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

Who: Richard Goode, Piano
When: Saturday, October 18, 2008 at 8 p.m.
Where: Folly Theater, 11th and Central Streets, Kansas City, Missouri

One is tempted to say that you haven't heard Bach if you haven't heard Richard Goode play Bach. Goode, a longtime favorite of Kansas City audiences, has been performing with The Friends of Chamber Music for years, and really made his mark on the international classical piano scene with his performance of Beethoven's complete cycle of piano sonatas hear a few years ago (he also deigned to perform them in New York City).

Goode's pianism has terrific emotional power and expressiveness; don't expect any shrinking violets here. His program will include works by Bach, Chopin and Mozart.

Goode also performs elsewhere, by the way, although Kansas City is one of his favorite venues. They have also heard him with the New York Philharmonic, the London Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony, and the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields with Sir Neville Mariner. He has given solo recitals in London, Vienna, Berlin and New York, and has appeared as a Resident Artist at the Edinburgh Festival.

For tickets call The Friends of Chamber Music at 816.561.9999 or online at www.chambermusic.org

Who: Kansas City Symphony
What: Elgar's Cello Concerto with
Daniel Muller-Schott, cello & Michael Stern, Music Director
When: Friday, October 17 & Saturday, October 18, at 8 p.m.
Sunday, October 19 at 2 p.m.
Where: Lyric Theatre, Kansas City, Missouri

Composers across the ages have written concertos (pieces for solo instruments accompanied by orchestra) for just about all of the orchestral instruments, and sometimes for combinations of several of them. Piano concertos and violin concertos remain the most popular. But for this writer, the rich tenor-range sound of the cello just can't be beat, particularly in the hands of a composer capable of extracting the rich, melodious sound of which the instrument is capable.

The estimable Sir Edward Elgar (1857-1934), was an English composer who lived and wrote during tempestuous times in classical music, when atonality and dissonance became all the rage and some composers went off on far-flung tangents of musicality, thrilling some but alienating many with their some difficult-to-absorb musical ideas.

Amidst all of this turmoil, Elgar was, quite simply, a throwback. With his musical foundations firmly rooted in the classical sounds of European Romanticism (as a composer he was largely self-taught), he produced as rich and melodious a series of compositions as almost any 19th-century master. This earned him the enmity of some professional musicians, but among audiences his works have always remained popular, no less so today than in his heyday.

So what do you get when you combine the beauty of the cello voice with the Romanticism of Sir Edgar Elgar? Quite simply one of the most ravishing cello concertos ever written. The Kansas City Symphony will feature it in this concert, played by Daniel Müller-Schott, a brilliant young German cellist who has captured many competition prizes and appeared with symphony orchestras throughout Europe and the United States. This is Müller-Schott's debut appearance with the Kansas City group, and should be one to remember.

The program also includes Ravel's breathtaking La Valse, one of the masterpieces of French Impressionism.

For tickets call Kansas City Symphony at 816.471.0400 or online at www.kcsymphony.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.