RSS 2.0 FeedMarch 10, 2010, City Classics, Classical
Music and Dance through March 17
Those who enjoy fine dance performances have a treat in store this weekend with an opportunity to see the famed Martha Graham Dance Company perform at JCCC in one of its founder’s classics, "Clytemnestra," the ancient Greek legend of the murder of King Agamemnon by his wife. Originally performed in 1958, it became something of a cause célèbre among early feminists and is regarded today as one of the cornerstones of Graham’s creativity. Opera fans have four performances of Donizetti’s delightfully comic "l’Elisir d’Amore" (The Elixir of Love) to entertain them at the UMKC Conservatory of Music this weekend, while chamber music aficionados can bask in the strains of the world-famous Artemis String Quartet performing works of Beethoven for The Friends of Chamber Music. If Beethoven is too conservative for your taste, check out the newEar Contemporary Music Ensemble’s collection of modern pieces by Chinese American composers for the zheng. What’s a zheng, you say? Go to the concert and find out!
UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance
L'Elisir d'Amore
Thursday, March 11 at 7:30 p.m.
Friday, March 12 at 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, March 13 at 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, March 14 at 2:30 p.m.
White Recital Hall
4949 Cherry, Kansas City, MO
For tickets call 816-235-6222, or online at www.conservatory.umkc.edu
This is the weekend for the spring opera production at the UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance. Featured is Donizetti's comic masterpiece l'Elisir d'Amore, which is always a delightful couple of hours in the theater. Written in a mad dash to satisfy a last-minute commission, Donizetti's frothy music caught on immediately, and the work has been a hit ever since its premiere in 1832. The charming story of the dim-witted young farmer Nemorino, his clever love interest Adina, and the brashly repulsive sergeant Belcore is timeless. And the comic antics of the ridiculous snake-oil salesman Dr. Dulcamara present some of the most hilarious moments in all of comic opera.
The piece is well suited to young voices, which is why it has long been popular with conservatory music programs. It also offers fine opportunities for comic acting, and the extensive choral work provides lots of opportunities for young singers as well. These performances will feature the Conservatory orchestra in one of opera's most tuneful orchestral scores.
L'Elisir is one of those pieces that can be just as enjoyable when performed by fine student singers on a small stage as it is with world famous stars in the cavernous Metropolitan Opera. It will be a treat, to be sure.
The Friends of Chamber Music
Artemis String Quartet
Friday, March 12 at 8:00 p.m.
Folly Theater
12th and Central, Downtown Kansas City, MO
For tickets call 816-561-9999 or online at www.chambermusic.org.
This weekend The Friends of Chamber Music brings us another one of the outstanding string quartets on the concert circuit today, the Berlin-based Artemis String Quartet. The Quartet was founded at the Lübeck Musikhochschule in 1989. Since 1994 the four players have performed as a professional ensemble, and two years later its international stature was established by winning First Prizes at the ARD Competition in 1996 and soon thereafter First Prize at the Premio Borciani.
The Quartet performs frequently at the Salzburg Festival and at the most important concert venues in Europe, the United States, Japan, South America and Australia, and in numerous appearances at international festivals.
In this concert, the group will play late Beethoven's String Quartet Opus 127, as well as the ferocious Opus 59, No. 3 Razumovsky quartet.
Carlsen Center Performing Arts Series
Martha Graham Dance Company, Clytemnestra
Saturday, March 13 at 8:00 p.m.
Yardley Hall, Carlsen Center, JCCC
12345 College Boulevard, Overland Park, KS
For tickets call 913-469-4445 or online at www.jccc.edu/TheSeries
Fans of dance have an opportunity this weekend to see one of the great traditional dance companies, the Martha Graham Dance Company, perform at Yardley Hall in one of its eponymous founder's most famous productions.
Founded in 1926 by dancer and choreographer Martha Graham, the Martha Graham Dance Company is the oldest and most celebrated contemporary dance company in America. It has performed in over 50 countries throughout North and South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. Among its venues have been the Metropolitan Opera, Carnegie Hall, the Paris Opera House, Covent Garden, and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
In this performance, the dance company, now led by LaRue Allen, Executive Director and Janet Eilber, Artistic Director, will perform Martha Graham's famous 1958 ballet Clytemnestra. A retelling of the Greek legend about the murder of King Agamemnon by his wife Clytemnestra following the King's return to Greece after his victory over Troy, the ballet became in its day a popular expression of nascent feminism.
"It's been claimed as the ultimate Graham dance drama," said a New York Times review last year. "The Ancient Greece of Martha Graham is not ancient. At one point husband, wife, son and daughter meet and revolve like spokes of a turning wheel: the all-time nuclear family, ready to explode."
The Ballet is set to music by Halim El Dabh.
newEar Contemporary Chamber Ensemble
American Currents
Saturday, March 13 at 8:00 p.m.
All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church
4501 Walnut Street, Kansas City, MO
For tickets call 816-235-6222 or online at www.tickets.cto.umkc.edu/
New Ear presents a series of Chinese American composers this weekend, in works written for the zheng (an ancient Chinese instrument) performed by Yu - Chen Wang.
The primary composers featured are Chen Yi and her husband Zhou Long, both of the faculty of the UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance. Chen Yi is represented by Song in Winter. Zhou Long's contribution is Ding for clarinet, zheng, and double bass.
Also on the program is Piano Trio by Ye Xiaogang, the director of the Beijing Modern Music Festival. Liu Sola, along with Yu-Chen Wang, will perform her work Flying Shadow for voice and zheng.
Luo Jing Jing's A Thousand Miles Away, Li Shao-sheng's Listening to the Dance for saxophone, cello and marimba, Zou Hang's Tipsy Dancing Devarajas and a work by Qin Wen-chen are also presented on this concert.
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.
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