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Kansas City's Online Journal of the Performing Arts

Clear your calendar for January 13th’s guest double recital by soprano Carole FitzPatrick and baritone Robert Barefield with Eckart Sellheim on the piano at the UMKC Conservatory.  Their program consists of some favorites with Beethoven’s An die ferne Geliebte, Op. 98 and Debussy’s Ariettes oubliées, as well as some off-the-beaten-track repertory from DeMars, Britten, and Chausson. http://conservatory.umkc.edu

The Spring 2011 choral season starts off with a sparkling jewel on January 21st, when the Friends of Chamber Music presents Benjamin Bagby’s early music master ensemble, Sequentia.  Their program, Voices from the Island Sanctuary: Ecclesiastical Singers in Paris (1180–1230), will showcase their musicologically-informed performance practices. http://www.chambermusic.org/

University faculty mezzo-sopranos Aidan Soder of UMKC and Joyce Castle of KU will present recitals on January 24 and 26th, respectively.  Soder’s second half looks to be very promising with works by Wichita-born, Topeka-raised, Kirke Mechem, as well as Granados, Poulenc, and Bolcom.  Castle, presented by the Lied Center of Kansas, will also perform a new work by William Bolcom, The Hawthorn Tree, a new vocal chamber song cycle which was written specifically for her. Soder’s colleague, soprano Rebecca Sherburn will perform later in the spring on March 24th. http://conservatory.umkc.edu and http://www.lied.ku.edu/

February 5th, sees the return of Chanticleer courtesy of The Friends of Chamber Music, performing the works of Franco-Flemish Renaissance master Orlando di Lasso. Di Lasso’s music is just as pleasing as his contemporary Palestrina, but to me contains more passion and bite.   http://www.chambermusic.org/

February 13th plays host to a vocal feast.  A local lass who has taken the opera world by storm, mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato returns to the Harriman-Jewell Series.  Her Chaminade and Hahn will surely captivate.  http://hjseries.org

After DiDonato’s performance, head to Californos for Terri Teal and the Fine Arts Chorale centennial tribute to Independence-born Ginger Rodgers.  The program consists of works by film composers Berlin, Gershwin, Porter, and Kern. http://www.fineartschoralekc.org/

Think you can program better than Artistic Director Krista Lang Blackwood? Octarium’s final concert of their 8th season on February 19th, will see if that’s the case.  Have a favorite choral piece? Nominate it here: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/5ZDCWV2. http://www.octarium.org

Johnson County Community College Performing Arts Series brings the Vienna Boys Choir to Yardley Hall on February 26th. Their repertory runs the gamut from Strauss to Celine Dion! http://www.jccc.edu/performing-arts-series/

Charles Bruffy and the Kansas City Chorale perform choral music that explores darkness and light on March 6th and 8th.  http://kcchorale.org/

One of Kansas City's newest ensembles Kantorei of Kansas City's March 12th and 13th concerts include Daniel Pinkham's amazing Wedding Cantata and Palestrina's Canticum canticorum.  Pinkham's setting of  "Set me as a Seal" is stunning and the "Many Waters" canon is jaw-dropping.  http://www.kantoreikc.blogspot.com/

If Sequentia wasn’t enough to sate your early music appetite, The Friends of Chamber Music is also bringing back Trio Mediaeval. On March 26th, they will perform their Worcester Ladymass program. http://www.chambermusic.org/

Also on March 26th, as well as March 27th, the Heartland Men’s Chorus will salute Kansas City’s jazz roots alongside legend Marilyn Maye with a program of Charlie Parker, Count Basie, Glenn Miller, and Duke Ellington. http://www.hmckc.org

Arnold Epley’s Musica Vocale continues coupling its adventuresome programming like Ginastera’s Lamentations of Jeremiah with stalwarts by Brahms, Scarlatti, and Bach on April 3rd at St. Elizabeth’s Catholic Church.  http://www.musicavocale.org/

UMKC Conservatory’s Conservatory Artist Series concludes with a performance of Poulenc’s Gloria by the Conservatory Choirs and Orchestra on April 23rd.  It’s a charming piece to cap Robert Bode’s first year at the Conservatory.  http://conservatory.umkc.edu

Mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke will perform Brahms’ stunning Alto Rhapsody with the men of the Kansas City Symphony Chorus and the musicians of Kansas City Symphony under maestro Michael Stern.  The Alto Rhapsody is one of those unjustly neglected works and the performances on May 20th through 22nd should not be missed especially since it’s coupled with Prokofiev’s searing Alexander Nevsky, Op. 78  http://www.kcsymphony.org

On June 11th, the Simon Carrington Chamber Singers will perform at Village Presbyterian Church and then later that evening at a to-be-determined Lawrence location.  As they only perform once a year, this concert should not be missed. http://www.simoncarringtonchambersingers.com

The Heartland Men’s Chorus will channel the 80’s in their Metro-Retro concerts on June 11th and 12th.  Break out the leg warmers, blazers with shoulder pads, cassette tapes, and watch Flashdance to get yourself in the mood. http://www.hmckc.org/

Top Photo:  Octarium by Mark Hutchinson

By Lee Hartman

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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