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Kansas City's Online Journal of the Performing Arts

New Orleans Jazz Orchestra

Mid-America Nazarene University
Bells-a-Plenty VII
Tuesday, December 16 at 7:30 p.m.
Bell Cultural Center, Mid-America Nazarene University
2030 E. College Way, Olathe, Kansas
For tickets call 913-971-3636 or online at www.mnu.edu/events/bellcenter

The Fountain City Brass Band is a Kansas City-based brass band which boasts of being the 2007 and 2008 North American Brass Band Champions. The band was founded in 2002 under the direction of artistic director Lee Harrelson and produces four concerts a year at the Bell Cultural Center at Mid-America Nazarene University in Olathe. The program for the Christmas concert on December 16 is not available, but should feature holiday favorites arranged for...guess what?...a brass band!

Kansas City Symphony
Community Connection Concert - Kansas City Brass
Wednesday, December 17, 2008 at 12:30 p.m.
Nelson Atkins Museum of Art
4525 Oak Street, Kansas City, MO

One of this writer's favorite Christmas albums by a local music group is the wonderful A Kansas City Christmas recorded by the Kansas City Brass back in 1994. I bring it out every year and listen to it again and again. It contains delightful and sometimes quirky arrangements of Christmas carols for brass instruments, and is every bit the equal of the much better known recordings of the Canadian Brass.

The Kansas City Brass consists of members of the Kansas City Symphony, and includes trumpeters Gary Schutza Jr. and Brian Rood, horn player Stephen Multer, trombonist Wyatt Henderson, tuba player Steven Seward, and percussionist Timothy Jepson. The group has not only played at local venues, but has toured in Missouri, Oklahoma, and Colorado. They have been guest artists at the Western Slope Music Festival in Crested Butte, Colorado and the Missouri River Festival of the Arts in Boonville, Missouri.

They also released a second album in 1998, No Strings Attached, featuring includes American folk songs, hymns, orchestral transcriptions and jazz arrangements.

If you can go to a daytime concert this Wednesday, this should be a delightful addition to your Christmas music season. Better yet, there is no admission charge.

Free admission.

Harriman-Jewell Series
Home for the Holidays:
Irvin Mayfield and the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra
Thursday, December 18 at 7 p.m.
Folly Theater
12th and Central, Downtown Kansas City, MO

Okay, it's not exactly classical music, but who can resist the toe-tapping infectious enthusiasm of New Orleans Jazz? The Harriman-Jewell Series' holiday offering should feature lots of good family fun. The program features trumpeter Irwin Mayfield in selections and arrangements from Duke Ellington's Nutcracker Suite, New Orleans classics including Charles Brown's Please Come Home for Christmas, Louis Armstrong's version of O Christmas Tree, and modern arrangements of standards such as The Little Drummer Boy.

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

Lawrence Arts Center
A Kansas Nutcracker
Friday, December 19 at 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, December 20 at 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, December 21 at 2 p.m.
940 New Hampshire Street, Lawrence, KS

If you just can't get enough of Tchaikovsky's perennial The Nutcracker this holiday season (and who can't?), the dance and drama departments of the Lawrence Arts Center present a Kansas-oriented version this weekend.

A Kansas Nutcracker tells the story of Clara, a young girl whose family has settled in the Kansas Territorial community of Lawrence in the 1850's. At a holiday barn dance, Clara is charmed by her godfather, Drosselmeier, and his nephew. The two arrive at the party bearing magical toys as gifts for the children, and Clara falls asleep after the party dreaming of mice, toys, snow, grasshoppers and other inhabitants of the prairie.

Choreographer Deborah Bettinger and Lawrence Youth Ballet artistic Ric Averill bring this delightful story to life in a state-oriented edition that perhaps would have puzzled, but maybe delighted, E.T.A. Hoffmann, the original author. The production features area performers, including professional dancers from the 940 Dance Company and professional actors from the region. More than 100 adults and children from the Lawrence area will perform alongside the professionals.

For tickets call 785-843-2787 or online at www.lawrenceartscenter.org

Westport Presbyterian Church
December Brown Bag Concert
with Robert and Lyra Pherigo
Friday, December 19 at 12:10 p.m.
201 Westport Road, Kansas City, MO

Two of the local music scene's most delightful and talented performers, pianist/composer/vocalist Robert Pherigo and flutist Lyra Pherigo, are featured in this holiday concert which should be a delight. This writer has sneaked away from work a few times to spend a few delightful hours surreptitiously munching on a brown bag lunch (yes, food and drink are permitted provided you aren't too noisy) and enjoying some fine musical performances at the Westport Presbyterian Church in midtown, and this December offering should be one of the best.

On the program are the Hamburger Sonata by C.P.E. Bach (this might be particularly appropriate, depending on what you are eating for lunch); Gnossienne No. 1 by Erik Satie; Nocturne by Lili Boulanger; Sonata No. 1 by Philippe Gaubert; Weihnachtsbaum (Christmas Tree) by Franz Liszt; Die Hirten an der Krippe, Abendglocken, In the Bleak Midwinter, and The Heart of Life arranged by Robert Pherigo.

Munch away and enjoy!

No admission charge (donations accepted)

Lawrence Chamber Orchestra
Home for the Holidays
Sunday, December 21 at  2 p.m.
Lawrence Free Methodist Church
3001 Lawrence Avenue, Lawrence, KS

The Lawrence Chamber Orchestra has been performing concerts of chamber music in Lawrence, Kansas since 1972, and is presently under the direction of Steven McDonald of the University of Kansas.  The program for this holiday concert has not yet been announced.

For tickets call 785-691-7824 or online at www.lawrencechamberorchestra.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.