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

Kansas City Friends of Alvin Ailey
Ailey Trio
Thursday, January 14 at 7:00 p.m.
Gem Theatre, 1601 East 18^th Street
Kansas City, MO
Free admission. Visit www.kcfaa.org for more information.

We overloaded on classical dance programs in December with the Kansas City Ballet's traditional Nutcracker and a number of fine performances from other dance companies, so January makes for a bit of slim pickings for fans of the dance.

Fortunately, the Kansas City Friends of Alvin Ailey is coming to the rescue this week with a free program. According to the website information, "the Ailey® Trio is an interactive presentation featuring three dancers from the internationally acclaimed Alvin Ailey® American Dance Theater who perform excerpts from their current repertory. The program combines a live performance with Ailey® history and audience participation."

Audience participation, huh?  Perhaps you should come appropriately attired, or else plan to sit in the back and hope they don't call on you.



Kansas City Symphony
with guest conductor Bernard Labadie
and Benedetto Lupo, piano
Magnificent Mozart
Friday, January 15 at 8 p.m.
Saturday, January 16 at 8 p.m.
Sunday, January 17 at 2 p.m.
Lyric Theatre, 11^th and Central
Kansas City, MO
For tickets call 816-471-0400 or online at www.kcsymphony.org

The Kansas City Symphony welcomes guest conductor Bernard Labadie to the podium this weekend for a concert featuring the Symphony No. 5 of Schubert, and three classics by Mozart: the "Chaconne" (dance) from his early opera Idomeneo, the Piano Concerto No. 18 with guest pianist Benedetto Lupo, and Symphony No. 39 ("Prague"), one of the three great magnificent symphonies that Mozart wrote during the fabulously creative summer of 1788.

Canadian conductor Labadie is best known for founding both Les Violins du Roy and La Chapelle de Quebec in 1984 and 1985, respectively, which led him to a high level of expertise in Baroque and Classical music. He has also been artistic and music director of two operas companies in Quebec, and made his Metropolitan Opera conducting debut last year.

He is a frequent guest conductor with many of the major North American symphony orchestras, including those of New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Chicago, Boston, St. Louis, San Francisco and others. In this concert he displays his expertise in the repertoire of Mozart.

Pianist Benedetto Lupo is the 1989 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition medalist and has soloed with major American and European orchestras and played recitals at Alice Tully Hall, London's Wigmore Hall and other venues. This season he performs in the Netherlands, Italy, Denmark and Spain, as well as in Philadelphia, San Antonio, Virginia and Kansas City.

Franz Schubert was just 19 years old and full of the vigor and enthusiasm of youth when he wrote his Symphony No. 5  (believe it or not, he had already composed four others!) for performance during a musical evening with friends in 1816.  The expressive melodies and Romantic richness of the work have made it a concert favorite ever since; the lovely "Andante" has long been a particular favorite of this listener.

One of Schubert's great musical inspirations was his Viennese (well, transplanted Salzburgian) predecessor Mozart. His Piano Concerto No. 18 was written in 1784 for Maria Theresa of Austria, daughter of Josef von Paradis, a State Councilor of Lower Austria, a remarkable and talented woman who was also a fine pianist.  The moving melodies and flourishing cadenzas of this piece testify to the young lady's undoubted skill.

His opera Idomeneo, dating from three years earlier, is in the then-traditional opera seria mode, and is loosely based upon the life of the ancient King Idomeneo of Crete.  In those days it was de rigueur for every opera to include a ballet, especially if the composer expected it to be performed in France.  Mozart dutifully complied, and his "Chaconne" is an excellent example of dance music written for operas at the time.

The Prague symphony dates from a much later period in Mozart's life, when financial and other troubles were mounting for then poor composer.  Nonetheless, he took solace in the fact that the citizens of at least one city - Prague - considered him to be a great composer.  They were mad about his 1787 opera Le Nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro) and even more about his next opera, which he wrote especially for them, Don Giovanni (tip for readers: you will be able to check it out for yourself at the Lyric Opera this coming May).

Capitalizing upon his Giovanni success, Mozart decided the following year to give the citizens of Prague yet another musical gift, this time in the form of a symphony.  The lovely grace and vigor of the music testifies to the composer's undoubted love for Prague, the city which, almost alone among European musical outposts, recognized during his lifetime the genius that others came to appreciate only after his death.



The Friends of Chamber Music
Rob Kapilow and "What Makes it Great?"
with Gilles Vonsattel, piano
Saturday, January 16 at 11 a.m.
Goppert Theater at Avila University
11901 Wornall Road, Kansas City, MO

Sunday, January 17 at 2 p.m.
Atkins Auditorium, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
4525 Oak Street, Kansas City, MO
For tickets call 816-561-9999 or online at www.chambermusic.org

Fans of The Friends of Chamber Music's longstanding and outstanding "What Makes it Great?" series know that composer, writer and educator Rob Kapilow, often featured on NPR programs, is one of the most energetic and enthusiastic lecturers around. His presentations, always accompanied by live performances by impressive artists, can't be beat if you want to learn the ins and outs of classical music.

In this program, given twice this coming weekend, Kapilow and pianist Gilles Vonsattel take up the music of Frederic Chopin, in particular Chopin's Ballade No. 3 in A-flat Major, Op. 47 and Ballade No. 4 in F-Minor Op. 52.  No composer has ever had a greater sensitivity for the piano and the workings of the human hands than Chopin, and undoubtedly Kapilow will explain to us a great deal about the Polish composer's mastery of composition for the piano.

The Swiss-born Vonsattel is a recipient of a 2008 Avery Fisher career grant and was winner of the Walter W. Naumburg Foundation's 2002 International Piano Competition.  His recital and orchestral appearances span several continents.



Performing Arts Series
Johnson County Community College
Thank You, Gregory, A Tribute to the Legends of Tap
Saturday, January 16 at 8 p.m.
Yardley Hall, Carlsen Center
12345 College Boulevard, Overland Park, KS
For tickets call 913-469-4445 or online at www.jcc.edu/TheSeries

We're not sure that tap dance qualifies as classical dance, but this program at Yardley Hall should be bundles of fun.  According to the press material, "eight world-class tappers and a jazz pianist pay tribute to the phenomenal Gregory Hines and other numerous legends of tap dance through live dance, photos and film clips." Tapper Chloe Arnold is the leader of the performers.

Gregory Hines was a legendary tapper who died in 2003 at the age of 57. In the 1990's he had a syndicated television show on CBS and was considered one of the great tap dancers of his generation.  This show recreates many of his routines, as well as paying tribute to many of the "kings" of tap dance.  These figures include Fred Astaire, Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, John Bubbles, Gene Kelly and the Nicholas Brothers; the leading ladies of Hollywood such as Ruby Keeler, Ann Miller, Eleanor Powell and Juanita Pitts; dancers Ray Bolger, Donald O'Connor and Hal Leroy; and concert-tap hoofers Dr. Jimmy Slyde, Chuck Green and Bunny Briggs.



Topeka Symphony Orchestra
Action Heroes Then & Now
Saturday, January 16 at 7:30 p.m.
White Concert Hall, Washburn University Campus
Topeka, KS
For tickets call 785-232-2032 or e-mail at tso@topekasymphony.org. 
For more information visit www.topekasymphony.org.

Topeka Symphony Orchestra conductor John Strickler makes his organization the first out of the box for a 2010 concert with this interesting collection of classical works on Saturday evening. The theme of the concert is musical compositions centering around some of the great heroes of history, and to that end Strickler will lead his forces in Beethoven's Egmont Overture, written to celebrate the life of the freedom-loving martyr Count Egmont; Wagner's overture to his opera Rienzi, about the ancient Roman hero of that name; the overture to Rossini's wonderful opera Guillaume Tell (William Tell) about the great Swiss patriot; Morton Gould's 1943 composition American Salute, which celebrated the bravery of American servicemen during World War II; and the theme music to the movie Superman by John Williams.

The programming is among the most interesting that we have seen for a classical music concert this year, and all of these compositions (well, maybe with the exception of the Superman movie music) are substantial classics as well as tributes to important historical figures.

Also on this program is young cellist Yeyoung Yoo, who was a Topeka Symphony Youth Talent Winner, who will perform two movements from the Shostakovich Cello Concerto. Shostakovich, a brave man who withstood the oppression of Stalinist Russia, could himself qualify as one of the "Heroes" of the concert's title.

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.