RSS 2.0 FeedDecember 21, 2011, Featured Articles, Classical
Give the gift of local music
Looking for that perfect gift for the music-lover in your life? Want to support musicians with Kansas City connections? Here’s a rundown of commercially available recordings released in 2011.
Jay Batzner – Blue Jaunte (whispers of Gouffre Martel)
UMKC composition alum Jay Batzner’s Blue Jaunte was selected to appear on Axiom, a compilation of new works by the Society of Composers. Available here.
Chen Yi – Various Titles
Kansas City’s composer par excellence has many releases to her name this year, including Ba Ban, for piano (Albany), Golden Flute, for flute and orchestra, and Ba Yin, for saxophone quartet and orchestra (BIS), and Night Thoughts, for piano trio (Profil). Available through various online retailers.
Fountain City Brass Band – Over the Rainbow
The award-winning ensemble’s newest release, Over the Rainbow, contains the title track and tons of others from Lecuona, Tchaikovsky, Vaughan Williams, and more. Available from the FCBB website.
Joyce DiDonato – Diva Divo
A Grammy-nominated disc from our premiere local diva. Available at record stores and through various online retailers.
Jocelyn Ho – Luminous Sounds
UMKC piano alumna Jocelyn Ho’s debut recording includes works by Haydn, Mendelssohn, Chopin, Debussy, and Rzewski. The disc is available here.
Eric Honour – Phantasm
A jaw-dropping, astoundingly musical disc with eleven tracks of pieces for saxophone and electronics. Available here.
Kantorei of Kansas City – Sweet was the Song
Kansas City’s newest choir launched right into recording. Their first disc is a brilliant set of atypical Christmas offerings. Available from the Kantorei website.
People’s Liberation Big Band of Greater Kansas City – Nutcracker and the Mouse King
Catch Owen/Cox Dance Group’s witty production? Well now you can own the clever music! Available locally at Prospero’s Books, Zebedee's RPM, and The Kansas City Store at Union Station, or online here and from iTunes here.
Nicholas Phillips – Boris Papandopulo: Piano Music
Doesn’t everyone need a disc of awesome Croatian piano music? This is the first recording dedicated to Papandopulo’s pieces. Available here.
Simon Carrington Chamber Singers – Go Song of Mine
Go Song of Mine features a collection of choral music from the British Isles as well as the world-premiere recordings of Melissa Dunphy’s What do you think I fought for at Omaha Beach, Carrington’s arrangement of My Love is like a Red, Red Rose, and local composer Geoffrey Wilcken’s Go, Lovely Rose. Available from the SCCS website and iTunes.
Smith/Azure Piano Duo – Variations
Variations is coming soon (Dec. 20) from local piano duo of Barry Smith and Beth Azure. With four original compositions for piano four hands by Smith, the collection includes homages to Beethoven and Paganini. Preview clips are available on YouTube and for purchase here.
Jorge Sosa – Plastic Time
Mexican-born, UMKC composition alum Jorge Sosa’s first disc contains tracks for instruments and electronics. Available here.
Ingrid Stölzel – The Road is All
Stölzel’s dreamy work for piano trio closes a fine modern chamber music disc available here. The performers are Anne-Marie Brown, Lawrence Figg, and Robert Pherigo, all members of newEar.
Zhou Long – Various Titles
Sadly, a commercially available Madame White Snake recording didn’t accompany the Pulitzer Prize, but Five Elements and Deep, Deep Sea performed by flutist Sharon Bezaly will tide you over (BIS). Available from various online retailers.
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
More Featured Articles
KC Events this week and beyond
Looking for something to do this weekend? Click here for the KC Events calendar of theatre, classical music, dance and jazz events through 2011. Highlights of this week's classical music and dance offerings are in Don Dagenais' "City Classics." For current Theatre listings visit Victor Wishna's "City Stage." Enjoy!
Playwright Ken Ludwig talks farce on the fairway
Washington-based playwright Ken Ludwig, perhaps best known for his comedy "Lend Me A Tenor" (originally produced on by Andrew Lloyd Webber on Broadway) discusses his newest venture into farce on the golf green, "The Fox on the Fairway." The Theatre Gym is producing the play's Midwest premiere at Just Off Broadway Theatre through Dec. 31.
Tchaikovsky swings
The Owen/Cox Dance Group’s zany and thoroughly entertaining “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King” contains inspired arrangements of Tchaikovsky’s traditional "Nutcracker" score by Brad Cox and others, and also new music for scenes from the original E.T.A. Hoffmann story that do not appear in the Tchaikovsky ballet. This review focuses on the production's music.
"The Giver" gets operatic treatment
Adaptations of young adult literature are currently in vogue because of their gripping stories and powerful messages. The Lyric Opera of Kansas City and the Minnesota Opera have joined forces to commission Susan Kander's opera based on Lois Lowry's Newbery Award-winning novel, "The Giver." KCM's Sarah Young spoke with the creative team and the cast of the upcoming production.
All material contained in KCMetropolis.org is the property of or licensed for use by KCMetropolis.org. Any use, duplication, or reproduction of any or all content of this publication is prohibited except with the express written permission of KCMetropolis.org or the original copyright holders.