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The Westport Center for the Arts’ (WCA) Brown Bag Concert Series is one of the best small concert secrets around. Started twelve years ago at Westport Presbyterian Church on Westport Road at 40^th Street, the Brown Bag Concert Series features free noontime recitals by some of Kansas City’s finest performers.  A number of outstanding artists have appeared on this series in the past, including pianist/organist Marian Thomas, baritone Richard Preis, guitarist Doug Niedt, jazz saxophonist Doug Talley and mezzo-soprano Elaine Fox, among others

Soprano LaTeesha McDonald Jackson, one of Kansas City’s fine native young singers, was on the program on Friday, May 20, along with pianist Jeffrey Block. Jackson is familiar to Kansas City audiences from appearances at the Quality Hill Playhouse and in small roles at the Lyric Opera, Civic Opera Theatre, and Kansas City Metro Opera, among others. She has also sung with the Kansas City Symphony Chorus, the Kansas City Singers and the American Tapestry Chorale.

She is an alumnus of the Lyric Opera’s education programs and has sung major roles in Lyric Opera outreach performances. She majored in vocal music as Benedictine College in Atchison.

For her Westport program, Jackson chose a range of songs from the serious to the comic, displaying numerous aspects of her talent.  She was stronger in declamatory singing than in sweetness of tone, and her substantial communicative talents seemed to serve her better in the musical comedy and light pieces than in the serious ones.

Three classical works opened the program: songs by Bizet and Fauré and Despina’s aria “Una donna a quidicia anni” from Mozart’s Così fan tutte.  Her Bizet was strong and the Mozart was well sung, but I wished for a softer and sweeter tone in the more romantic Fauré number.

Her excellent storytelling talents took the foreground in Adele’s “Laughing Song” from Strauss’ Die Fledermaus, and she absolutely had the audience in the palms of her hands with a terrific reading of Stephen Flaherty’s “Come Down from the Tree” from the musical Once on This Island, a lovely work previously unfamiliar to this listener.

Selections from Kern’s Show Boat (“Bill”) and Rodgers’ The King and I (“Something Wonderful”) displayed Ms. Jackson’s excellent communication with the audience, and she had them rolling in the aisles with the old chestnut “I Hate Men” from Cole Porter’s Kiss Me Kate.

This reviewer did not know “Stars and Moon” from Jason Robert Brown’s Songs for a New World, but Ms. Jackson gave it an outstanding reading. She finished the recital with a delightfully comic “Art is Calling for Me” (the “I want to be a prima donna” song) by Victor Herbert.

Her collaborative artist Jeffrey Block, also a Benedictine grad who now works at St. Thomas More Catholic Church in Kansas City, was a sensitive and talented accompanist.

The Westport Center for the Arts has a good thing going in midtown Kansas City, so if you want to take a break from your work some Friday noon, you can’t spend a more enjoyable lunchtime than listening to well performed music without charge at the Westport Presbyterian Church. And oh, they serve cookies and coffee, too.

To be added to its e-mail list, visit www.westportcenterforthearts.org, or follow the WCA on Facebook.

REVIEW
Westport Center for the Arts
Brown Bag Concert Series: LaTeesha McDonald Jackson, soprano
Friday, May 20, 211
Westport Presbyterian Church
201 Westport Rd, Kansas City, MO
Free admission, but donations are accepted. For more information visit http://www.westportcenterforthearts.org/ 

 Top Photo: LaTeesha McDonald Jackson

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.