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

Harriman-Jewell Series
The Irish Spectacular: Dublin Philharmonic Orchestra
Friday, March 7 at  8:00 p.m.
Folly Theater
12th and Central, Dowtown Kansas City, MO

The Dublin Philharmonic Orchestra was founded more than 150 years ago and until the 1930's gave concerts exclusively in the city of its birth. Suspended during World War II and the years following, the orchestra was reconstituted in 1997 under the direction of Music Director Derek Gleeson, drawing its members from Irish and other European orchestral musicians. The new Dublin Philharmonic Orchestra gave its premier concert during the 1997 Kilkenny Arts Festival at the great 13th century Norman cathedral, "St, Canices" in the ancient city of Kilkenny.

The orchestra specializes in bringing together the finest Irish and European musicians to perform music of Ireland.

This concert will include guest artists Frankie Gavin (violin), Aidan O'Brien (Uilleann pipes and Irish flute), Cora Venus Lunny (violin), Eric Cunningham and Peadar Townsend (bodhran and percussion), and "Women of Ireland" (vocals, violin, and dance).

The evening's program includes In Spirit, an overture by Jonathan Casey that features Uilleann pipe soloist Aidan O'Brien; Inishlacken, a double violin concerto for classical violin (Cora Venus Lunny) and traditional Irish fiddle (Athena Tergis) by the composer of Riverdance, Bill Whelan; Aughrim Suite by Patrick Cassidy based on the Battle of Aughrim, featuring Uilleann pipes (Aidan O'Brien); and the aria (Carmel Conway) from Cassidy's cantata Deirdre of the Sorrows, based on the ancient Celtic legend of the same name. Traditional Irish fiddle player Frankie Gavin will be featured on Bardinerie, 1920's Jigs, and Queen of Sheba.

The final half of the concert, entitled "A Gala Celebration of Celtic Music," includes original orchestral arrangements by Irish composers. Celtic mystical and folklore traditional musical elements are interwoven with symphonic orchestral color and structures, some featuring Irish instrumental soloists performing on traditional Irish instruments of fiddle (Frankie Gavin and Athena Tergis), Uilleann pipes, Irish flute, whistles, and banjo (Aidan O'Brien), bodhrán and percussion (Eric Cunningham and Peadar Townsend), vocals (Michelle Lally, Denise Brennan, and Ingrid Madsen), and Irish traditional dancer Fiona Collins.

For tickets call 816-415-5025 or online at www.harriman-jewell.org

Kansas City Youth Symphony
Young Artist Solo and Ensemble Showcase
Thursday, March 5 at 7:00 p.m.
Congregation Kol Ami
7501 Belinder, Prairie Village, KS
Free admission

Concerto Showcase
Sunday, March 8, 4:00 p.m.
Folly Theater
12th and Central, Downtown Kansas City, MO
Free admission

The Kansas City Youth Symphony is presenting its solo and ensemble showcase of young artists on Thursday evening.  Then, on Sunday afternoon, the Youth Symphony presents a concerto showcase at the Folly Theater.  Both events are free and open to the public.

Quartet Accorda and Friends Concert
Friday, March 6 at 7:30 p.m.
Graham Tyler Memorial Chapel at Park University Campus
8700 N.W. River Park Drive, Parkville, MO
Free admission

Park University is gaining a reputation for putting on excellent concerts by both faculty and students. This author has found no information about the content of this concert, but if it is up the usual Park standards it should be excellent.

 The Friends of Chamber Music
What Makes It Great?
with Rob Kapilow
Maia String Quartet
Haydn's String Quartet in G Major, Op. 76, No. 1

Saturday, March 7 at 11 a.m.
The Folly Theatre, Downtown Kanas City, MO
Free Admission: For information call 816-561-9999 or online at www.chambermusic.org

Sunday, March 8 at 2 p.m.
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
For tickets call 816-561-9999 or online at www.chambermusic.org

The inimitable Rob Kapilow will give another one of his entertaining and informative What Makes It Great? presentations this Saturday at 11:00 a.m. at the Folly Theater under the auspices of the Friends of Chamber Music.  This one will focus on the Haydn String Quartet in G Major, and feature the playing of the Maia Quartet.

Kansas City Symphony
Community Connections Performance: A Soldier's Tale
Saturday, March 7, at 2:00 p.m.
World War I Museum at Liberty Memorial
100 West 26th Street, Kansas City, MO

This free concert by the Kansas City Symphony Chamber Players is part of the Symphony's Community Connection series.  A selection of players from the Symphony will perform music from the World War I era, Stravinsky's Octet for Winds and Stravinsky's l'Histoire du Soldat. The concert will be held in the J.C. Nichols Auditorium at the World War I Museum.

Free admission, but call 816-471-0400 to reserve.

UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance
Faculty Recital with Carter Enyeart, cello
Saturday, March 7 at  5:00 p.m.
Immanuel Lutheran Church
1700 Westport Road (at Genessee), Kansas City, MO
Free admission

Carter Enyeart is a professor of cello with the UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance, and will be performing a program of Bach cello suites (C Major, D Minor and E Flat Major) at the free faculty recital.  It should be a treat!

Bach Aria Soloists
Letters and Music
Saturday, March 7 at 7:30 p.m.
Kansas City Central Library, Kirk Hall
14 West 10th Street, Downtown Kansas City, MO
Free admission but reservations are required. Call 816-701-3407 or visit www.bachariasoloists.com for more information

Soprano Rebecca Lloyd and guests Beau Bledsoe, guitar, and Jane Solose, harpsichord, join Bach Aria Soloists founder Elizabeth Suh-Lane, violinist, for this free program presented with the Kansas City Public Library.  The presentation will include Bach's Sonata for Violin and Basso Continuo in E Minor; duets by the violinist Fritz Kreisler for violin and guitar, arranged by Beau Bledsoe; Baroque jewels by Purcell, Couperin and Rameau for harpsichord; Manuel de Falla's gorgeous Le Tombeau de Debussy for Guitar, and other pieces to be announced.

Actor Robert Brand will complement the program with readings from letters by the composers relating to the works being performed.

Hauskonzert of the Year
Music and Musings
Sunday, March 8 at 7:30 p.m.
Home of Benny and Edith Lee
6300 Ward Parkway, Kansas City, MO
Tickets are free,

With Jane Solose, harpsichord and Beau Bledsoe, guitar. Featuring actor Robert Brand in dramatic readings of composer's letters and the music of Bach, Purcell, Kreisler, DeFalla and others.

Amission charge and tickets must be reserved in advance by calling 816-701-3407. 
Visit www.bachariasoloists.com for more information
 

Community of Christ Dome & Spire Series
Duo Organ Recital: David Raymond and Carl Gravender, organists
Sunday, March 8 at 3:00 p.m.
Community of Christ Auditorium
River and Walnut Streets, Independence, MO
Free admission

The Community of Christ's Auditorium organ is really two organs, with consoles and sets of pipes 200 feet from each other at opposite ends of the room. Both main and antiphonal consoles will be used in this recital, which is a rare occurrence. Des Moines organists David Raymond (Cathedral Church of St. Paul) and Carl Gravender (Plymouth Congregational Church) will perform duet and solo works by Bach, Vierne, John Rutter, Richard Purvis, Charles Callahan, and others, concluding with a thrilling rendition of Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries"  from Die Walkure.  It should be quite a treat!

Northland Symphony Orchestra
Sunday, March 8 at 3:00 p.m.
Park Hill South High School
Free admission

The Northland Symphony Orchestra will perform a program of Berlioz, Holst and Mendelssohn favorites at Park Hill High School. The concert will also feature the winner of a high school soloist competition.

Kansas City Chamber Orchestra
Beethoven, Bach and Britten
Tuesday, March 10 at 7:30 p.m.
Village Presbyterian Church
6641 Mission Road
Prairie Village, Kansas

The Kansas City Chamber Orchestra has long been a favorite local classical group, combining the precise and sensitive direction of Bruce Sorrell with an interesting and varied selection of repertoire, including both the traditional and the unusual.

This concert features the music of Beethoven and Bach.  What could be more traditional, you say?  But ah, this isn't just any Beethoven...this is Beethoven's late and monumental Grosse fuge, a work thought rather strange at the time, startling in its anticipation of dissonant music, and found to be incomprehensible by many of his fellow composers.  It's rarely heard in concerts here, and this will give you an excellent opportunity to sample this unusual and challenging work.

The Bach selection is more usual fare, but should be a great listen.  His Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 is deservedly one of his most famous works.

Other pieces on the program include Benjamin Britten's Variations on a Theme by Frank Bridge and Belmont Ford's Remembrance, which was commissioned by the Chamber Orchestra to celebrate its 10th anniversary twelve years ago, and the life of Marion Gillerlain. It is a richly rewarding work of love, loss, and renewal.

For tickets call 816-961-1324 or online at www.kcchamberorchestra.org
   

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.