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

Carlsen Center at JCCC presents
Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir
with Tallinn Chamber Orchestra
Carlsen Center at Johnson County Community College
College and Quivera, Overland Park, KS

Estonian Chamber Choir

The Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir consists of twenty-seven voices that have become renowned for performances of contemporary Eastern European music, particularly from the three northern countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. These countries have produced a large number of composers whose music has become world-famous since their emergence on the international scene.  

The Chamber Choir is accompanied by the Tallinn Orchestra, formed to accompany the Chamber Choir. The two organizations have performed together at many prestigious music festivals including the Bach Cantatas Festival in Milan, Bremen Music Festival, and Huddersfield Festival of Contemporary Music.  Concert tours have taken orchestra and the choir to Canada, Japan and many European countries as well as throughout the United States.

In this performance the Choir and Orchestra will perform music of Arvo Pärt and Erkki-Sven Tüür, two of today's leading Eastern European composers.

For tickets call 913-469-4445 or online at
http://www.jccc.net/home/depts.php/001440/site/Chronological_Listing

Lyric Opera of Kansas City presents
Julius Caesar
Saturday, November 8 at 8 p.m.
Monday, November 10 at 7:30 p.m.
Wednesday, November 12 at 7:30 p.m.
Friday, November 14 at 8 p.m.
Sunday, November 16 at 2 p.m.
Lyric Theatre, 11th & Central, Downtown Kansas City, MO

Beginning on November 8, and continuing with performances through November 16, the Lyric Opera will present its first-ever production of a Baroque opera, Georg Frideric Handel's Julius Caesar.  For only the second time, the Lyric will feature a countertenor onstage...actually, two of them, singing both the title role and the role of the Egyptian ruler Ptolemy.  If you like the Messiah, you'll love Julius Caesar, as the gorgeous music of this opera has made it an audience favorite ever since Beverly Sills "rediscovered" it in 1966 and brought it to modern audiences after more than a century of neglect in opera houses worldwide.

Last week's issue of KCMetropolis.org had a complete two-page preview of the opera, so for more information, so be sure to check it out.  This opera should be one of the most memorable productions of recent Lyric Opera seasons.

A free preview by this author is available to all ticket holders, beginning one hour before the performance.

For tickets call 816-471-7344 or online at www.kcopera.org

Judith

The Friends of Chamber Music present
Judith, by Katerina Livljanić
Saturday, November 8, 2008, 8:00 p.m.
Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral
13th and Broadway, Downtown Kansas city, MO

Fans of Renaissance music will have a rare opportunity to hear a performance of Croatian Renaissance music this weekend as The Friends of Chamber Music presents musicologist and director, Katarina Livljanić, in a portrayal of the Biblical story Judith.  She will be accompanied by fiddle, lirica and archaic flutes.  The staged musical drama tells the highly emotional tale of the beautiful enchantress, Judith, who seduces and then beheads a general in a quest to liberate her people.

Livljanić, singer and musicologist, is a native of Croatia and graduate of the Zagred Music Conservatory.  She also studied in France and has been directing the vocal ensemble Dialogos, specializing in medieval chant and liturgical theater of the Glagolitic tradition. For her work in this field, she was decorated for cultural achievement in 2002 by the president of Croatia.  I, for one, am eagerly awaiting this unique opportunity to hear music to which we are rarely exposed.

For tickets call 816-561-9999 or online chambermusic.org.

Harriman-Jewell Series presents
Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra
with Leon Botstein, Conductor
Saturday, November 8, 2008, 7:30 p.m.
Folly Theater, 12th and Central, Downtown Kansas City, MO

Last week, I wrote about Leon Botstein and the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra which is performing at the Lied Center at the University of Kansas on November 5.  The orchestra brings the same program on November 8 to the Harriman-Jewell Series at the Folly Theater in Kansas City.

As we reported last week, Botstein is one of today's best-known conductors, who leads not only the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra but also the American Symphony Orchestra, which resides at Avery Fisher Hall in Lincoln Center, New York and at the new Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College, New York.  The Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra reflects the character and identity of Israel's diverse population, and is the country's oldest and most important musical institutions, having been "born" at almost the same time as the country of Israel itself.

In this concert, the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra celebrates the American Jewish Diaspora, performing the same program as at the Lied Center: works by Erich Walter Sternberg, Leonard Bernstein and Aaron Copland.

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