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The Kansas City Men’s Ensemble, a new six-singer a capella vocal group organized by tenor Ryan Sullivan, choral director at Lee’s Summit High School, made its debut on May 24 in a recital of vocal music spanning 800 years and three continents.  The group was most impressive, particularly for a first outing, and displayed a mastery of several different vocal styles.  It richly deserved the standing ovation it received at the concert’s conclusion.

Opening with a 13^th-century polyphonic straight-toned processional, the performance continued with Gabriel Fauré’s familiar setting of Cantique de Jean Racine, a liturgical piece by Russian composer Pavel Tschesnokoff, a traditional South African song, and several contemporary works.

The Fauré, the only piece performed with keyboard accompaniment (Dale Morehouse on the organ) was cleanly sung but lacked sufficient dynamic variety for this listener’s ears.  However, the group showed an impressive dynamic range in Victor Paranjoti’s Dravidian Dithyramb, and despite occasional intonation issues brought impressive energy to the music.

The liturgical Russian number was a highlight of the program, the rich tones of the lower voices ringing throughout the St. John’s Methodist Church sanctuary. The constantly moving inner parts were especially fine, and the piece was sung with great feeling. This listener felt, as the last tones died away, that he could have easily spent the rest of the evening listening to these fine performers display their talents in Russian liturgical music.

Moving to contemporary repertory, the singers performed Dottie Rambo’s gospel-inspired When I Lift Up My Head, Donald Moore’s Go, Lovely Rose and Jonathan Krinke’s I Am Like the Rain.  The Moore work was especially moving, with luscious harmonies and a near-perfect vocal balance, the basses once again establishing a rich and sonorous floor of sound.

The group was perhaps at its weakest in performing P.D.Q. Bach’s comic The Art of the Ground Round, a series of pieces performed as rounds in which individual phrases, innocent by themselves, produce comic juxtapositions of words when placed against each other. The audience enjoyed the humor and the singers clearly had fun, but the number seemed a bit out of place in a program of otherwise serious singing.

Kurt Bestor’s Prayer of the Children was another high point, consisting of a series of clever chord progressions with several impressive crescendos, perfectly harmonized and brightly sung. For its final number the group turned to a traditional South African melody, and spread themselves throughout the sanctuary to achieve a kind of surround-sound effect in this syncopated music, accompanied by percussionist Travis Houston.

For an encore the singers offered what sounded like a barbershop quartet arrangement of the old Irish prayer, “May the road rise to meet you.”  It sent the audience out into the night in a jovial mood, impressed with the performance of this new addition to Kansas City’s music scene.

To this listener, the Kansas City Men’s Ensemble is reminiscent of Kansas City’s other fine small a capella choral group, Octarium, with the difference that it has no women singers and consists of six performers rather than eight.  If the group can continue to impress as it did in this surprising first outing, we should be in for some delightful future treats.

REVIEW:
Kansas City Men's Ensemble
Love of Song 
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
St. John's United Methodist Church
6900 Ward Parkway, Kansas City, MO
For more information visit http://www.kansascitymensensemble.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.

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