and eye candy. She’ll return to Kansas City as Rosina in the Barber of Seville. Here’s hoping she takes to the new Kauffman stage and comedy with the same panache! (September 2010)
1. Fine Arts Chorale with Jan Kraybill: Holiday Concert
A brainy and beautiful celebration, Terri Teal’s Fine Arts Chorale with organist Jan Kraybill showcased there is no need to pander or water down your product just because it’s the holidays. Kraybill’s performance of Marcel Dupré’s Variations sur un Noël, Op. 20 was the crown jewel of the concert and the season. (December 2010)
Visiting Talent
4. Jigu! Thunder Drums of China
Presented by the Johnson County Community College Performing Arts Series, the concert by 20-member percussion ensemble, Jigu!, was colorful, filled with personality and engaging from beginning to end. (November 2010)
3. Acis and Galatea
The headiest production of last season was also brilliantly staged, sung, acted, played, and costumed by the Boston Early Music Festival. Kudos to the Friends of Chamber Music for bringing this rare Handel opera to Kansas City audiences. (April 2011)
2. Super Spectacular! To Opera with Love
With cleverly campy flair sending up stalwart opera perennials, the Donovan Ensemble’s run at the KC Fringe Festival rightfully earned them a Best of Fringe encore performance. Viva Emmet! Bravo Merrill Garrick! Bravo! (July 2011)
1. Sphinx Chamber Orchestra with Harlem String Quartet
The Sphinx Chamber Orchestra played with unabashed verve and vitality on standout performances of works by Felix Mendelssohn, Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson, George Walker and Gabriela Lena Frank as part of the Music Alliance between the UMKC Conservatory and Friends of Chamber Music. The energy and enthusiasm of the orchestra was infectious. (October 2010)
Top Photo: Sphinx Chamber Orchestra
Editor-in-Chief; Traditional and New Classical Contributor
Lee Hartman holds degrees from the University of Missouri-Kansas City (D.M.A., M.M.) and the University of Delaware (B.M.). At the University of Delaware, he received a Dean's Scholar position enabling him to pursue an individually designed academic program combining music education and composition. At the University of Missouri-Kansas City he served for three years as the Assistant Director to Musica Nova, the conservatory's new music ensemble, while teaching a variety of composition classes.
In 2007 he was invited to both the Iceland Academy of the Arts in Reykjavík, Iceland and the Sichuan Conservatory in Chengdu, China to give lectures and master classes in composition. In the summer of 2009, Hartman served as an orchestra manager for the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble and Aspen Opera Theater Center for various performances. He serves on the National Executive Committee of the Society of Composers, Inc. as Submissions Coordinator. His primary composition instructors include James Mobberley, Chen Yi, Zhou Long, Paul Rudy, John Beall, and Jennifer Margaret Barker. He currently teaches music theory at the University of Central Missouri and general music classes at Park University having previously taught at UD (2007–08) and UMKC (2006–07).
His compositions can be found at http://www.leehartmanmusic.com
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