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

UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance
Conservatory Wind Symphony
Friday, September 24 at 7:30 p.m.
Park Hill High School
7701 Northwest Barry Road, Kansas City, MO
Free admission.  For information visit http://conservatory.umkc.edu

Conductor Steven Davis and his Conservatory Wind Symphony perform this evening, but for this concert you’ll need to journey to the Northland (unless you are already there), because White Recital Hall, the usual Wind Symphony venue, is taken up with the Wylliams/Henry dance performance that night (see below).  It may be worth it, though, as Davis and his charges usually present interesting programs.  This one includes Husa's Music for Prague and Messiaen's Exotic Birds



Wylliams/Henry Contemporary Dance Company
The Cypress Avenue Concert
Friday, September 24 at 8:00 p.m.
Saturday, September 25 at 8:00 p.m.
White Recital Hall, UMKC
4949 Cherry, Kansas City, MO
For tickets call 816-235-6222 or online at www.tickets.cto.umkc.edu/

The Wylliams/Henry Dance Company, led by University of Missouri-Kansas City dance department chair Mary Pat Henry, opens its season this weekend with The Cypress Avenue Concert.

Although the dance styles will be classical to modern, the music will definitely not be classical. Narrated by Bill Shapiro, the longtime host of KCUR-FM’s Cypress Avenue rock music program, the evening will feature choreography set to classic popular music numbers chosen by Shapiro.

Shapiro has picked his favorites from the world of popular music from gospel to rock-country to reggae. Shapiro will appear live on stage, talking as he does on his weekly radio show, about the musical artists to whose music Wylliams/Henry will dance. Among the artists featured will be the Beatles, Bob Marley, Aretha Franklin, Elvis Presley, Hank Williams, Leonard Cohen, Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Sam Cooke, the Rolling Stones, and Van Morrison.

The choreographers for the program are Mary Pat Henry, Paula Weber, the Kansas City Ballet’s artistic director William Whitener, New York’s Sean Curran, Tiffany Sisemore and DeeAnna Hiett.



Lyric Opera of Kansas City
Carmen
Saturday, September 25, 8:00 p.m.
Wednesday, September 28, 7:30 p.m.
Lyric Theatre
11^th and Central Streets, Kansas City, MO
For tickets call 816-471-7344 or online at www.kcopera.org

You readers are all experts on Carmen, of course, so let’s take a quick fun quiz:
1.     Is Carmen the most popular Spanish opera ever written?
 2.    Is it true that the first tenor to sing the role of Don Jose almost refused because he had only one love duet in the opera, and it was with  the second female lead, not the first?
3.    What isn’t quite right about Escamillo, the bullfighter’s, famous “Toreador Song”?
4.    Did the composer use any actual Spanish music in the composition?
5.    Why did Bizet write no more operas after Carmen?

The answers appear below.  Those getting all five correct will be awarded a special prize -  the privilege of attending Carmen!

More seriously, it is true with many operas that familiarity breeds contempt, and Carmen is one of the most familiar operas of all.  But in this case the old saying isn’t true; the startling, poignant and sometimes violent story of the passionate gypsy girl and the bewildered and disintegrating Spanish army officer strikes so many chords (and not just musical ones) with audience members that is has remained at the top of almost all opera lists for 135 years now.  It doesn’t look likely to give up its coveted spot any time soon.

Bizet’s timeless melodies will be sung by Sandra Piques Eddy as Carmen, a role she has sung with the Metropolitan Opera.  Newcomer tenor Dinyar Vania, of the New York City and Dallas operas, portrays her lover Don Jose.  Alyson Cambridge, a favorite with Kansas City audiences, will be Micaela.

Subsequent performances of Carmen will be on Friday, October 1; Sunday, October 3 (matinee) and on Monday, October 4.

Oh, the answers to the quiz?  Here they are:

1.         No.  Carmen isn’t a Spanish opera.  It’s a French opera, written by a Frenchman, Georges Bizet, who never set foot in Spain.  It just takes place there (like many other operas, including The Marriage of Figaro, which will close the Lyric Opera’s season next May).

2.         Yes, the first tenor just about refused to sing the role, thinking it beneath him.  Given that today’s tenors will scheme for months to get their chance to sing Don Jose’s “Flower Song,” that fact appears amazing to us today.

3.         In Spanish the bullfighter is called the matador.  The toreador is just the bullfighter’s assistant.  So Bizet and his librettist got it wrong.  But unfortunately they called it to “Toreador Song,” and so thus it remains, confusing generations of non-Spaniards ever since.

4.         Yes, Bizet used several genuine Spanish tunes in Carmen, but not without changing them a bit here and there and giving them new flavor and sparkle.  Among the genuine Spanish numbers are Carmen’s famous “Habanera” and the just-mentioned “Toreador Song.”

5.         Bizet died about a month after the first performance of Carmen, so he wrote another note.  He was only 37.  Imagine the masterpieces he might have written had he lived.  It’s one of the great “missed opportunities” in all of classical music history.

Topeka Symphony Orchestra
Saturday, September 25 at 7:30 p.m.
White Recital Hall
Washburn University Campus
17^th and Jewell, Topeka, KS
For tickets call 785-232-2032 or online at www.topekasymphony.org

Conductor John Strickler brings the Topeka Symphony Orchestra forces into their 2010-2011 concert season with an opening concert featuring several challenging works: the overture to Die Fledermaus by Johann Strauss, Jr.; Franz Joseph Haydn’s Haydn’s Cello Concerto in D featuring cellist Steven Elisha; and Jean Sibelius’ Symphony No. 1.



Fountain City Brass Band
Horizon
Saturday, September 25 at 7:30 p.m.
Bell Cultural Events Center at Mid-America Nazarene University
2030 E. College Way, Olathe, KS
For tickets call 913-971-3636, or online at www.fcbb.net

The Fountain City Brass Band, an award-winning ensemble based at Mid-America Nazarene University, opens its season with a concert this evening, selections to be announced. 



Kansas City Symphony
Vivaldi’s Ring of Mystery
Sunday, September 26, 2:00 p.m.
Yardley Hall, Carlsen Center at JCCC
12345 College Boulevard, Overland Park, KS
For tickets call 816-471-0400 or online at www.kcsymphony.org

The Symphony’s associate conductor, Steven Jarvi, leads the Kansas City Symphony in a Classical Kids concert entitled Vivaldi’s Ring of Mystery featuring 24 excerpts from the music of…oh, you guessed it already.  The story involves a gifted young orphan named Katarina, a colorful gondolier, Giovanni, and a missing Stradivarius violin. 

The Symphony’s Classical Kids concerts are a great way to introduce youngsters to classical music, and Jarvi has a real gift for communicating with youngsters. 



Kansas City Guitar Society
Florian Larousse, classical guitar
Sunday, September 26 at 3:00 p.m.
St. Paul’s Episcopal Church
40^th and Main Streets, Kansas City, MO
Free admission.  For information visit www.kansascityguitarsociety.org

The Kansas City Guitar Society offers another free guitar concert this Sunday afternoon at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church.  Florian Larousse, a young French guitarist, won the Guitar Foundation of America Competition and has also won several other international competitions.  His concert will feature music by Dowland, Bach, Sor, and Regondi.



Ruel Joyce Concert Series
Piano Trio
Monday, September 27, 12:00 noon
Carlsen Center Recital Hall at JCCC
12345 College Boulevard, Overland Park, KS
Free admission.  For information visit www.jccc.edu/performing-arts-series

This week’s free Ruel Joyce Concert Series performance features three of Kansas City’s most talented instrumentalists: Ann-Marie Brown, violin, Lawrence Figg, cello and Robert Pherigo, piano.  The Ruel Joyce Series always features fine local talent in free concerts, but this one should be one of the highlights of the year.  Selections to be announced.



UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance
Master Class: Vladimir Feltsman, piano
Thursday, September 30 at 7:30 p.m.
White Recital Hall at UMKC
4949 Cherry, Kansas City, MO
Free admission.  For information visit http://conservatory.umkc.edu

Vladimir Feltsman is one of the leading pianists on the international concert tour these days, as evidence by his appearances both with the Kansas City Symphony and his several appearnaces on The Friends of Chamber Music Master Pianists Series.  He’s a visiting artist at the UMKC Conservatory this month, and will give a free master class on Thursday evening the 30^th.  Masters classes are always fun – that is, unless you are the student in the hot seat – and Feltsman is quite an interesting personality, we understand.  

Feltsman is opening The Friends of Chamber Music's 35th Anniversary season the following evening on October 1 at the Folly Theatre.  For tickets call 816-561-9999 or online at www.chambermusic.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.