RSS 2.0 FeedMarch 17, 2010, City Classics
Music and Dance through March 24
The Lyric Opera opens" Rigoletto," the classic Italian melodrama by Verdi, on Saturday night. With a cast of all-stars including three Metropolitan Opera singers, the production should be one of the finest in the Company’s history. The Harriman Jewell series also reaches a high point this weekend with the recital appearance of cellist Yo-Yo Ma in selections by Schubert, Shostakovich and Franck, along with three South American composers who should add an interesting Latin flavor to the proceedings. For fans of smaller orchestral ensembles, you have three wind symphonies performing this weekend, two of them in tandem: the Kansas City Wind Symphony and St. Louis Wind Symphony perform a joint concert on Sunday afternoon at Village Presbyterian Church, while the UMKC Wind Symphony appears at the Conservatory on Tuesday evening. Arnold Epley’s Musica Vocale gives a concert on Sunday afternoon, as does UMKC Conservatory faculty member Jane Carl, clarinetist, with several of her fellow instructors in tow.
For a complete listing of music and dance events, click here to visit the KC Events calendar
UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance
UMKC Trombone Ensemble
Wednesday, March 17 at 7:30 p.m.
White Recital Hall
4949 Cherry, Kansas City, MO
Free admission. For more information visit http://conservatory.umkc.edu/calendarofevents.aspx
If you are looking for an alternative to a St. Patrick's Day celebration the evening of March 17, the UMKC Trombone Ensemble may be just what you need. Conducted by JoDee Davis, the ensemble will regale you with selections from Gabrieli, Haydn, Bruckner and a spate of less familiar composers. It should be...well...a blast. And you can't beat the price.
Harriman Jewell Series
Yo-Yo Ma in recital
Thursday, March 18 at 7:30 p.m.
Folly Theater
12th and Central Streets, Downtown Kansas City, MO
For tickets call 815-415-5025 or online at www.harrimanjewell.org
World famous cellist Yo-Yo Ma makes his eighth appearance on the Harriman Jewell program this week in one of the most anticipated recitals of the Harriman Jewell year. Unless you have your tickets already, however, don't get too worked up, because the program is sold out. You might try your luck at the Folly Theater box office shortly before the recital opens, for possible last-minute turn-ins.
Ma and pianist Kathryn Stott plan to play works by Schubert, Shostakovich, Piazzolla, Gismonti/Carneiro and Franck. The Franck violin sonata, here reset for cello, is a lovely piece which might be the tuneful highlight of the evening.
For listeners accustomed to standard fare, the South American flavor that Ma and Stott bring to this program should be refreshing. This listener is unfamiliar with the La Grand Tango by Argentinian composer Astor Pantaleón Piazzolla but applauds Ma and Stott for programming the unusual piece. The composition was written in 1982 by and dedicated to Russian cellist Mtislav Rostropovitch. It was premiered by him in 1990 in New Orleans.
Contemporary Brazilian composers Egberto Gismonti and Geraldo Caneiro have collaborated on a number of works since their music partnership began in 1968. Their works Bodas de Prata and Quatro Canto should prove stimulating.
UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance
UMKC Graduate Fellowship Brass Quintet
Thursday, March 18 at 7:30 p.m.
White Recital Hall
4949 Cherry, Kansas City, MO
Free admission. For more information visit http://conservatory.umkc.edu/calendarofevents.aspx
If you are not among the lucky ones with tickets to Yo-Yo Ma's recital on Thursday night, you can console yourself with a free concert at the UMKC Conservatory by the Graduate Fellowship Brass Quintet. The works to be performed on this program are unfamiliar to this writer, but consist of Toccata by Edmund Haines, Dance Suite by William Boyce, Golyardes' Grounde by Malcomb Forsythe, Sextet in E-flat Minor by Oskar Boehme, and Brinpolka by Semen Hulak.
UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance
Keith Kirchhoff, piano
Friday, March 19 at 7:30 p.m.
White Recital Hall
4949 Cherry, Kansas City, MO
Free admission. For more information visit http://conservatory.umkc.edu/calendarofevents.aspx
Pianist and composer Keith Kirchoff is in residency with the UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance this week, and will give a recital of works by himself and other composers on Friday evening. His programs focus on unusual and neglected works and his repertoire ranges from the 18th to the 21st centuries, with a concentration in modern music.
Although only 28 years old, Kirchoff has already premiered over 100 new works and commissioned over a dozen. Among the contemporary composers with whom he has worked are Christian Wolff, Frederic Rzewski, and Louis Andriessen. He has studied, performed, and lectured on the complete piano works of Robert Muczynski, given recital series focusing on the works of John Cage, and toured internationally with the works of Frederic Rzewski. He is the co-founder of the new music ensemble Agenda, and has appeared with the group at the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble and the Callithumpian Consort, Boston's premier modern music ensemble. He has also been a featured soloist in many music festivals including Performing Arts at CAM (Chelsea Contemporary Art Museum, New York), the Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States (SEAMUS) and the Oregon Festival of American Music, the Norfolk New Music Workshop.
In his recital, Kirchoff will be performing on a variety of keyboard instruments including the piano, synthesizer, sampler, WiiMote, and "prepared" piano. He will perform his own composition The Adventures of Norby, and will also perform works by Morales-Manzanares, Jette, Gosfield, Moore, VanHassel and Strange. This listener is unfamiliar with these composers and their work, but loves the title of the Gosfield piece, "Lightning Slingers and Dead Ringers." It should be an unusual experience.
Lyric Opera of Kansas City
Rigoletto
Saturday, March 20 at 8 p.m.
Wednesday, March 24 at 7:30 p.m.
Friday, March 26 at 8 p.m.
Sunday, March 28 at 2 p.m.
Lyric Theatre
11th and Central, Downtown Kansas City, MO
For tickets call 816-471-7344 or online at www.kcopera.org
Click here to read the preview article on KCMetropolis.
Kansas City Wind Symphony
Concert with St. Louis Wind Symphony: Virtuosity
Sunday, March 21 at 3:00 p.m.
Village Presbyterian Church
6641 Mission Road, Prairie Village, Kansas
Free admission; donations accepted.
For more information visit www.kcwindsymphony.org
The Kansas City and St. Louis Wind Symphonies combine this Sunday afternoon for a joint concert at Village Presbyterian Church featuring Crystal Kimmel on the piccolo. Music director Philip Posey always presents intriguing repertoire, but no information about the programming for this concert is available at press time.
Musica Vocale
Sunday, March 21 at 3:00 p.m.
St. Elizabeth's Catholic Church
75th and Main Streets, Kansas City, MO
For tickets call 816-235-6222 or online at www.musicavocale.org
Musica Vocale, a relatively new choral ensemble in just its second season in Kansas City, is directed by Arnold Epley, one of the City's finest choral conductors and formal director of the Kansas City Symphony Chorus as well as a longtime professor of music at William Jewell College.
The group presents a concert Sunday afternoon consisting of two classic works, Georg Frideric Handel's Dixit Dominus, the Lamento d' Arianna from the Sixth Book of Madrigals by Claudio Monteverdi, and two relatively newer pieces, Paul Hindemith's Six Chansons and a composition (unidentified in the publicity) by contemporary American composer Ned Rorem.
UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance
Jane Carl, clarinet
Sunday, March 21 at 2:30 p.m.
White Recital Hall
4949 Cherry, Kansas City, MO
Free admission. For more information visit http://conservatory.umkc.edu/calendarofevents.aspx
On Sunday afternoon, UMKC Conservatory clarinetist Jane Carl will perform a recital with fellow faculty members Patricia Higdon, piano, Rebecca Sherburn, soprano, Jan Gippo, piccolo, and Tabitha Reist Steiner, harp.
You will have a chance to hear Carl in duets with a variety of different instrumentalists. With Steiner she will perform Theme and Variations for Clarinet and Harp by Bochsa. With Higdon she will play Fantasie for Clarinet and Piano by Gaubert. Her pairing with Sherburn will be Spohr's Six German Songs. She will be accompanied by Gippo and Higdon in Ewazen's Trio for Piccolo, Clarinet, and Piano. And members of the group will perform Filas' A Little Slovak Rhapsody. Sounds like a delightful afternoon.
UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance
Conservatory Wind Symphony
Tuesday, March 23 at 7:30 p.m.
White Recital Hall
4949 Cherry, Kansas City, MO
For tickets call 816-235-6222 or online at www.conservatory.umkc.edu
One of the most enjoyable of the Conservatory of Music's ensembles is the Conservatory Wind Symphony, conducted by Stephen D. Davis. In a concert Tuesday evening the symphony will perform works of Enescu (Dixtour for Winds) and Stravinsky (Symphonies of Wind Instruments), along with Oldham's Symphony for Wind Ensemble and Mantras by Thai composer Narong Prangcharoen, a Conservatory instructor.
For a complete listing of music and dance events, click here to visit the KC Events calendar
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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