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Kansas City's Online Journal of the Performing Arts

Kansas City Symphony
Rachmaninoff and Dvorak
Friday, October 9 at 8 p.m.
Saturday, October 10 at 8 p.m.
Lyric Theatre
11^th and Central Streets, Kansas City, MO
Sunday, October 11 at 2 p.m.
Topeka Performing Arts Center for October 11
214 S.E. Eighth Street, Topeka, KS
For tickets call 816-471-0400 or online at www.kcsymphony.org. 

Alban Gerhardt is the guest cellist for the Symphony's classical concerts this weekend, performing the gorgeous Dvorak Cello Concerto, one of the most moving pieces ever written for the instrument.  If you love Dvorak's New World Symphony, one of the repertoire's great "standards," then you will also love the Cello Concerto.  The great Bohemian composer shows off the instrument in all of its splendor, and why not?  It was written for his friend Hanus Wihan, the cellist with the Bohemian String Quartet and one of the day's leading performers.

Gerhardt, a native of the Netherlands, debut with the Berlin Philharmonic as a 21-year-old in 1990, and has since been featured as a soloist with more than 180 different orchestras worldwide, including the Cleveland and Philadelphia Orchestras, San Francisco Symphony and Los Angeles Philharmonic.  In addition to our Symphony, he is performing this season with Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Tonhalle Zurich, the Danish Radio Symphony, the Vienna Symphony, the Orchestre National de France and the New World Symphony.  When he played the Dvorak Cello Concerto in London, the London Times wrote that "once he started in on the Dvorak, mouths dropped...There was such force and feeling in that opening improvisatory flourish."

Sticking with an Eastern European theme, the Symphony will also perform the Dance of Galánta by Zoltán Kodály and Rachmaninoff's Symphonic Dances. 

Kodály made it his life's work to study the folk music of his native Hungary and to write original compositions inspired by the folk tradition. The Dances of Galánta held a very personal meaning for him, as the town of Galánta (now in Slovakia) was the place where he had grown up, having moved there as a child with his family.  Returning to his hometown, he listened to the dances played by local musicians, and when turning them into an orchestral composition was undoubtedly also recalling the tunes which reverted in memories from his childhood.

Rachmaninoff is best known to modern concert goers for his three spectacular piano concertos, as well as his two outstanding symphonies. His Symphonic Dances, however, still maintain an important place in his musical output.  In this delectable suite, Ravel paid tribute to the graceful music of the French Baroque. He conceived of it as a piece for piano, beginning work on it in 1914.  World War I interrupted the composition, however, and he returned to it only in 1917. The war years left an indelible impact, for the piece contains an element of homage: each movement bears a dedication to a friend who died in combat. The orchestral version was produced in 1919 by the great French orchestrator and composer Maurice Ravel.



Harriman-Jewell Series
Virsky Ukrainian Dance
Friday, October 9 at 8:00 p.m.
Folly Theater
12^th and Central, Kansas City, MO
For tickets call 816-415-5025 or online at www.harriman-jewell.org

For dance enthusiasts, this program will offer an unusual opportunity to see the excitement and charm of Ukrainian dance.  This folk dance ensemble is named after Pavlo Virsky, a well-known Ukrainian ballet master, who created the special form of dance for which the group has become famous.  Its performances are filled with "bright colors, the unity of content and form and the vivid embodiment of its stage concept," according to the group's publicity, and embrace "the beauty of its native Ukraine, the wisdom of its people as well as the folk tradition of humor and optimism."

The ensemble has toured many different lands including Austria, England, Argentina, Bulgaria, Brazil, Belgium, Venezuela, Greece, Ecuador, Italy, India, Spain, Canada, Korea, Mexico, Mongolia, Germany, Peru, France and Switzerland, in addition to the United States

Lied Center, University of Kansas
Orquestra de São Paulo
Friday, October 9 at 7:30 p.m.
Lied Center
1600 Stewart Drive, Lawrence, KS
For tickets call 785-864-2787 or online at www.lied.ku.edu

Considered the most significant symphony orchestra in Latin America, the Orquestra de São Paulo is led by the talented American conductor Kazem Abdullah.  In this concert, the orchestra will be joined by internationally acclaimed percussionist Evelyn Glennie, and will present works by Guarnieri, Brahms, and a special concerto for percussion and orchestra by the contemporary Scottish composer James MacMillan.



UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance
Conservatory Wind Ensemble
Friday, October 9 at 7:30 p.m.
White Recital Hall, Performing Arts Center
4949 Cherry, Kansas City, MO
For tickets call 816-235-6222 or online at www.umkc.edu/conservatory.

The Conservatory Wind Ensemble is one of the most enjoyable of the ensembles featured by the UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance. Its first concert of the season will feature the music of Hanson, Bernstein, Puckett, Grainger and other American and British composers. Joseph Parisi is the conductor.



UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance Signature Series
Cypress String Quartet
Saturday, October 10 at 7:30 p.m.
White Recital Hall, Performing Arts Center
4949 Cherry, Kansas City, MO
For tickets call 816-235-6222 or online at www.umkc.edu/conservatory.

The Signature Series of the UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance is the Conservatory's series of concerts by headliner guest artists, often in residence for a short time to teach master classes to Conservatory students.  This year the Signature Series season opens with the Cypress String Quartet, a young San Francisco-based quartet which has been singled out by Chamber Music Magazine as "a Generation X ensemble to watch."

The Quartet is known for its education and outreach programs nationwide, reaching over 100,000 students and earning the group an "Exemplary Arts Educators" award from the California Arts Council. The quartet was also recognized for its devotion to education by the faculty of the Juilliard School.  They have performed at major concert venues around the world, including the Kennedy Center, Library of Congress, the chamber music societies of Detroit, Columbus and Honolulu, the Ravinia Festival, and many more.



Liberty Symphony Orchestra
Young Artists Concert
Saturday, October 10 at 7:30 p.m.
Liberty Performing Arts Center
1600 South Withers Road, Liberty, MO
For tickets call 816-439-4362. For more information visit www.libertysymphony.org

Another talented Northland ensemble, the Liberty Symphony Orchestra, gets its 2009-2010 underway this weekend with the music of Wagner, Tchaikovsky and Bernstein.

The Wagner selection is the Overture from The Flying Dutchman, a challenging adventure for a community orchestra. Of Tchaikovsky the orchestra will play two selections, Joan's Aria from the opera The Maid of Orleans with mezzo-soprano Renee Taylor, and the challenging Violin Concerto with soloist Emily Shehi.

Leonard Bernstein will be represented by a performance of three dance episodes from his movie score for On the Town.

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.