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Kansas City's Online Journal of the Performing Arts

Simon Carrington Chamber Singers
Go Song of Mine
Saturday, May 29 at Noon
Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral
14^th and Broadway, Downtown Kansas City, MO
and
Saturday, May 29 at 8 p.m.
2415 Clinton Parkway, Lawrence, KS
Tickets available at the door, or call 816-214-9928 or online at www.simoncarringtonchambersingers.com


The Simon Carrington Chamber Singers kick off their second season with concerts in Kansas City and Lawrence on May 29. The group, which includes 24 choral artists from around the country, is led by artistic director Simon Carrington.

This year's performances, entitled Go Song of Mine, will feature the world premiere of Melissa Dunphy's choral work What do you think I fought for at Omaha Beach? The piece was the winner of the 2010 Simon Carrington Chamber Singers Composition Competition. It is based on testimony given to the Maine State Senate in support of the 2009 Marriage Equality Bill.

In addition to Dunphy's composition, the Simon Carrington Chamber Singers (SCCS) will present works by Tallis, Purcell, Elgar, MacMillan, Chilcott and The Who.

"Our program this year again consists of music linked in some way to my seven years at the University of Kansas during which time I had the privilege of making music with hosts of wonderful musicians including a number of singers in this ensemble," said Carrington. "The underlying theme is British music."

SCCS is a world class choral music ensemble based in Kansas City. The group was founded in 2008 with the goal of bringing together former Carrington students, now singers of high standing in their own right, who shared the desire to form an elite professional vocal chamber ensemble under his direction.

Prior to teaching choral music in the United States, Carrington was a co-founder and long time director of The King's Singers, an internationally acclaimed British vocal ensemble. He is a renowned choral conductor and clinician, who served as the director of choral activities at the University of Kansas, director of choral activities at the New England Conservatory, professor of choral conducting at Yale University and director of the Yale Schola Cantorum.

Kansas City Symphony
Celebration at the Station
Sunday, May 30 at 7:30 p.m.
(rain date, Monday, May 31, at 7:30 p.m.)
Outside Union Station (sit on north lawn by Liberty Memorial)
30 West Pershing Road, Kansas City, MO
Free admission.

On Memorial Day weekend the Kansas City Symphony always offers a free outdoor concert in front of Union Station on Pershing Road, with the audience invited to bring their blankets or lawn chairs and picnic dinners and camp out on the north lawn of Liberty memorial.  On a nice day this concert typically attracts over 20,000 people, so prepare to arrive a couple of hours early to snag a comfortable spot.  By all means bring a picnic dinner or purchase food from the vendors, sit down and enjoy a panoply of orchestral fireworks, including at the conclusion some fireworks of the real variety ("Kansas City's largest fireworks display") to light up the night sky.

The program for the concert has not been announced, but it usually consists of some patriotic songs, a few marches, and other popular numbers.  Some "warm up" acts will entertain the crowd before the start of the actual concert.  It will be good fun for the entire family.

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.