February 23, 2011, Local Arts News
Kansas City's Grammy redux
Kansas City talent was well represented and rewarded at the recording industry's biggest night, the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards.
The Kansas City Symphony was part of two major wins. Under maestro Michael Stern, the Symphony's second album for Reference Recordings, Britten’s Orchestra, won the Grammy award for "Surround Sound Album." Producer David Frost won "Producer of the Year, Classical" with Britten's Orchestra being the first of seven listed credits.
William Jewell alum, Daniel Belcher '92, won the Grammy for "Best Opera Recording." Belcher played Jaufré Rudel, one of three roles, in Kaija Saariaho's L'amour de loin. Credited with Belcher were conductor Kent Nagano, soloists Ekaterina Lekhina and Marie-Ange Todorovitch, and producer Martin Sauer.
25-year-old R&B songstress and Kansas City, Kansas native Janelle Monáe was nominated for two Grammy's: Best Contemporary R&B Album (The ArchAndroid (Suites II and III)) and Best Urban/Alternative Performance ("Tightrope"). Though she didn't win the Grammy for either, her live performance of "Cold War" with Bruno Mars and B.o.B. was described by Entertainment Weekly as "hyper-kinetic ... she turned [it] into a manic, crowd-surfing display of raw oomph" earning the trio an A-.
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