Classical,
French masterpieces with Quartet Accorda and Lisovskaya-Sayevich, piano
Fans of the Accorda Quartet filled the Graham Tyler Memorial Chapel in Parkville Friday night to hear the opening of the new season series titled 'Sounds of France - Three Centuries of Musical Masterpieces'. The Accorda Quartet, in tune with the name of the program it represents, The International Center for Music at Park University, features the artistry of Japanese born violinist Kanako Ito, Lithuanian-Israeli violinist Ben Sayevich, Korean-born violist Chung-Hoon Peter Chung and British-born cellist Martin Storey.
After a brief welcome given by cellist Storey, the familiar opening violin melody of the Ravel String Quartet in F major, bathed in liquid beauty of tone by Ito, sounded what were to be the best moments of the first movement. Intonation discrepancies in the accompanying instruments threw off the blend of tonal warmth for which this Quartet is renowned and unnerved the accuracy of their ensemble entries, as well. Only in the final measures of the first movement did the Accorda arrive at their accustomed niveau of excellence, as if a bumpy shift in mindset from the German language of Schubert that they performed all last season, and of Brahms the year before was required before the French inflections of Ravel could emerge. The pizzicato tones that passed from Storey's cello to Chung's viola in the ending measures formed an elegant arc in a perfect setup for the music that followed.
Ito's warm tone sang the opening violin melody of the second movement above the tight rhythmic pizzicato accompaniment. The Accorda relaxed into the rich sonorities of the development section with tonal beauty, and the shimmering figures that followed were played in perfect synch. Storey's cello melody was especially lovely against Chung's viola and Sayevich's violin accompaniment.
In the third movement, the Accorda beckoned the audience into the realm of the sublime. An advantage of getting to watch the artists rather than merely listen on CD was clearly demonstrated, as well. Violist Chung played the opening melody in cello range with such a full body of tone that if one had only been listening and not watching, it might have been mistaken for a cello solo. In testimony to the perfect artistic partnering of Accorda's members, Storey played his free-form cello solo written in viola range as beautifully as Chung the violist; Ito played her violin solo written in viola range as richly as Chung; Chung played his viola solo written in violin range as sonorously as Ito the violinist; Sayevich played his violin solo in full resounding cello range over which Chung played a duet accompaniment in violin range. The Accorda accomplished a grand continuity of line amid effortless volleys that built up to a steamy climax towards the middle of the movement. Superbly matched ebbing shimmers played in perfect synch drew the audience into a languid afterglow that gradually faded to the end of the movement, after which softly released sighs of satisfaction emanated from the hushed audience.
The agitated opening of the fourth movement startled the audience awake from that dreamy spell, and the work ended in a stirring finale.
Violinist Ben Sayevich and his bride, Lolita Lisovskaya-Sayevich took the stage next with Maurice Ravel's Sonata for Violin and Piano in G major. Lisovskaya-Sayevich played the solo piano opening with exquisite nuance and beauty of tone, and she provided an astounding match to Sayevich's silvery tone and interpretative brilliance throughout the piece.
Ravel is known to have said of the piece, "In the writing of the Sonata for Violin and Piano, two fundamentally incompatible instruments, I assumed the task, far from bringing their differences into equilibrium, of emphasizing their irreconcilability through their independence." Ravel didn't have the good fortune to hear this duo. Where Lisovskaya-Sayevich left off with her beautiful liquid piano tone, Sayevich continued as one voice in the silvery glimmer of his violin, and vice versa. Their uncanny unity of artistic vision resulted in an impassioned interpretation of the piece.
The second movement, Blues: Moderato began with solo pizzicato strums from Sayevich in one key, answered by Lisovskaya-Sayevich on the piano with staccato strums that mirrored exactly the violin statement in a different tonality. The movement included jazzy violin slides, supported by the piano with sensitivity at every turn.
The third movement, Perpetuum mobile, Allegro was played with full throttle drive. A virtuoso showcase for Sayevich's formidable technique, he was more than equal to the task. One of my favorite parts was the glissando in the piano midway in the movement that seemed to spur Sayevich on into the brilliant unremitting blaze in which the piece ended.
After intermission, the Accorda Quartet presented the String Quartet in G minor Op. 10 by Claude Debussy. The luxurious warmth of the opening chords played in spotless intonation commanded the full attention of the audience from beginning to end. Triplet figures played together perfectly and tight ensemble chords delivered with ringing tonal splendor factored in to the remarkable reading. Wave upon wave of musical intensity created by this powerhouse of an ensemble drew the listener in to an illuminating experience of Debussy.
The second movement opened to a driving pizzicato triplet figure that ran throughout. The gusto with which Ito dug into her violin solo in the development was counterbalanced by the calm pizzicato accompaniment of cellist, Storey. A frequent visitor at Park University concerts made its unwelcome presence known at that moment with the passing of a train outside, lending for once a not altogether rude ambient rustle to the background.
The third movement of the Debussy quartet was without question the high point of the evening. The Quartet's gorgeous blend supported Ito's luminous muted violin solo that she passed seamlessly to cellist Storey, and Chung brought introspective genius to the viola part. The masterful interplay of nuance interwoven throughout revealed the Accorda at its scrumptious best.
Mutes came off for the fourth movement that began with a dreamy cello statement. At the conclusion of the work, the full house rose as one to recognize Quartet Accorda's efforts, music-making at its exciting best.
REVIEW:
The International Center for Music and Park University
Sounds of France
Quartet Accorda with Lolita Lisovskaya-Sayevich, piano
September 18, 2009.
Graham Tyler Memorial Chapel, Park University
8700 NW River Park Dr., Parkville, MO
Visit www.park.edu/ata for more information
KC Events this week and beyond
Click here to see all the events on the KC Events performing arts calendar.
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KCMetropolis.org's mission is to promote traditional and independent classical music, dance, theatre and independent film. We are very sorry, but we do not cover pop, rock, Christian or country music; we do not cover the visual arts or non-performing arts community events. If you would like to send a press release about an upcoming performing arts event, please send to press@KCMetropolis.org.
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Dance
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KC Events this week and beyond
Check out all the events on the KC Events performing arts calendar.
How do you list your events on KC Events?
As an arts organziation or musician, you now have the ability to add and edit your own events.
KCMetropolis.org's mission is to promote traditional and independent classical music, dance, theatre and independent film. We are very sorry, but we do not cover pop, rock, Christian or country music; we do not cover the visual arts or non-performing arts community events. If you would like to send a press release about an upcoming performing arts event, please send to press@KCMetropolis.org.
KC Events Categories are:
Classical Music
New Classical Music
Dance
Theatre
Jazz
To Submit Information:
- Please go to the KCM front page and click on the login tab located at the top right-hand side of the website.
- Create a login account and then sign-in.
- Read the KC Events Terms of Service before proceeding
- On the left-hand nav is a category called Submit Content
- Click on Submit an Event or Manage Your Events.
- Listings will be approved with 48 hours if it fits the KCMetropolis.org criteria
theSTEADY, Jazz,
Lonnie McFadden has found his groove
"I knew a man, Bojangles, and he danced for you in worn out shoes... He talked of life, he talked of life. He laughed, clicked heels instead."(Mr. Bojangles, Jerry Jeff Walker)
It's not every day that you get to meet Mr. Bojangles in the heart of Kansas City.
If you frequent any of the town's talent-rich clubs, you have probably observed that the art of jazz, blues and soul can add up to serious business. Nimble-fingered, focused musicians pour out their years of training into guitars, drums or saxophones, while intimate crowds respond with the reverence you rarely find outside of a cathedral. That audience passivity might fly for any random performer at Jardine's or The Phoenix, but Lonnie McFadden, the self-proclaimed Mr. Bojangles, goes into each performance with the intent of creating a personal connection and a good dose of fun.
Arriving at a Lonnie McFadden show is to enter into a veritable feast of smiles - and if the singer/dancer/trumpeter has his own way - plenty of mingling with the dance floor. Lonnie's infectious personality is only matched by his obvious passion for his music, which crosses over multiple genres. One might assume that jazz standards and the like are his usual fare, but depending on the night, Lonnie's musical palette might jump from Louis Armstrong's "What A Wonderful World" to Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On."
"I've started to do a lot of Motown now," Lonnie explained. "It's what I grew up doing in my teenage years when I had a Top 40 band. Now I'm at a point where I'm realizing people my age want to go out and dance."
It's a logical mission for a man who has spent a good part of his life as an acclaimed hoofer. His father James "Jimmy" McFadden, a seasoned tap dancer who performed with everyone from Cab Calloway to Count Basie, was instrumental in Lonnie's own development as an artist. From an early age Lonnie and his brother Ronald were raised on a heavy helping of Count Basie recordings, which became the soundtrack to the siblings' first tap lessons. Of course, five-year-old Lonnie did not exactly know at the time that "school" was in session.
"The earliest memories I have of my dad are of him showing us how to do steps," Lonnie said. "Even in church he was teaching us about music. We would be listening to the choir and my dad would ask us, 'Can you hear the break?' He was showing us at an early age how to figure out when the turnaround is coming. By the time we started taking piano lessons, we already kind of understood the structure of music by ear."
The quick learners that they were, the McFadden brothers performed their first professional tap act alongside The Scamps at the Muehlbach Hotel - a hefty gig for a child all of six years old. Piano lessons were placed on the agenda around that same time, but it wasn't necessarily an innate adoration for music or dancing that originally sparked Lonnie's desire to be a performer. It was his father's personal stories about Sammy Davis, Jr. and other legends that lit the fire.
"Even when he was talking about the bad times like being laid off in Philly, having nowhere to go, and living off of peanuts and Pepsi Cola, I thought that was awesome," Lonnie recalled with a joyous grin.
The fresh-faced, bright-eyed child listening to his father's stories eventually transformed into a young man of unfettered determination. Teen peers who deemed the piano and tap dancing "uncool" would ensure that Lonnie opted instead for the trumpet, an instrument that he would carry with him into his adult years. While Lonnie learned piano theory as a child from the wife of veteran musician Leo Davis, it was his own drive and his father's encouragement that shaped his skills as a trumpeter. His father was adamant about Lonnie studying the ins and outs of Louis Armstrong recordings, and that careful attention to tone and musicality paved the way for his first go-round at Top 40 and R&B bands.
Over the past few decades, Kansas City natives have probably become most well-acquainted with Lonnie as part of the tap dancing dynamic duo, the McFadden Brothers. The pair has played all the expected KC jazz establishments, but their time together also led to stints as Wayne Newton's right-hand men in Las Vegas. More recently in April 2008, documentarian Rodney Thompson premiered his film Sons of a Hoofer, a piece that chronicled the McFadden brothers' history. The pair still plays regular gigs, but individual life paths have made those appearances less frequent.
When the McFadden Brothers' schedule slowed down, things almost hit a complete standstill for Lonnie. The performer eventually found himself divorced and without a steady gig like the one in Las Vegas, and the traditional daily grind of a job at Independence Honda vacated his schedule. Arriving at what you could call a proverbial crossroads about five years ago, McFadden was hit with an epiphany.
"I was getting ready to go to work and putting on my tie in this apartment by myself," Lonnie recalled. "I'm looking at my life and I'm miserable. I just made up my mind to quit, and I went in and gave my notice."
The gutsy move in the middle of January, known to be one of the least favorable times for landing gigs, eventually paid off. A few shows per month eventually morphed into steady a performance schedule of five to seven times per week for Lonnie's solo act. You'll now find him everywhere from the Plaza III to Bojo's, and on Mondays he is paying it forward as a tap instructor at Dance Works Conservatory.
It's easy to understand why the Conservatory would snatch him after witnessing at Lonnie's Sept. 12 performance at the Plaza III. In what could be described as the evening's pinnacle event, the artist unassumingly takes out a pair of lovingly weathered tap shoes and begins to hoof away. If you weren't a believer for the first ¾ of the show, Lonnie sliding across the stage to "I Got Rhythm" should have sealed the deal. A good deal of the polished, dressed-to-the-nines crowd had done their best to keep emotions in check, but it was as if one collective smile had overtaken the room by the final note of "I Got Rhythm."
With the charismatic personality and crowd-pleasing show that Lonnie delivers, his technical prowess as a musician is often the overshadowed aspect of his act. It's a fact that Lonnie has come to expect, but not fully accept. Being the triple threat of singer, dancer, and trumpet player, Lonnie has heard his share of cuts from musical peers. He recalled the early days when his fellow musicians would dub the McFadden Brothers as merely "entertainers" or "tap dancers." The competitive jabs didn't bother Lonnie much back then, but he is at a point where he would like to be recognized for all of his talents. That fact became quite apparent when he recalled a recent meeting with saxophone great Ahmad Alaadeen.
"I got a compliment from Alaadeen at a jam session," Lonnie said. "I've known him ever since I was maybe 10 or 11 years old. I was at a jam session about three months ago and when I finished, Alaadeen took my hand and said, 'Lonnie, you are sounding so good.' I choked up. It really choked me up. There's a part of me that always wanted the real musicians to accept me as a musician."
After spending any amount of time with Lonnie, describing the man as "goal-oriented" seems almost an understatement. He is downright determined to become the man and artist he has always wanted to be. In one breath he will declare that "becoming a multimillionaire" is still on his to-do list, and in the next he talks about how he is constantly trying to improve upon his work as a song stylist. At the end of the day, however, Lonnie is willing to roll the dice, even if that means he truly does become the personification of one particularly famous Sammy Davis, Jr. song.
"This ain't no walk in the park, but for me it's the only way to go," Lonnie said. "That day I quit selling cars, I realized I am Mr. Bojangles. I might be a headliner in Vegas 10 years from now, or you might be walking on the Plaza and see me with the hat on the ground. I guarantee you this: You may have pity on me, but I bet I sound good. That much, I know."
For more information on Lonnie McFadden: www.lonniemcfadden.com
Upcoming gigs...
Friday, September 25, 4:30-8:30 pm
The Phoenix
302 W. 8th St, Kansas City, MO
Saturday, September 26, 7-11 pm
Plaza III
749 Pennsylvania Ave, Kansas City, MO
Tuesday, September 29, 7-10 pm
Maxwell's Grill
301SE Douglas, Lee's Summit, MO
Friday, October 2, 4:30-8:30 pm
The Phoenix
302 W. 8th St, Kansas City, MO
Tuesday, October 6, 7-10 pm
Maxwell's Grill
301SE Douglas, Lee's Summit, MO
Wednesday, October 7, 7-10 pm
Bojo's
5410 NE Antioch Rd, North Kansas City, MO
Friday, October 9, 4:30-8:30 pm
The Phoenix
302 W. 8th St, Kansas City, MO
Saturday, October 10, 7-11 pm
Plaza III
749 Pennsylvania Ave, Kansas City, MO
Top Photo:
Lonnie @ the Phoenix. Photo by Glenn Golden
Film,
"Lorna's Silence" is nothing to behold
They say that silence is golden, but there is nothing golden about the Belgian drama Lorna's Silence. Even though it received a best screenplay win at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival, it is a tremendously slow-paced work that left at least yours truly wondering why he had wasted a small part of his life.
Lorna's Silence begins interestingly enough as Albanian emigrant Lorna (Arta Dobroshi) and her often out-of-town boyfriend Sokol (Alban Ukaj) need money and permanent resident status in Belgium to fulfill the dream of opening a snack bar. Lorna gains her status by marrying Claudy (Jérémie Renier), a heroin addict who is trying desperately to quit.
Although Lorna is in love with Sokol, she begins to slowly develop an emotional tie to Claudy and decides to get a divorce from him rather than see him die from an overdose. Her change of plan upsets Fabio (Fabrizio Rongione), an Italian taxi driver and a low level gangster who paid Claudy to marry Lorna and wants to avoid any police inquires that a divorce filing could provoke. Additionally, Fabio wants Lorna to marry a Russian smuggler who can then get his EU passport. With the money they would get from the entire scheme, Lorna and Sokol could realize their dream, however, a snag occurs and Lorna's life is put in jeopardy.
Not only does Lorna's Silence feel exceedingly slow, it also contains a tangible grayness that seeps into the marrow of your bones by its conclusion. This is certainly not a good thing because the story is entirely depressing with little range of emotion, especially by Dobroshi. The only exceptions are a couple of brief displays of anger by Rongione. There are too many periods of either nothing but silence or just static background noise, and there is little in the way of character depth
Ultimately, Lorna's Silence is a sad, yet unmoving bit of drama with a completely unsatisfying conclusion leaving only shades of gray and no golden glow.
On a letter grade scale from A being excellent to F for failing, Lorna's Silence receives a D.
Lorna's Silence is rated R and has a running time of 95 minutes.
Now showing through September 24 @
Tivoli Cinemas
Westport Manor Square, 4050 Pennsylvania, KCMO
Visit www.tivolikc.com or call 913-383-7756 for showtimes.
Theatre ,
There is always a first time
During My First Time, currently running at the Unicorn Theatre, I was met with an evening of offbeat and often shocking anecdotes. Through a series of monologues, the actors were able to speak for nearly every one's first sexual experience. The stories were broken up by statistics about sex, virginity and first times. Audience members were asked to fill out a survey and their answers were read anonymously during the show.
Based on a website first made popular ten years ago, where people could share their "first time" stories anonymously, www.myfirsttime.com, while I'm sure therapeutic for the thousands of contributors, was occasionally distasteful. In fact, it was verging on pornographic. With that in mind, I was apprehensive about what the show would actually contain.
Walking into the Unicorn Theatre, the set was lit with lamps and candles. A large bed was stage center with cushioned benches on either side, along with a few random bits of furniture. Each would be used in many different ways for many different stories. Scenic designer, Gary Mosby, provided all necessary elements for each story, without allowing the stage to feel crowded. The mood was set.
The next thing I noticed was a projection screen directly behind the bed. Before the show, famous quotes about virginity were highlighted. During the show, details about each story were displayed along with erotic art and statistics about first times. Some of the statistics were shocking. Some were amusing. Some were statistics about our particular audience. Jeffrey Cady was the projections designer.
Tanya Brown's properties were functional without drawing much attention. Alex Perry's lighting design featured a strobe light (epileptics beware), single spotlights, and plenty of lighting cues. Benjamin G. Stickels' sound design included songs like Marvin Gaye's Let's Get it On and music from Who Wants to be a Millionaire during the audience survey (clever!). Jon Fulton Adam designed very simple costumes that, nevertheless, told you something important about the kind of characters each actor would play.
Cheryl Weaver, for example, was wearing a conservative pink outfit with a cardigan. She often performed female monologues from the 1960s, or typically "good girls". Her "innocent young girls" monologue, done in silhouette was moving, but I disliked that she played all her virgin characters as nerdy or unsure of themselves. Lauretta Pope's role seemed to be a mid-twenties "normal-type". She had one particular monologue towards the end that was extremely controversial, which she pulled off admirably. Keenan Ramos, a formidable presence onstage, was given some tough character bits that he charmed his way through. Scott Cordes seemed to represent the everyman. He was a bit of a chameleon in this show, slipping in and out of each role with fanfare and delivering a solid performance.
The show, directed by Cynthia Levin, producing artistic director of the Unicorn, was done tastefully, considering the subject matter. (No nudity, thank goodness... that always makes me uncomfortable.) The blocking was brilliant, as the actors moved seamlessly from one story to another. Every part of the stage was used, and nothing was done incidentally, without purpose.
The play was written and compiled by Ken Davenport, who also created The Awesome 80s Prom and Alter Boyz for Off-Broadway. The show opened off-Broadway in the summer of 2007. In the past two years, the show has played all over the United States, and in a few international venues.
Although I try very hard to keep my personal objections out, I think it fair to warn people that this show is about sex (Duh). The virgin was ridiculed for remaining virginal. People of faith are mocked for disagreeing with the "accepted" viewpoint. The show itself is a monument to losing your virginity, getting over it, and looking forward to "the next time". The actors informed us that the gentlemen who created the website wanted to see if anyone else's first time "sucked as much as theirs did". Personally, I disagree with the prevailing attitude, but if the show sounds like your cup of tea, you could do worse.
REVIEW
The Unicorn Theatre
My First Time
Running September 25 - October 18 (Reviewed September 25, 2009).
3828 Main Street, Kansas City, MO 64111
For tickets call 816-531-7529 or online at www.unicorntheatre.org
Cover Photo:
Cast members Lauretta Pope and Keenan Manuel Ramos. Photo by Cynthia Levin
Theatre ,
Terrifyingly electric
In this thrilling amalgamation by Jeff Church presented by the Coterie Theatre, six Edgar Allan Poe pieces explode into dynamic and murderous life as one actor and one electric guitar-toting performer rock the theatre with passion and awesome talent.
Upon entering the darkly lit theatre from the mid-day hustle and bustle of Crown Center, the atmosphere noticeably changes. Grim and ambient metallic music fills the room. One can imagine the 200 years that have passed since Poe's birth as one's eyes adjust. The Burton-esque set designed by Rex Hobart is a masterful piece of art in itself, which was inspired by the 1953 animation of Tell-Tale Heart and which promises to set the stage for fright.
Straight-jacket clad Bruce Roach (what an apropos last name for this production) begins the performance with the poem Alone, a short work that transitions easily into The Bells, a more daunting piece, that Roach rushed through a bit. However, he happily found his way out of the straight-jacket (and gained his footing) by the lesser-known short story Wilson Wilson. Roach's extraordinary performance of The Raven led into the hair-raising enactment of The Pit and the Pendulum, given entirely and skillfully from the tabletop. The humor he brought to Tell-Tale Heart put a personal spin on the well-known classic. Roach's breadth of skill is fully showcased in his depiction of six separate narrative characters.
Composer, set designer, and technical director, Rex Hobart accompanied Roach with electric guitar. Hobart's own twangy style and dark electric riffs acted as an instrumental narrator, a transitory device, and even as the pendulum in The Pit and the Pendulum with a flashlight cleverly affixed to the neck of his guitar. Georgianna Londre's gothic costume design fitted Hobart perfectly for the sometimes wandering, sometimes lurking electric specter.
To top it off, SeifAllah Cristobal's projection design was superb and added to the sophistication of the dark atmosphere, expertly casting eerie images of floating skulls, ravens, and more. The morbid and downright frightening Poe themes moved many young patrons to find the laps of their escorts where they stayed through the duration - a testament to the horrifying performance.
This thrilling and unique rendition of classic Poe may not be for the very young, but it is for everyone else. Tell-Tale Electric Poe is a visual and musical spectacular - a must-see this season.
REVIEW
The Coterie Theatre
Tell-Tale Electric Poe
Runs September 15 - October 9 (Reviewed: September 20, 2009)
2450 Grand Boulevard, Suite 144, Kansas City MO
For tickets call 816-474-6552 or online www.coterietheatre.org
Top Photo:
The Coterie Theatre's Tell-Tale Electric Poe
Theatre ,
It's midnight at AHT
Award-winning playwright, Peter Colley's, "I'll Be Back Before Midnight," currently running at the American Heartland Theatre, kept audience members on the edge of their seats and guessing right up until the end. Somewhere between an Agatha Christie mystery and an Alfred Hitchcock thriller, this fast-paced comedy thriller doesn't disappoint.
A remote farm house sets the stage where Greg Sanderson is determined his wife, Jan, will recover from a mental breakdown. Jan's hope for recuperation quickly dissipates as their randy, off-color landlord George tells the couple of a murder in the house and of the ghost who still haunts it. Jan is obviously shaken, and husband, Greg, just fuels her emotional frenzy when he tells her of his sister, Laura's impending visit. What follows is a cleverly orchestrated plot packed with fun and fright.
The rustic set design by Del Unruh brought the audience into the living room of the shabby, haunted homestead with open rafters, worn furniture and an out-dated tape deck, used frequently by the actors and which provided a subtle musical richness to the scenes. Shane Rowse's spectacular lighting design - from the eerily lit windows and stairwells to the strikes of lightening to the spooky flashlight accents - reinforced the building drama throughout the production, and in conjunction with Donna Miller's impeccable sound design, put the exclamation point on this first-rate murder mystery.
A veteran of the American Heartland Theatre and an experienced television actor, Darren Kennedy gives an energetic and convincing portrayal of a Greg Sanderson. Kennedy effectively juggles his character's transitions in and out of the personas of concerned, caring husband, dedicated geologist, loving brother and more.
Vanessa Severo who plays opposite Kennedy, is no stranger to the Kansas City stage and her performance as Jan Sanderson displayed her talents and experience well. Severo's authentic delivery of a woman in mental and emotional agony was only slightly diminished by her overly-manipulated voice and a couple of lost lines.
From her first entrance onto the set, Jan Chapman playing Laura Sanderson is the sister-in-law you love to hate. Her palatable foulness kept the audience cringing and squirming in their seats. Chapman's deliberate use of her body moments, her coyness of voice, and near-perfect timing coalesce into a superb performance.
James A. Wright as George is the obvious audience favorite. As the redneck, landlord George, he appears at just the right moments to catalyze his scenes towards increasing doom with expertly timed hilarity and freshness. Wright portrays a knowable and open - even lovable - character whose antics surprise and humor delights.
With its wicked and worrisome twists and turns, "I'll Be Back Before Midnight" is a fearful, yet comedic tale and a good kick-off for AHT's 2009/10 season.
REVIEW
American Heartland Theatre
I'll Be Back Before Midnight
Runs September 11 - October 25 (Reviewed: September 16, 2009)
Crown Center
2450 Grand Boulevard, Suite 314, Kansas City MO
For tickets call 816-842-9999 or online at www.ahtkc.com
Top Photo:
Cast members Greg Sanderson and Vanessa Severo
theSTEADY, Jazz,
Small band: Big fun
I came away from the September 18th performance of The Dave Stephens Band presented by the Bell Cultural Arts Center at MidAmerica Nazarene University ("MNU") with two observations: this is a very good and talented band that got off to a rough start; but that aside, they are worth one's time and money to see. Despite having received, according to its website, "rave reviews from jazz aficionados, heads of state, and two U.S. presidents" I feel compelled to call it like I heard it that evening. With that particular performance being recorded for an upcoming CD, one has to wonder if, despite being veterans, a combination of sound problems and recording jitters took time to shake off. To their credit, however, they returned for their second set much tighter and more relaxed.
The evening opened with a Gershwin tune: "Lady Be Good." This revealed some clumsy breaks, either coincidentally or as the result of monitor problems that appeared to distract trumpeter Barry Springer and Stephens. "Perdido" showed nice intro work under the hands of pianist Walter Bryant, but was offset by an awkward bowed bass solo from James Albright, and an equally awkward ending. "Route 66" featured a classic, albeit synthesized, Hammond "B3" solo by Bryant. On "Almost Like Being In Love" Albright redeemed himself with some nice bass work. I found "Don't Get Around Much Anymore" to be slower than seemed practical, followed immediately by "Blue Skies," which felt rushed. While featuring nice piano lines from Bryant, it struggled overall with too-straight vocals from Stephens and another awkward ending. "It Had To Be You" uncovered thin vocals with only the opening piano accompaniment, and also dragged a bit.
As in "Blue Skies, "Cheek to Cheek" featured too-straight, no-swing vocals and a wimpy ending. On "Is You Is Or Is You Ain't My Baby," bassist Albright's vocal harmonies lent some depth, revealing how much that dimension was lacking in other songs. Stephens kicked off "Knock Me A Kiss" with some audience-supplied finger snapping. This set a nice mood that was unfortunately undone by some awkward scatting and yet another equally awkward ending. "Love Me Or Leave Me" produced interesting depth thanks to the band's cool "chant" accompaniment, but was distracted by Albright's cheesy attempt at a scat-accompanied, bowed bass solo. After announcing that the set was running long, Stephens, probably without realizing, unwisely cranked up "Crazy 'Bout My Baby's" tempo. Sadly, this first set ended with an awkward, calypso-inspired rendition of "Paper Moon". Among the many things that don't belong together, musically, a calypso rendition of "Paper Moon" tops this critic's short list.
After intermission, a much tighter and more relaxed band emerged, jump-started by a fine rendition of Dean Martin's signature tune "Ain't That a Kick In The Head," featuring refreshing open harmonies from the band. A classic arrangement of the region's eponymous "Kansas City" followed, with a nice groove and another fat Hammond solo by Bryant. A nice piano intro opened "Fly Me To The Moon" - one of Sinatra's many signature tunes, had nice, clean breaks and featured some slick, high-register bass work by Albright. It was the tightest performance of the night to that point.
Stephens often seemed not to know what to do with himself during solos, especially on "It Had To Be You," "Cheek To Cheek," and "Knock Me A Kiss," the latter featuring weirdly awkward gyrations and high-kicks as if Stephens was simultaneously channeling Elvis and David Lee Roth; neither worked. "Pennies From Heaven" followed with a straightforward, classic presentation. "All I Do Is Dream Of You" presented a Latin groove that worked far better than "Paper Moon's" calypso disaster. The band continued to tighten and was, by this point, clearly having fun. A tight rendition of "Around The World" followed. "Swingin' On A Star" came next, backed by a whimsical thematic homage to "Sesame Street." Stephens' melody was awkward but he redeemed himself with a very cool vocal solo sung through a mute-like device reminiscent of that tinny, "radio-show" effect, the closest instrumental equivalent being a trumpet's Harmon mute.
With glimpses of brilliance, "If I Had You" proved to be the tightest song of the evening, featuring solid stride-piano work from Bryant, tight vocals, and a nuanced, unmuted trumpet solo from Springer. The best song of the evening, this was an aptly subtle, subdued arrangement. Another tight arrangement followed with the Duke Ellington classic "It Don't Mean A Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing," which featured nice bass lines, another cool "Harmon" mute solo from Stephens, and an innovative "pressurized" drum solo from Jürgen Velga which had him blowing air into his floor tom to create an orchestral kettle drum effect. Despite Albright's aforementioned bass lines, he attempted another "scat-bowed" bass solo that he should have left well enough alone after "Love Me Or Leave Me." The evening closed more languid than I would have preferred, with the gospel-inspired "I'll Fly Away" - a selection from the band's "Jazz Hymn Project". Albright made a solid attempt to lend vocal harmonies, but was thwarted by inconsistent microphone performance.
The evening provided a walk down memory lane for Mr. Stephens, an Olathe native. Many influential people from his past were introduced throughout the course of the 90-minute program, all by the night's emcee, Steve Matlock, whose speaking voice deserves the quintessential vocal compliment: the guy has great pipes; think James Earl Jones, only lower.
Despite some drawbacks that I am convinced were isolated to this performance, musicianship-wise these guys have some serious chops. Stephens (with the exception of his dancing) brings an energetic stage presence and a unique vocal style that is, at times, favorably reminiscent of Harry Connick, Jr. and Michael Bublé. Pianist Walter Bryant displayed solid keyboard chops throughout. The evening's clear showstopper was drummer Jürgen Velga, who practically jumped off the stage with enthusiasm and granite-solid maneuverings around the set. Aspiring jazz drummers would do well to seek out an upcoming performance and treat themselves to a mini master class in the process.
While the show in its entirety would have been vastly improved by a better-balanced first set, it was evident throughout that The Dave Stephens Band deserves its place in the Kansas City jazz scene. Don't miss an opportunity to judge for yourself...
REVIEW:
The Dave Stephens Band
Friday, September 18, 2009
Bell Cultural Events Center
MidAmerica Nazarene University ("MNU")
2030 East College Way, Olathe, KS
For upcoming MNU performances visit www.mnu.edu/bellcenter.
For upcoming Dave Stephens Band performances visit http://kansascityband.com/davestephensband/ or http://www.myspace.com/thedavestephensband.
Theatre ,
Where the wild things are
At the beginning of the Inferno, Dante's narrator speaks of finding himself lost at middle age "in a dark wood"; in Maurice Sendak's picture book Where the Wild Things Are young Max, after spying his mother kiss a man who is not daddy, finds himself surrounded by all manners of mythic-like beasts, and in a way becomes one, too. Transformation links both these stories, separated by six hundred years and set apart by Freudian theory. Add music and lyrics, and one has the magnificent Stephen Sondheim-James Lapine musical Into the Woods, an adult fairy tale in which the forest of the unconscious hides the beasts within us that we meet at our own risk.
Freud is linked to Grimm in Into the Woods: such well-known tales as that of Cinderella, Rapunzel, Jack and the Beanstalk, Little Red Riding Hood, Sleeping Beauty, and the Baker and His Wife are interwoven with an all-inclusive Wicked Witch and connected by a blonde-haired, British speaking narrator with vines threading outwards from his costume. The music is lithe and invigorating; the lyrics are as technically demanding as they are intellectually commanding. How Sondheim and Lapine find darkness in already dark woods without yielding to the unbidden rule to entertain is one more miracle of this show, one of Sondheim's most abstract musicals yet one of his most fulfilling.
The Kansas City Repertory Theatre's presentation of Into the Woods under guest director Moisés Kaufman's God-like execution, which opened September 18th at the Spencer Theatre, brings to light the show's bedazzling interplay between the story and the songs. It is not too high praise to say that the intermission is needed so the audience can catch its breath for the second act which builds to its famous finale. Kaufman has cast wisely: many of the performers have worked in Sondheim's productions on Broadway or in national tours, though all of them register in their characters as snugly as their colorful costumes fit them (courtesy of Clint Ramos). The Spencer stage is, as Goldilocks would say, just right. The sets, by Narelle Sissons, fill the area like Rousseau paintings come to life, with a child's bedroom configured in the middle of the stage surrounded by tall trees that come and go; in the opening number "Prologue: Into the Woods," some characters (like Riding Hood, the show-stopping Dana Steingold) make their entrances through a C.S. Lewis-like open closet. Trees ascend and characters descend, just as they sometimes disappear below the stage floor. Indeed, with Japhy Weideman's sharply etched lighting, the collective staging recalls one of the Metropolitan Opera's sweeping productions.
The first act first presents the characters' problems and then finds their happy endings--or so we assume. The Baker (Zachary Prince) and his Wife (Brynn O'Malley) wish to have a child, but some spell on their house by the Witch (Michele Ragusa) prevents them. Cinderella (Lauren Worsham) has her familiar story, as does Jack (KC Comeaux) whose mother (Tina Stafford) insists he sell his one friend, his cow (whose mechanical facial reactions are worked by the great puppeteer Paul Mesner). The songs--"Cinderella at the Grave," "Maybe They're Magic," "Hello, Little Girl," the last sung to Riding Hood by the Wolf (Claybourne Elder)--gradually reveal the sadness and the uncertainty behind the characters' adventures. Sondheim's songs, routinely at odds in what they mean versus how buoyantly they are sung, gradually take over the stories. By the end of the first act, the Wolf is dead and Riding Hood is safe, the Baker and his Wife have followed the Witch's commands and been given a son; Cinderella, Rapunzel and the rest all seem happy, and the Witch is transformed into an evening-gowned socialite. Yet the ensemble song "Ever After" rings hollow. This is, after all, Sondheim, not the therapeutic-lite Shrek or even Wicked.
The ritual Sondheimesque twist comes in act two, as the assembled fairy-tale characters begin to doubt their happiness. The second half perversely reprises the first, in the manner of an earlier (still more conceptual) Sondheim-Lapine musical, Sunday in the Park with George. Jack's descent from the beanstalk (which caused the death of the giant, so that his angry widowed giantess begins to trample the countryside), in a neat psychoanalytic metaphor, sets off everyone else's descent into guilt and mutual recrimination. It is the other boot coming down on the guilty and the innocent alike, reminiscent of the last-act barber's killings in Sweeney Todd, in which victims are murdered indiscriminately and Mrs. Lovett sends them down the chute, merrily singing all the while.
The unfailing coldness of the musical's unfolding--one senses had Sondheim written, say, The Sound of Music the von Trapp family would have been massacring Nazis while singing "Edelweiss"--is elemental to Sondheim's style. The opening notes, those three piano chords played with insistent march-like determination, announce the show's tone. But it is always a treat to hear the various song threads diverge and combine and recombine, with performers singing over one another; yet, if done right, heard just precisely enough to draw together the emotions rather than spread them apart. Sondheim's songs are composed more like logarithms than with lyrics. The technical unwinding in songs like "First Midnight" and "No One is Alone" demands that the actors truly work together. Their expressiveness in finding the heart of these songs is the key to unlocking the ardency hidden within. For few other composers in any medium can reach so far into themselves, in short pithy rhymes or in soaring ballads. As dark as Into the Woods is, it ends on a note of pessimistic optimism.
For the Rep's production, Moisés Kaufman has reinterpreted the show here and there (he turns one verse of one of the Witch's solos into a rap version that is unnecessary but adds a contemporary touch, and makes up for the Wolf just like Hugh Jackman's Wolverine) without meddling overall. On Broadway, the Witch was the star (Bernadette Peters, Vanessa Williams); here, an ensemble feel makes all the characters compelling. If certain performers stand out more, such as Cinderella's Prince whom Claybourne Elder plays with a nod to Steve Martin's comic vanity and Brynn O'Malley whose Baker's Wife's sadness is sung so sweetly, the Opening Night audience fell completely under the sway of Dana Steingold. Her Riding Hood is petite, tough-minded, and seems to be not merely singing the songs but singing them for the first time. Steingold's timing is Rolex-perfect. It is one of the theatre's magic nights when an audience meets an unknown performer and knows something special is happening. All the wild things in the dark forest remain by the show's end: but for the moment, at least, they are banished from the theatre.
REVIEW
The Kansas City Repertory Theatre
Into the Woods
Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Book by James Lapine
Directed by Moisés Kaufman
Runs September 11-October 4 (reviewed September 18)
NOW EXTENDED thru October 11
Spencer Theatre at UMKC
4949 Cherry St., Kansas City, MO
For tickets call 816-235-2700 or online at www.kcrep.org
Top Photo:
Michele Ragusa (Witch), Lauren Braton (Rapunzel)
Classical,
Lang Lang electrifies the Folly
Last year an estimated audience of over 5 billion watched pianist Lang Lang perform during the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics. On Tuesday the 15th, a somewhat smaller audience at the Folly Theater watched him open the Harriman Jewell Series season with a recital of Beethoven, Albeniz and Prokofiev.
In the first half of the program, the talented young pianist tackled, and I do mean tackled, two Beethoven sonatas, the Op. 2. No. 3 from the composer's early career, and the Piano Sonata No. 23 in F Minor, the so-called "Apassionata," dating from a much later period.
A player of undeniable technical skill, the young Chinese virtuoso attacks the piano as if it were an opponent to be conquered. Thumping the bass keys, pounding at the treble keys, and taking every advantage to emphasize rhythm and syncopation, he has a mannered, almost violent interpretation of every piece. His dynamic range consists of extremely loud crashing chords, suddenly juxtaposed with a soft touch, especially during upper key trills, which he plays with an airy finesse.
Watching Lang Lang perform is almost as much a feast for the eyes as for the ears. During melodic moments his face beams with pleasure, and at other times his brow becomes knotted as his hands and arms come crashing down on the keyboard. During rapid passages his hands become a blur, and at other times he draws his arms back to bring them thundering down on the keys, his head and hair flying.
Beethoven has never been performed with more drama, and at the end of the first half several in the audience noted to this reviewer that they were already exhausted. (So was the new Steinway instrument he was playing, as it required retuning during the interval.)
Lang Lang saved his most expressive pianism for three selections from Albeniz's Iberia, Book I, to open the program's second half. Focusing on the rhythm of the work, the pianist gave a powerful and staccatoed interpretation of the piece. Of sensitivity and gentle touch there was none; his performance struck this reviewer as Impressionism without its shimmer. What would the composer have thought?
In Prokofiev's Piano Sonata No. 7 in B Flat Major Lang Lang found a composition more suited to his style. Full of the angst and anguish of World War II, Prokofiev's work contains many rapid and tortured passages of music. Lang Lang was more than up to the task, displaying his technical mastery to the hilt. The aggressive and almost deafening crescendo at the work's conclusion was played for all it was worth, and the piece ended with booming chords and flailing arms.
The Prokofiev brought the audience to its feet with a quick standing ovation. No doubt Lang Lang's pure power and force of personality won over some, but this reviewer wonders if perhaps more than a few audience members were applauding the performer's substantial publicity machine rather than the artist himself.
Somehow, his bombastic performance led this listener's memory to return to another, very different recital we heard in this same Folly Theater space last season, when the elegant and refined pianist Ivan Moravec gave a splendid and nuanced performance under the auspices of The Friends of Chamber Music. Between the two artists one could not possibly draw stronger contrasts. For this taste, I'll take Moravec and leave Lang Lang to his enthusiastic admirers, of which there is no shortage.
REVIEW
Harriman Jewell Series
Lang Lang, piano
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Folly Theater
12th and Central, Kansas City, MO
www.harriman-jewell.org
Local Arts News,
Call and response
AMERICAN JAZZ MUSEUM + CHARLOTTE STREET FOUNDATION'S URBAN CULTURE PROJECT
present CALL and RESPONSE
Two collaborative, performative evenings mixing words, sounds, genres, communities.
PART I (CALL)
One night event: Friday, October 2, 7-10pm (reception at 7, event begins at 8) - free
Urban Culture Project's La Esquina
1000 West 25th Street, KCMO | 816.221.5115
www.charlottestreet.org
PART II (RESPONSE)
One night event: Tuesday, October 20, 7-10pm (doors open at 7, event begins at 8) - free
American Jazz Museum's Blue Room
1616 East 18th Street, KCMO | 816.474-2929
www.americanjazzmuseum.com
CALL and RESPONSE is a series of two multidisciplinary performative events organized collaboratively by Charlotte Street Foundation's Urban Culture Project and the American Jazz Museum. Generating from the desire to bring artists from different media, genres, communities and backgrounds together to share, inspire one another, and build new audiences, CSF's Urban Culture Project and the American Jazz Museum have come together to jointly organize this two-part, two-location series, which spotlights a mix of writers, spoken word poets, jazz musicians, electronic musicians, and composers.
CALL and RESPONSE participants are writers/poets Robert Bauman, Glenn North, Shavonne "Queen" Standifer, Kynan Ramsey, Faith Scott, and Jordan Stempleman; the Kansas City Electronic Music and Arts Alliance; and the contemporary jazz ensemble Synergy.
The theme for the two events is "Call and Response," which references a performative, participatory type of communication exchange, and alludes to a rich history of music and storytelling traditions. From Wikipedia: "Call and response is a form of spontaneous verbal and non-verbal interaction between speaker and listener in which statements ('calls') are punctuated by expressions ('responses') from the listener. In African cultures, call and response is a pervasive pattern of democratic participation - in public gatherings, in the discussion of civic affairs, in religious rituals, as well as in vocal and instrumental musical expression. It is this tradition that African bondsmen and women have transmitted over the years in various forms of expression - in religious observance; public gatherings; even in children's rhymes; and, most notably, in black music in its multiple forms: gospel, blues, rhythm and blues, jazz and jazz extensions, hip-hop and go-go."
While the concept and practice of "call and response" will inform both evenings events, the first event, which takes place on First Friday in October at UCP's la Esquina venue on the Westside, will specifically take the idea of "Call" as inspiration, while the second event, on Third Tuesday, October 20 at the Jazz Museum's Blue Room will relate directly to the notion of "Reponse." Both evenings will include solo pieces by each of the performers as well as collaborative efforts.
Located in the Historic 18th & Vine Jazz District in Kansas City, MO, the American Jazz Museum showcases the sights and sounds of jazz through interactive exhibits and films, the Changing Gallery exhibit space, Horace M. Peterson III Visitors Center, Blue Room jazz club and Gem Theater. As the only museum in the world solely focused on the preservation, exhibition and advancement of jazz, the American Jazz Museum is dedicated to public service and collaborative efforts to expand the influence, awareness and appreciation of jazz within Kansas City and to audiences worldwide. For more information, visit www.americanjazzmuseum.com.
Urban Culture Project is an initiative of the Charlotte Street Foundation, an organization dedicated to making Kansas City a place where artists and art thrive. Urban Culture Project creates new opportunities for artists of all disciplines and contributes to urban revitalization by transforming spaces in downtown Kansas City into new venues for multi-disciplinary contemporary arts programming. For more information, visit www.charlottestreet.org.
KCM News,
KCM awarded MAC Capacity Building grant
KCMetropolis.org was recently awarded a $5,000 Monthly Capacity Building grant from the Missouri Arts Council to develop and grow a new section of the online journal called theSTEADY. This new section will feature articles on generative performing arts coming from the community including independent classical music, jazz, cabaret, alternative dance and performance art. As part of the development, a new calendar category in the KC Events calendar will be added. A press release will be published inviting local artists in the genre to add their events to the calendar.
Missouri Arts Council (MAC), a state agency and division of the Department of Economic Development, provides grants to nonprofit organizations to encourage and stimulate the growth, development, and appreciation of the arts in Missouri. For over 40 years, MAC has provided vital support and leadership to bring the arts to all the people of the state.
This funding makes possible quality arts programming to communities throughout Missouri. In addition to financial assistance, MAC provides expertise in community development, fundraising, marketing, grantwriting, arts education, artistic disciplines (visual arts, music, literature, theater, dance, festivals, and film/media) and more.
Through funds from the Missouri General Assembly, Missouri Cultural Trust, and National Endowment for the Arts, MAC provides grants to make possible quality arts programming to both large and small communities. Examples of organizations that utilize MAC funds include small local arts councils like the Shelbina Arts Council and internationally renowned organizations, such as the St. Louis Symphony.
MAC allocates funding based on the recommendations of the Missourians who serve on advisory panels that meet annually to review applications from organizations seeking grants. The panel's recommendations are based on criteria that includes artistic excellence, education and outreach, community support, administrative ability and diversity of audience served.
Capacity Building grants help organizations develop special capacity-building projects that strengthen internal operations and systems; supports internal governance and leadership development; develop strategic fiscal and human resources; or create innovative strategies for community engagement and support.
KCMetropolis.org is only the second online arts organization to receive a grant from the Missouri Arts Council.
the STEADY,
Giggin' on theSTEADY
See you at the show...
Shay Estes & Trio ALL
Wednesday, September 23 at 7:30 p.m.
Jardine's Restaurant and Jazz Club
4536 Main St., Kansas City, MO
For tickets call 816-561-6480 or online at www.jardines4jazz.com or www.marklowreymusic.com
Ida McBeth
Thursday, September 24 at 7:00 p.m.
Zona Rosa Outdoor Concert
8640 N. Dixson Avenue, Kansas City, MO
For tickets call 816-587-8180 or online at www.zonarosa.com or www.idamcbeth.com
Sons of Brasil
Thursday, September 24 at 8:00 p.m.
Jardine's Restaurant and Jazz Club
4536 Main St., Kansas City, MO
For tickets call 816-561-6480 or online at www.jardines4jazz.com or www.stantonkessler.com
Lonnie McFadden, Donovan Bailey & Mark Lowrey
Friday, September 25 at 4:30 p.m.
The Phoenix Restaurant and Nightclub
302 W. 8th St., Kansas City, MO
For tickets call 816-221-JAZZ or online at http://thephoenixkansascity.com/ or www.marklowreymusic.com
Mark Lowrey with Drums
Friday, September 25 at 10:30 p.m.
Jardine's Restaurant and Jazz Club
4536 Main St., Kansas City, MO
For tickets call 816-561-6480 or online at www.jardines4jazz.com or www.marklowreymusic.com
Ida McBeth
Saturday, September 26 at 6:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m.
Jardine's Restaurant and Jazz Club
4536 Main St., Kansas City, MO
For tickets call 816-561-6480 or online at www.jardines4jazz.com or www.idamcbeth.com
Snuff Jazz Late Show
Saturday, September 26 at 10:30 p.m.
Jardine's Restaurant and Jazz Club
4536 Main St., Kansas City, MO
For tickets call 816-561-6480 or online at www.jardines4jazz.com
Mark Lowrey Solo Piano
Sunday, September 27 at 6:00 p.m.
Sullivan's Steakhouse & Saloon
4501 W 119th St., Leawood, KS
For information call 913-345-0800 or online at www.sullivansteakhouse.com or www.marklowreymusic.com
Megan Birdsall
Wednesday, September 30 at 7:30 p.m.
Jardine's Restaurant and Jazz Club
4536 Main St., Kansas City, MO
For tickets call 816-561-6480 or online at www.jardines4jazz.com or www.meganbirdsall.com
KCM News,
Help KCM make the match
KCMetropolis.org - YOUR Online Journal of the Performing Arts - is a nonprofit arts service organization designed to offer critical, quality dialogue about our community's performing arts through new online technologies and social medias. We have been publishing for over a year and feature articles on traditional and independent classical music, dance, theatre, indie films and jazz, and are in the process of launching a new section called theSTEADY that will highlight local hard-working generative performers in the community. We are a true grassroots organization and have 20+ local writers on board - talented and expert voices coming from the musicologists, professional writers, etc within the community.
KCMetropolis.org publishes weekly on Wednesdays and has 600+ articles up on the site stretching back through October 2008. This has allowed us to offer more, and more easily accessible coverage of performing arts events - both small and large - than has ever been offered in one place to the Kansas City community.
In July, KCMetropolis.org debuted a new performing arts calendar - KC Events - that allows arts organizations to add and manage their own events. It is much more than just a listing - click on the link and find an entire page of information on each performance, all with easy links to share, print, send to your mobile, etc. We are partnering with other performing arts organizations, online arts purveyors and tourism-based businesses to make KC Events easily accessible in many locations.
KCMetropolis.org was recently awarded a Missouri Arts Council Capacity Building match grant of $5000 to continue development of crucial coverage for the performing arts in our community. We are the second only online arts organization to receive funding through this government entity.
Please help make us a sustainable voice for the performing arts for many years to come - help us meet the match goal of $5000. Every little bit helps - and any donation will be gratefully accepted and gratefully acknowledged on our website.
It is easy to donate to KCMetropolis.org. Click on donate online via Pay Pal or send your checks to KCMetropolis.org at 814 East 33rd Street, Kansas City, MO 64109. All donations are tax deductible.
Thank you for your continued support of KCMetropolis.org and the performing arts in our community!
KCM Staff and Board of Directors
City Classics,
Music and Dance through September 30
UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance
Conservatory Wind Symphony
Thursday, September 24 at 7:30 p.m.
White Recital Hall, UMKC Campus
4949 Cherry, Kansas City, MO
For tickets call 816-235-6222 or online at www.umkc.edu/conservatory.
The Conservatory Wind Symphony will open its concert season with works by Holst, Iannaccone, Vaughan Williams, Sousa and Steven Bryant. The titles of the works on this concert include Sea Drift, Sea Songs, Ecstatic Waters, and Hands Across the Sea, among others. Get the drift?
Kansas City Symphony
Bronfman Plays Brahms
Friday, September 25 at 8 p.m.
Saturday, September 26 at 8 p.m.
Sunday, September 27 at 2 p.m.
Lyric Theatre
11th and Central Streets, Kansas City, MO
For tickets call 816-471-0400 or online at www.kcsymphony.org.
The Kansas City Symphony opens its classical series of concerts this year with esteemed pianist Yefim Bronfman, who has made many appearances here in Kansas City with The Friends of Chamber Music and the Symphony. Bronfman is one today's leading keyboard artists and is renowned for his sensitive and romantic interpretations as well as for outstanding technique. In this concert he will be featured in the magisterial Brahms Piano Concert No. 2, as romantic a concerto as you are likely to hear (some think that it was a disguised love letter to Clara Schumann). Bronfman should be the perfect interpreter for this Romantic classic.
Also on tap for the season's opening concert under Michael Stern's baton are the Symphony No. 49 of Franz Joseph Haydn (called La Passione) and Rapture by contemporary composer Christopher Rouse.
The Haydn symphony comes smack in the middle of the composer's impressive career, and is considered the high point of that period of Haydn's life where he was making a concerted attempt to insert dramatic and romantic flavor to his symphonies, earlier examples of which were in a somewhat more formal and "classical" style. According to Haydn biographer Karl Geiringer, "the work displays, particularly in its second movement in F minor, a feverish fierceness of expression that few musical or poetical works of the eighteenth century surpassed."
Christopher Rouse, now 60, is one of today's most often performed orchestral composers. Educated at Oberlin and Cornell, he has written a wide variety of instrumental works. While his catalog includes a number of chamber and ensemble works, he is best known for his orchestral writing. His music has been played by every major orchestra in the U.S. and numerous ensembles overseas including the orchestras of Berlin, London, Sydney, Melbourne, Stockholm, Zurich, Lisbon, Vienna and Moscow. He has won a Pulitzer Prize and was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He was named Musical America's 2009 Composer of the Year and teaches at Juilliard.
Rouse's Rapture was written in 2000 for the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and, according to the composer, the eleven-minute piece depicts "a state of spiritual bliss, religious or otherwise."
Harriman Jewell Series
Stefan Jackiw, violinist
Saturday, September 26, 8:00 p.m.
Folly Theater
12th and Central, Kansas City, MO
For tickets call 816-415-5025 or online at www.harriman-jewell.org
Stefan Jackiw, only 24 years old, is already making his third appearance on the Harriman Jewell series. It may be a record for an artist this young. A brilliant technician who also plays with rapt feeling, Jackiw is considered one of today's most brilliant violinists. He has performed with the Boston Symphony, the Chicago Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, and the orchestras of Baltimore, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Minnesota, Nashville, Oregon, Rochester, San Francisco, Seattle, St. Luke's, and Utah, among many other ensembles, and also has an extensive recital career, as Kansas Citians can already attest.
Reviewing a Jackiw recital in July in which the violinist performed a Brahms sonata, Jeremy Denk of the Seattle Times wrote that "the violinist played the sonata with the artlessness of a child, caressing the notes with such authentic joy that merely watching him was enough to inspire pleasure. His natural, unforced fluidity in phrasing and expression made the music seem an extemporaneous creation rather than the polished product of practice."
The Harriman Jewell publicity doesn't tell us what compositions Jackiw will be performing in this concert, but given his reputation for excellent artistry it might not make much difference. Anything he plays is likely to be brilliant.
Kansas City Wind Symphony
KC Wind Symphony with James Cockman, piano
Saturday, September 26 at 7:30 p.m.
Bell Cultural Arts Center
Mid America Nazarene University
2030 E. College Way, Olathe, KS
For tickets call 913-971-3636 or online at www.mnu.edu/bellcenter
The Kansas City Wind Symphony begins its new season on the 26th with a performance featuring pianist James Cockman in the iconic Romantic piano concerto, Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2. The Rachmaninoff is almost everybody's favorite piano concerto (well, make it everyone's favorite Russian piano concerto), and is a sure-fire crowd pleaser.
A William Jewell College graduate, Cockman served on the University of Kansas faculty and is a noted local piano instructor. He performs throughout Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas and neighboring states as a soloist with a variety of music organizations, and his previous performances with the Kansas City Wind Symphony have been well received.
Topeka Symphony Orchestra
Mozart & More
Saturday, September 26 at 7:30 p.m.
White Recital Hall
Washburn University Campus, Topeka, KS
For tickets call 785-232-2032. For more information visit www.topekasymphony.org
Conductor John Strickler and the Topeka Symphony Orchestra open their season on Saturday, September 26 with a program featuring the music of Mozart and a couple of much more modern composers, Copland and Honegger.
The concert features two Mozart entries, the Overture to his early opera Lucio Silla, composed at the tender age of 16, and then the majestic Symphony No. 41, his final expression in that form, created along with two others in a frenzy of symphonic composition in 1788, less than three years before his death.
The Lucio Silla overture, an underperformed masterwork which is a welcome addition to the concert season, shows the teenage composer at his most dramatic, setting the stage for a tempestuous opera to come, depicting one of the most bloodthirsty rulers of the ancient Roman Empire. In the Symphony No. 41, nicknamed the Jupiter because of its size (!), Mozart was beginning to transform the classical orchestra of Handel and Haydn to a much more expressive instrument, and many musicologists feel that the composer was paving the way for the much more thunderous and expressive symphonies to follow from the pens of his successors such as Beethoven and Schubert.
American favorite Aaron Copland is represented by his evergreen Appalachian Spring suite of 1944, one of his crowd pleasing ballet scores, and the Swiss composer Arthur Honegger will be heard through his composition Pastorale d'ete of 1920, an early eight-minute symphonic poem which represents a musical impression of a peaceful early morning in the Swiss alps.
William Baker Festival Singers
Benefit Concert and Hymn Sing
Sunday, September 27, at 6:00 p.m.
Colonial Presbyterian Church
9500 Wornall, Kansas City, MO
For tickets call 913-638-5211 or online at www.traditionsinworship.com
The first William Baker Festival Singers outing of the year is a benefit concert and hymn sing for the CottageCare Widows and Orphans Relief Fund, a ministry in Rwanda, Africa. The event is sponsored by Traditions in WorshipTM. The Singers will be accompanied by a 30-piece orchestra including members of the Kansas City Symphony.
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