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Kansas City's Online Journal of the Performing Arts

On January 14th though 16th, the KC Symphony resumes their 2010–11 season, presenting one of the favorite concertos of pianists and piano aficionados alike, Sergei Rachmaninov’s Second Piano Concerto in C Minor, performed by esteemed pianist Andre Watts and conducted by the Symphony’s own Michael Stern. The piece is beloved for its memorable melodies and beautiful chord progressions, some of which have made their way into popular music culture via Eric Carmen (“All By Myself”) and Muse (“Butterflies and Hurricanes”). From the opening movement’s dark Russian angst to the fiery conclusion of the third movement, the Concerto is a great musical experience to witness live. This program also features Beethoven’s Grosse Fuge for String Orchestra and Martinů’s Symphony No. 4. http://www.kcsymphony.org

Perhaps France’s most-celebrated pianist under the age of fifty, Jean-Yves Thibaudet (pronounced Zhahn Eve Tee-bo-day) comes to the Folly Theater on January 28th to present a solo recital of the music of Franz Liszt as part of the Harriman-Jewell Series.  Liszt’s music is “prodigiously difficult” to quote pianist Danny Grimwood, but with a consummate artist such as Thibaudet, the virtuosity takes a back seat to the music’s sensitive Romanticism. Thibaudet performance features the third volume of the “Years of Pilgrimage” as well as a pairing of Liszt’s many transcriptions of Chopin and Wagner’s works. http://www.hjseries.org

The very next day, January 29th, Romanian-born Radu Lupu returns to The Friends of Chamber Music Master Pianists Series with a program that includes Schumann’s Papillons and Bunte Blaetter and Schubert’s Sonata in B-flat. I look forward to hearing Schumann’s earliest suite of character pieces, Papillons, played by Lupu, who has the distinction of being the Gold Medal Winner of the second Van Cliburn Competition in 1966. http://chambermusic.org

Twenty-five year-old Rafał Blechacz comes to the Folly on February 18th with his Kansas City debut for The Friends of Chamber Music. The young Polish pianist is reported to have decidedly owned the competition at the 2005 International Chopin Competition in Warsaw, taking the overall First Prize as well as all of the other top prizes for the polonaise, mazurka, sonata, and concerto competitions. While his program is unannounced thus far, I’ll expect to hear some Chopin as well as perhaps a sonata by Haydn, Mozart, or Beethoven (the repertory from Blechacz second album release). http://chambermusic.org

Fans of guitar, tango, and/or bandoneón music will want to investigate the Bach Aria Soloists presentation “Night of Tango” on February 25th and 26th. Bandoneónist Héctor del Curto, who was last in Kansas City in October for Park University’s Fête Ioudenitch fundraiser, returns to town to join guitarist Beau Bledsoe, violinist Elizabeth Suh Lane, and tango pianist Gustavo Casenave for classic Piazzolla quintet music. A smattering of Bach will also work its way into the evening. http://bachariasoloists.com/

A somewhat-more-local young pianist with a reputation for owning performances and competitions, Behzod Abduraimov will perform with Park University’s International Center for Music Chamber Orchestra on February 26th. If last Fall’s Park University fundraiser is any indication, this should be a thrilling concert by very young, very talented musicians. This concert takes place on ICM’s home turf of Park University’s Parkville campus. http://www.park.edu/icm/

On March 4th through 6th, the KC Symphony features Jonathan Biss, yet another formidable pianist who’s just now pushing thirty, playing Brahms First Piano Concerto with the ensemble. It should be a very fresh performance; all of Biss’ other concert engagements this year booked Beethoven’s Third Concerto or Mozart’s G Major or A Major Concertos, so Kansas City is the only place you can hear this concerto by this performer this season. If his performance is nearly as engaging as his website and blog, it should be a great show, which notably will also feature a world premiere of living composer Adam Schoenberg’s American Symphony commissioned by our KCS. http://www.kcsymphony.org

The Friends of Chamber Music’s “What Makes It Great?” Program will tackle Schumann’s Fantasy in C Major with presenter Rob Kapilow and pianist Claire Huangci on March 12th and 13th. These programs are free to the public and have the goal of de-tangling the complexities of classical music so that any music lover can enjoy their classical music-going experience. The piece is one of Schumann’s most important compositions and was composed in honor of Beethoven and dedicated to Liszt. http://chambermusic.org

American pianist Garrick Ohlsson closes out The Friends of Chamber Music Master Pianists Series this season with a March 19th recital program featuring Chopin and Granados. Ohlsson will offer an assemblage of smaller works by Chopin finishing with the more substantial First Ballade in G Minor. I am quite interested to hear the selections from Enirique Granados’ Goyescas, a series of character pieces inspired by paintings by Francisco Goya, a refreshing departure from the Schubert Sonatas, Chopin Barcarolles, and Liszt showpieces which have dominated this concert season. http://chambermusic.org

Top photo: Jonathan Biss

By Topher Levin

Classical Editor and Contributor

Christopher (Topher) Levin is a composer, pianist, music theorist, and music blogger based in Kansas City, MO. His compositions have been performed at music festivals across the US and in Europe. He has spent two summers in Paris, France studying music at the Ecole Normale de Musique through the EAMA program. His trio for clarinet, piano, and percussion is published in the SCI Journal of Scores.

Topher holds degrees from the University of Missouri-Kansas City (M.M.) in music theory and (M.M.) in composition and from James Madison University in Virginia (B.M.) in composition. Primary composition teachers have included John S. Hilliard, Paul Rudy, Zhou Long, James Mobberley, Chen Yi, Claude Baker, Narcis Bonet, Michel Merlet, and João Pedro Oliveira. His piano teachers have included Patricia Brady and Karen Kushner. Topher maintains a piano studio of 22 students.

Having recently completed a Master's thesis on the beautiful complexities of Chinary Ung's trio, Spiral I, Topher turned his writing attention to the more informal blogging medium. He has taken to it quite well, sharing posts on strange and wonderful music and art found across the web with a modest but growing number of blog followers. He looks forward to writing for KCM and sharing with its readers the stories of all the amazing musicians performing in Kansas City.