RSS 2.0 FeedOctober 20, 2010, City Classics
Music and Dance through October
The last half of October is crammed with music and dance events, presenting so many conflicting performances on so many nights that local aficionados will have to make some tough choices. The eclectic dance group Quixotic Fusion performs at Yardley Hall in a multimedia show that should present a quite different and stimulating experience. The Kansas City Symphony and Chorus present works by Respighi and Verdi, including a rare performances of Verdi's transcendent "Four Sacred Pieces." While the a capella group Octarium begins its year with music of American composers in the intriguing setting of the World War I Museum. In addition to these performances, Park University's International Center for Music presents a fund raising concert towards the end of the month. Most of our community orchestras are starting their seasons during these two weeks, and some outstanding free performances are available at Westport Presbyterian Church, Johnson County Community College and William Jewell College. Catch as many as you can!
William Jewell College
The Goldenberg Duo
Wednesday, October 20 at 5:30 p.m.
Forbis Recital Hall in Pillsbury Music Bldg at William Jewell College
500 College Hill, Liberty, MO
Free admission
William Jewell College presents a free recital featuring the music of Kansas City Symphony violinist Susan Goldenberg and her brother, William, who is a distinguished professor of piano at Northern Illinois University. They will be performing the music of Brahms, Schubert, Bloch, Miyagi and Bartok.
Kansas City Symphony
Roman Festivals: Respighi and Verdi
Friday October 22 at 8 p.m.
Saturday, October 23 at 8 p.m.
Sunday, October 24 at 2 p.m.
Lyric Theatre
11th and Central, Downtown, Kansas City, MO
For tickets call 816-471-0400 or online at www.kcsymphony.org
The Kansas City Symphony Chorus joins the Kansas City Symphony this weekend for performances of Verdi, Busoni and Respighi.
For one of its Verdi selections, the Symphony performs the well-known orchestral overture to his somewhat less-well-known opera I Vespri Siciliani (The Sicilian Vespers), based upon a true event of Italian history which became an important touchstone for the Italian revolutionaries of Verdi’s day. The music not only has political overtones, but is also a luscious instrumental composition in its own right, and is perhaps the most famous opera overture Verdi ever composed.
The other Verdi pieces on the program are his beautiful final Four Sacred Pieces, composed when the master was in his 80’s, and representing his very last published compositions. Verdi had ended his opera compositional career with his final masterpiece Falstaff, yet there was still some compositional spirit in him, as these four short but transcendently beautiful works demonstrate. Rarely heard, they are miniature jewels and alone make this concert well worth the price of admission.
The Italian-German composer Ferruccio Busoni, perhaps best known for his challenging Piano Concerto, also composed an opera based upon Turandot, the same theme that Puccini took for his better-known final opera. Busoni excerpted some music from the opera as the Turandot Suite, which the Symphony will be performing.
Ottorino Respighi, of course, is known for his spectacular orchestral works The Pines of Rome and The Fountains of Rome, as well as other brilliantly orchestrated orchestral tone poems. For this concert the Symphony has chosen Roman Festival Overture.
Guest conducting for the Symphony this weekend is Roberto Minczuk, who is the music director of the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra in Canada and the artistic director and principal conductor of the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra as well as the artistic director of the Theatro Municipal do Rio de Janeiro.
Heritage Philharmonic
Autumn Choral Masterpiece
Saturday, October 23 at 7:30 p.m.
Community of Christ Temple
1001 West Walnut, Independence, MO
Free admission
The Independence-based Heritage Philharmonic, led by conductor James Murray III, performs its fall concert this weekend in collaboration with the Metropolitan Chorale of Kansas City under the direction of Rebecca Johnson. Both directors are associated with the metropolitan community college system. For this concert they are tackling the ambitious Mozart Requiem, one of the great masterworks of the orchestral/choral oeuvre. In addition, the Chorale will be singing four American folk hymns arranged by Mack Wilberg.
Park University
Daniel Vies Cello Recital
Sunday, October 24 at 3:00 p.m.
Graham Tyler Memorial Chapel
8700 N.W. River Park Drive, Parkville, MO
Tickets available at the door
Born in Prague, Daniel Veis studied for five years at the Moscow Conservatory. He won first prize at the 1976 Prague Spring Competition and was the silver medalist at the 1978 Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. Since 1979 he has performed regularly as a reliable with orchestras in such venues as Avery Fisher Hall and Carnegie Hall, Royal Albert Hall in London, Orchard Hall Tokyo, Auditori de Barcelona and Auditorio Nacional de Madrid. He is a professor of cello and currently vice-dean at the music faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague.
Ruel Joyce Concert Series
Raymond Santos, clarinet and Dan Velicer, piano
Monday, October 25 at 12:00 noon
Carlsen Center Recital Hall
12345 College Boulevard, Overland Park, KS
Free admission. For more information visit www.jccc.edu/performing-arts-series
This week the Ruel Joyce Concert Series brings its audiences a performance by clarinetist Raymond Santos and a regular performer, pianist Dan Velicer.
UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance Conservatory Music Alliance Series
Sphinx Chamber Orchestra with Harlem Quartet
A co-presentation with The Friends of Chamber Music
Sunday, October 24 at 2:30 p.m.
White Recital Hall
4949 Cherry, Kansas City, MO
For tickets call 816-235-6222 or online at www.conservatory.umkc.edu
The Sphinx Chamber Orchestra is an ensemble comprising top alumni of the national Sphinx Competition for young black and Latino string players. The group has earned rave reviews for its performances. In this matinee concert hosted by the Conservatory of Music and Dance, it is joined by the Harlem Quartet, an ensemble composed of first-place winners of the same competition. The program includes works by Sibelius, Prokofiev, Mendelssohn, Turina, Gabriela Lena Frank, Walker, Tillis, and Perkinson.
UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance
Conservatory Wind Symphony
Friday, October 28 at 7:30 p.m.
White Recital Hall
4949 Cherry, Kansas City, MO
For tickets call 816-235-6222 or online at www.umkc.edu/cto
The Conservatory Wind Symphony under the direction of Steven D. Davis always gives interesting programs. The lineup for this concert has not been announced as of press time.
Park University
Fete: Ioudenitch and Friends Concert
Friday, October 29 at 7:30 p.m.
Folly Theater
12th and Central Streets, Downtown Kansas City, MO
For tickets call 816-584-6825 or online at www.park.edu/fete
This concert is a fundraising event for Park University’s International Center for Music, a superb music program directed by Van Cliburn International Piano Competition winner Stanislav Ioudenitch. The evening will feature classical and popular music styles performed by local and international talent, including pianists Ioudenitch and Behzod Abduraimov, violinist Ben Sayevich, cellist Daniel Veis, guitarist Beau Bledsoe and bandoneonist Hector Del Curto. All are significant talents, so this should be a most pleasurable evening.
Octarium
American Idyll
Saturday, October 30 at 7:30 p.m.
J.C. Nichols Auditorium at the National World War I Museum at Liberty Memorial
100 West 20th Street, Kansas City, MO
For tickets visit www.octarium.org
Octarium, Kansas City’s outstanding eight-voiced a capella singing group, opens its season with a performance of works by American composers, in an unusual setting at the World War I Museum at Liberty Memorial. Director Krista Blackwood promotes the concert as “a choral expression of what it means to be an American,” and hopes that “music can unite our souls even as politics try to divide them.” An appropriate theme, perhaps, for a concert performed just a few days before the midterm elections.
Performing Arts Series at JCCC
Quixotic Fusion: Lux Esalare
Saturday, October 30 at 8:00 p.m.
Yardley Hall at Carlsen Center at JCCC
12345 College Boulevard, Overland Park, KS
For tickets call 913-469-4445 or online at www.jcc.edu/performing-arts-series
Fans of dance and extreme movement will enjoy this performance by the ensemble Quixotic, which brings back its popular Lux Esalare performance from 2009. Quixotic is hard to describe…it’s a music and dance ensemble, but encompasses more besides, creating a “total sensory experience” for its audience. “Don’t try to limit Quixotic’s creative experiences to a single definition,” the group warns its audiences. “Audiences are immersed in light, dance, ephemeral ribbons wrapped around aerialists, a solo violinist, live rock band and high-fashion costumes.”
Lux Escalare is based upon ancient Greek tales and uses dance, live music, video projections and aerial artistry.
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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