KCMETROPOLIS.org
Kansas City's Online Journal of the Performing Arts

Vocal music highlights dominate the last two weeks of March on Kansas City’s classical music scene.  The Friends of Chamber Music presents Trio Mediaeval, a group of a cappella women singers in ancient masterworks, the combined University of Kansas forces present Mendelssohn’s giant oratorio Elijah, and the UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance performs Mozart’s Don Giovanni for its spring opera. Also, you have an unusual chance to hear excerpts from Handel’s Radamisto at William Jewell College. On a lighter note, the Heartland Men’s Chorus sings jazz works with guest artist Marilyn Maye.

On the instrumental side, the Kansas City Symphony performs two concerts, one featuring Latin American themes with guest violist Roberto Diaz, and the other including Romantic favorites by Berlioz, Ravel, and Elgar under the baton of guest conductor Larry Rachleff.

One of today’s most extraordinary pianists, Garrick Ohlsson, performs Chopin and Granados for The Friends of Chamber Music and Kanako Ito and Martin Storey return to town to play with Quartet Accorda at Park University. It will be great to hear these returning artists again.

UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance
Spring Opera: Don Giovanni
Thursday, March 17 through Sunday, March 20
7:30 p.m. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, 2:30 p.m. on Sunday
White Recital Hall, James C. Olson Performing Arts Center
4949 Cherry, Kansas City, MO
For tickets call 816-235-6222 or visit online at www.umkc.edu/cto.

The UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance explores the darker side of Mozart with its spring opera, Don Giovanni.  The opera, composed in1778, represents the first great attempt to fuse the traditional elements of both drama and comedy. As a result, Mozart utilized a variety of different compositional styles and his music characterizes a wide range of emotions. In the view of most experts and generations of audiences the composer succeeded brilliantly.  Foreshadowing later works of composers such as Verdi and Wagner, Don Giovanni carries a charm and power unique and surprising for a work of its time.

Also, as a work written for more intimate theaters and smaller-scale ensembles than the late masterpieces of Verdi, Wagner, and their successors, it makes an ideal opera for presentation by university workshops with student singers. This is your opportunity to hear some of the fine young voices being trained by the Conservatory.

Joseph Kerman said in his classic book Opera as Drama: “If [The Marriage of] Figaro was a clever work, Don Giovanni is magnificently brash… Don Giovanni is Mozart’s richest score, and the dearest of all of his operas to the musician, as it is to the opera–going public today.”

Westport Center for the Arts
Brown Bag Concert
Friday, March 18 at 12:10 p.m.
Westport Presbyterian Church
201 Westport Rd, Kansas City, MO
Free admission; donations accepted. Visit www.westportcenterforthearts.org/brown_bags.html for more information.

Westport Center for the Arts presents a free concert during the lunch hour today, featuring Marian Thomas and Rebecca Bell performing eight of the Preludes and Fugues from J.S. Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 2, played on a harpsichord tuned to Werckmeister III temperament.

According to harpsichordist Thomas, “This is an historic tuning which is much closer to what Bach intended than what our ears are used to. Many music students have been taught that well-tempered meant ‘equal temperament,’ in which the half-step intervals between keys are identical. This is a mistaken notion, for the modern tuning robs Bach's music of the distinctive sound which each key has when the historic tuning is used.

“He wrote 24 pieces in each of two volumes, and used twelve major and twelve minor keys, covering the entire chromatic scale. Within each piece, he also used a great variety of chord progressions and keys, so that the ability of Werckmeister III tuning to make each key distinctive is demonstrated.”

In future concerts, the pair intends to perform the balance of all of the preludes and fugues from the Bach book.

Bring your own lunch, as long as you nibble it quietly! Coffee and cookies will be provided by Pryde's Old Westport after the concert.

The Friends of Chamber Music
Garrick Ohlsson, pianist
Saturday, March 19 at 8:00 p.m.
Folly Theater
12th St and Central Ave, Kansas City, MO
For tickets call 816-561-9999 or visit online at www.chambermusic.org. 

This audience member can remember attending, years ago, a performance at the Kansas City Symphony where virtuoso pianist Garrick Ohlsson was performing what I considered the almost–unplayable Piano Concerto of Ferruccio Busoni. It was a thrilling experience, and every subsequent appearance in Kansas City of this extraordinary pianist has afforded a similar pleasure.

Ohlsson’s program for this recital is a bit more tame, with the music of Chopin and Granados, but his power and elegance will be on display just as much now as then.

To say that Ohlsson is one of the world’s leading pianists is an understatement. This season alone, he opened with a recital in Carnegie Hall with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and followed with return visits to the orchestras of Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, National Symphony, Milwaukee, Toronto, New World (Miami) and San Diego. In Europe, he has performed with orchestras in Sweden, Denmark, Spain and England. This recital, on top of all of that, is part of a series of recitals honoring the Chopin birthday year, and includes performances in Detroit and New York as well as other cities.

Kansas City Symphony
Four Dances from Estancia
Friday and Saturday, March 18 and 19, at 8:00 p.m.
Lyric Theatre
11th St and Central Ave, Kansas City, MO
Sunday, March 27 at 2:00 p.m.
Yardley Hall at Carlsen Center, Johnson County Community College
12345 College Blvd, Overland Park, KS
For tickets call 816-471-0400, or visit online at www.kcsymphony.org.

Latin America is definitely the theme of the Symphony concerts for the weekend of March 18–20, as the Symphony performs the music of the popular contemporary Argentinian-born composer Osvaldo Golijov, along with The Four Dances from Estancia of Alberto Ginastera. Also, guest soloist Roberto Diaz takes on the Viola Concerto of Krystof Pendercki.

Wait a minute. Latin American music? Krystof Pendercki doesn’t sound very Latin to us! Well, you’re right…sort of.  Pendercki is a well known Polish composer, born in 1933, who suffered through the horrors of Russian occupation and as a result is a champion of contemporary political causes. Among his heroes is the Latin American revolutionary, Simon Bolivar, for whom his Viola Concerto was composed in honor of at the request of the Argentinian government. So there you have it…there is a Latin American connection all the way around, even though part of it runs through Poland.

The 50-year-old Golijov, creator of one of the most popular contemporary operas, Ainamadar, has attained an international popularity enjoyed by few modern composers. He grew up in an Eastern European Jewish household in Argentina and absorbed musical influences from many sources. Educated in Israel and the United States, he collaborates with artists such as the Romanian Gypsy band Taraf de Haidouks, the Mexican Rock group Café Tacuba, tablas virtuoso Zakir Hussain, and the legendary Argentine composer, guitarist and producer Gustavo Santaolalla. His Siderius will receive its premiere with the Symphony.

Audiences will find the music of Golijov shimmering and translucent, usually with a full-blown Latin percussion behind it.

Ginastera (1916–1983) was a predecessor to Golijov as an internationally known Argentinian composer. His early career, like Golijov’s so far, was dominated by an attraction to Latin American themes, and his ballet Estancia, still one of his most popular compositions, dates from that time.

Penderecki, meanwhile, writes not only music about Latin American heroes, but has composed pieces in memory of the victims of the Hiroshima atomic bomb, in honor of Pope John Paul II, who was Polish, and also in memory of the victims of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. According to the Polish Composer’s Union, his one-movement Viola Concerto “juxtaposes forms of contrasting tempos: Lento, Vivace, Lento, Vivo, Lento, with Vivace and Vivo, the fast movements, having a playful, scherzo-like character. Solo cadenzas which precede, among others, the two "scherzos", serve as interludes.” A nostalgic main theme is introduced by the soloist in a piano volume, and thereafter occurs in a number of variations.

Park University International Center for Music
Quartet Accorda
Sunday, March 20 at 3:00 p.m.
Graham Tyler Memorial Chapel, Park University
8700 NW River Park Dr, Parkville , MO
For more information visit http://www.park.edu/icm/

Quartet Accorda, the outstanding quartet which is in residence at Park University, will present an almost–free concert this afternoon, offering chamber music aficionados one of the real bargains of the week. The members of Quartet Accorda are Kanako Ito, violin; Ben Sayevich, violin; Chung-Hoon Peter Chun, viola; and Martin Storey, cello. Ito and Storey, returning to Kansas City for this concert, will perform Duo for Violin and Cello by Martinu. The entire Quartet will perform Beethoven’s String Quartet in F Minor. The final piece, Piano Quintet No. 2 in A Major by Dvorak, will include pianist Marina Sultanova.

Greater Kansas City Chapter, American Guild of Organists
Music for Organ and Orchestra
Monday, March 21 at 7:30 p.m.
Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral
415 West 13th St, Kansas City, MO
For more information visit http://www.kcago.com/

The Kansas City Baroque Consortium joins members of the Greater Kansas City chapter of the American Guild of Organists for a free concert this evening exploring works in which composers have utilized both the organ and orchestral forces. The exact program has not been announced as of press time for this issue of KCMetropolis, but with the talented individuals involved in both groups this should be an interesting program.

UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance
Conservatory Wind Symphony and Conservatory Orchestra
Wednesday, March 23 at 7:30 p.m.
White Recital Hall, James C. Olson Performing Arts Center
4949 Cherry, Kansas City, MO
For tickets call 816-235-6222 or visit online at www.umkc.edu/cto.

The UMKC Conservatory Wind Symphony under the direction of Steven Davis joins with the UMKC Conservatory Orchestra as directed by Robert Olson, with graduate director Andrew Putnam, for a performance which includes music of Husa, Dvorak and Elgar.

UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance
Faculty Recital: Rebecca Sherburn, Marita Abner, and Patricia Higdon
Thursday, March 24 at 7:30 p.m.
White Recital Hall, James C. Olson Performing Arts Center
4949 Cherry, Kansas City, MO
For more information call 816-235-2799 or visit http://conservatory.umkc.edu.

Several times a year the UMKC Conservatory features outstanding faculty members in free recitals. Once such opportunity is coming up on Thursday, when you will have a chance to hear not one, but three, faculty members in recital: soprano Rebecca Sherburn, bassoonist Marita Abner and pianist Patricia Higdon.

Accompanied by Abner and Higdon, Sherburn will sing the “Alleluiah" from Mozart’s Exsultate jubilate, lieder by Hugo Wolf, song selections from Camargno Guarnieri, “Fantasiestucke” by Robert Schumann, and the ever-popular coloratura favorite “Glitter and be Gay,” from Bernstein’s Candide, among other selections.

William Jewell College
William Jewell College Opera Workshop: Handel’s Radamisto
Thursday, March 24 at 7:30 p.m.
Gano Chapel on the William Jewell College Campus
500 College Hill, Liberty, MO
For more information visit http://www.jewell.edu/william_jewell/gen/william_and_jewell_generated_pages/Music_Department_Welcome_p5400.html

This column ordinarily does not list undergraduate student performances, but in this case we will make an exception, as this may be one of your rare opportunities to hear excerpts from Georg Frideric Handel’s opera Radamisto.  Considered one of the premiere operas by the English composer, Radamisto is rarely done these days and performances in this country, in particular, are almost unknown (although there are some excellent recordings available, including an outstanding one featuring Kansas City’s own Joyce DiDonato).  For the uniqueness of the opportunity alone, this one should be worth checking out.

Kansas City Symphony
Elgar’s Enigma Variations plus Ravel
Friday and Saturday, March 25 and 26, at 8:00 p.m.
Sunday, March 27 at 2:00 p.m.
Lyric Theatre
11th St and Central Ave, Kansas City, MO
For tickets call 816-471-0400, or visit online at www.kcsymphony.org.

The Symphony concerts of March 25–27 bring guest conductor Larry Rachleff to town for a series of European favorites, including works of Berlioz, Ravel and Elgar, as well as American composer Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings. While Barber is hardly European, his famous Adagio, much championed by expatriate Italian conductor Arturo Toscanini, brings to mind some of the finest traits of classic European music with its beautiful progressions of tonal chords.

Berlioz is represented by the overture to his opera Benvenuto Cellini, a revelation for its time (1838) because of its adventurous musical tonality and heavily orchestrated musical palette. While rejected by the audiences of its day, the opera has come to be seen as a classic of the repertoire, and its sparkling overture to this day remains an orchestral favorite.

Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G Major dates from almost 100 years later when French music had taken on the flavor of Impressionism under the leadership of Ravel, Dukas, Poulenc and Debussy, among others. Ravel was actually on a tour of America when he wrote the concerto, and had fallen under the spell of American jazz. Thus the concerto, which was premiered in this country, is deeply infused with jazz idioms and harmonies. This performance features Argentine pianist Ingrid Fliter as soloist.

British composer Sir Edward Elgar represented, along with Arthur Sullivan, the finest that British music had to offer in the late 19th century. His Enigma Variations is one of the most popular orchestral pieces from that period, representing his take on an ancient musical form of theme and variations.

According to legend (perhaps apocryphal), Elgar sat down at the piano one day and, to unwind, began improvising. His wife Alice liked the tune that emerged, and Elgar responded by suggesting how certain of their friends might play it. Out of that spontaneous exchange grew the idea of the Enigma Variations. Each of the variations is apparently a “take” on a different family friend. Elgar never named the individuals involved, and thus the Variations have generated a virtual industry of speculation among music aficionados ever since, trying to guess which of the large Elgar circle of acquaintances is represented by which of the movements.

The Friends of Chamber Music
Trio Mediæval
Saturday, March 26 at 8:00 p.m.
Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception
416 W 12th St, Kansas City, MO
For tickets call 816-561-9999 or visit online at www.chambermusic.org. 

Trio Mediaeval consists of three Scandinavian singers who perform mostly medieval vocal works with occasional modern works added to the mix. The group’s flawless singing and impeccable musicianship has led it to be described by The Wall Street Journal as “breathtaking—arresting, vivid, calm but never peaceful, with every moment ready to bring surprise.”

In this concert, the ensemble will present Fragments: A Worcester Ladymass, a Mass to the Virgin Mary constructed from 13th–century manuscripts left by the medieval musicians of the Cathedral in Worcester, England. 

Heartland Men’s Chorus
Misbehavin’
Saturday, March 26 at 8:00 p.m.
Sunday, March 27 at 4:00 p.m.
Folly Theater
12th St and Central Ave, Kansas City, MO
Tickets available online at www.hmckc.org.

The Heartland Men’s Chorus welcomes guest artist Marilyn Maye to the stage for this tribute to the jazz hits that made Kansas City jazz great.  The group will “bebop to the hits of Charlie Parker, Count Basie, Glenn Miller and Duke Ellington.”

Philharmonia of Greater Kansas City
Musical Animals and Fairy Tales
Sunday, March 27 at 3:00 p.m.
Graham Tyler Memorial Chapel, Park University
8700 NW River Park Dr, Parkville , MO
For more information visit http://www.kcphilharmonia.org/

The Philharmonia Orchestra of Greater Kansas City, conducted by Travis Jurgens, performs a concert oriented towards young people.  In the featured number on the program, the orchestra will collaborate with the Kansas City Youth Ballet in a performance of Ravel’s classic Mother Goose Suite.  Also on the concert are the overture to Johann Strauss’s The Fledermaus and Prokofiev’s ever-popular Peter and the Wolf, with narration by David York.

We understand that there will be audience participation activities, so it should be great fun for the youngsters.

University of Kansas Symphony Orchestra and Choirs
Mendelssohn’s Elijah in Concert
Tuesday, March 29 at 7:30 p.m.
Lied Center, University of Kansas
1600 Stewart Dr, Lawrence, KS
For tickets call 913-864-3464 or visit online at www.lied.ku.edu.

The combined forces of the University of Kansas School of Music’s Symphony Orchestra and Choirs present Felix Mendelssohn’s monumental oratorio Elijah.  Guest conductor Paul Tucker will lead the groups in this ambitious work, one of the major oratorios of the 19th  Century.

Inspired by the works of Georg Frideric Handel (The Messiah, among others) and his beloved Johann Sebastian Bach, Mendelssohn wrote Elijah as a tribute to these greats and a testimony to his own mastery of choral music. He succeeded admirably, creating one of the most beloved of all oratorios.

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.