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Kansas City's Online Journal of the Performing Arts

The next couple of weeks are pretty much "down time" for live classical music in Kansas City, due to all of our fine local organizations taking a much-needed breather after the multitude of holiday concerts that they have been offering over the past several weeks.  The weekend after Christmas there are no classical concerts planned, and the same applies for the weekend after New Year's day.  I guess they figure we are all recovering from too much Christmas pudding and/or watching football on television.

The weekend of January 9-11, though, the local classical music scene springs back to life with several events worth noting, but we'll save most of those for our column on January 5.  In the meantime, to tide you over, please listen to all of those wonderful classical music CD's or downloads that Santa or his friends undoubtedly slipped in your Christmas stocking over the holidays.

This is also the time of year when can reflect upon some of the great events upcoming later this winter and spring and look forward to some terrific performances that are headed our way shortly.

For those into the music of Gustav Mahler, for example, this winter and spring offers an excellent opportunity to hear not one but two of the master's greatest symphonies.  The weekend of January 23-25, Michael Stern will be conducting the Kansas City Symphony in performances of the Mahler First, nicknamed "The Titan," a rather unmodest calling card for one's very first symphony, think you not?  The First Symphony is one of the most melodic and "accessible" of the Mahler symphonies, and has always been among my favorites although some prefer the bombast and anxiety of his later works.

Then, on May 25, the Conservatory Orchestra of the UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance is wrapping up the Conservatory's jam-packed schedule of spring performances with a performance of the Mahler Second, led by the estimable Robert Olson.  You will recall that Olson, the founder of the Mahler Festival which plays in Colorado each spring, received an award from Germany a couple of years ago for his promotion of the music of Mahler.  He has significant experience conducting this work, which has been tackled by most of the great conductors since it was first written.  The Conservatory Choir joins in during the last movement.  It should be a powerful experience for Mahler lovers.

In the opera world, this spring will give us a chance to hear not one but two of the greatest operatic sopranos of today right here in Kansas City.  On January 21, our own Joyce DiDonato, a native of Prairie Village and one of today's leading mezzo-sopranos in the finest opera houses worldwide, graces the Folly Theater stage in a performance sponsored by the Harriman-Jewell Series.  This is a recital that they would stand in long lines to buy tickets for in New York, Paris or London, and we are privileged to have the opportunity to hear her right here in Kansas City.  She's putting Kansas City on the world operatic map in the same manner Tom Watson did so for golf a couple of decades ago.  She's our hometown star, and we should be very proud.

Then, beginning on March 14, you will have a chance to hear another one of the world's great operatic sopranos when Mary Dunleavy of the Metropolitan Opera bows at the Lyric Opera in the title role of La Traviata.  Dunleavy, who has performed the role at the Met as well as in Barcelona, the Netherlands, and St. Louis, and who sings such roles as Gilda (Rigoletto), Constanze (Abduction From the Seraglio), Fiordiligi (Cosi fan tutte), Donna Anna (Don Giovanni) and Micaela (Carmen) in opera houses around the world, is one of the most celebrated singers ever to grace the Lyric Opera's stage.  In fact, the only soprano of a more stellar reputation who has ever sung at the Lyric, to this writer's memory is...you guessed it, Joyce DiDonato.  So this is another one you won't want to miss.

By the way, a third great soprano is also appearing in Kansas City this spring, although she may not sing.  Carol Vaness, a longtime star at the Metropolitan Opera, Chicago Lyric Opera and other leading venues, is making her second visit to the UMKC Conservatory to teach master's classes on February 23-27. We understand that several of the master classes will be open to the public.  Vaness is the 2008-09 Muriel McBrien Kauffman Foundation Visiting Artist at the Conservatory.

Those who like brass instruments are probably aware that one of today's leading trumpet virtuosos is British trumpeter Alison Balsom, one of the few women to ever seize the limelight in the world of professional trumpeters. Her recordings show spectacular form and great feeling for the instrument, and the Kansas City Symphony is offering us a hand to check her out first-hand during the Symphony concerts of February 27-March 1.  She will be performing trumpet concertos by both Tomasi and Haydn.  Expect some dazzling virtuosity.

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.