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

Summerfest
Twentieth Anniversary Season
White Recital Hall
4949 Cherry Street, Kansas City, MO
and
St. Mary’s Episcopal Church
13^th and Holmes, Downtown Kansas City, MO
For tickets call 816-235-6222, or online at www.summerfestkc.org

Some of the most interesting and intriquing classical music performances taking place in Kansas City during the summertime are those of Summerfest, the group founded by flutist Lamar Hunt, Jr. 20 years ago.  The ensemble features a core of players, many from the ranks of the Kansas City Symphony, plus various guest artists who perform chamber music in a favorite of different instrumental combinations over a four-weekend period in July and (barely) in August.

It is hard to believe that this group is already celebrating the completion of two decades in existence, but so it is.  The 20^th anniversary season should be a special experience, but then, Summerfest concerts always are.

 Week One:
Saturday, July 10 at 7:00 p.m. at White Recital Hall
Sunday, July 11 at 5:00 p.m. at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church
The first weekend of Summerfest performances (the group calls it a “conversation”) open with Beethoven’s Serenade in D Major which “harks back to delightful outdoor evenings in old Vienna.”  That’s where the “old” part of the program ends, however, for the rest of the evening’s “world tour” consists of compositions based on Azerbaijani folk songs by 20^th century Italian composer Luciano Berio, flutist and contemporary composer Robert Cronin’s Postcards and Argentine tango master Astor Piazzolla’s La Muerte del Angel.

 Week Two: 
Saturday, July 17 at 7:00 p.m. at White Recital Hall
Sunday, July 18 at 5:00 p.m. at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church
The concerts of the second weekend, unlike the first, open with an unusual composition and then retreat to somewhat more familiar territory.  Modern Hungarian composer Gyorgi Ligeti is featured in Old Hungarian Ballroom Dances, but then the group goes back to the 19^th century for French master Gabriel Faure’s Piano Quartet No. 1 and Antonin Dvorak’s lusciously romantic Terzetto in C Major and ends with a piece from the Baroque, the Sonate from l’Espagnole from 18^th Century French composer Francois Couperin.  If you like traditional melody, this is your weekend.

Week Three:
Saturday, July 24 at 7:00 p.m. at White Recital Hall
Sunday, July 25 at 5:00 p.m. at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church
The third weekend finds contemporary Chinese-American composer Vivian Fung “ushering the Uighur people of Western China into Western music” through a variation set called Miniatures, Franz Schubert’s breathtaking “Trout” Quintet, one of the great classics of Romantic chamber literature, and a more adventurous Kleine Kammermusik from the avant garde early 20^th century German composer Paul Hindemith.

 Week Four:
Saturday, July 31 at 7:00 p.m. at White Recital Hall
Sunday, August 1 at 5:00 p.m. at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church
Summerfest’s season closes with a multicultural weekend.  Composer Gabriela Lena Frank is American-born, boasts ancestry from Peru, China and Lithuania, but is primarily interested in Latin American music (!).  Her eclectic interests are represented by An Andean Walkabout.  Contemporary Czech composer Lukas Hurnik’s Fusion Music features multiple music genres, and American symphonist Charles Villiers Stanford, who wrote around the turn of the last century, is represented by a more traditional, but rarely performed, Serenade in F Major.

 These concerts will feature twenty-one different Summerfest instrumentalists, including Mary Grant, Shannon Finney, Jane Carl, Joshua Hood, Anne-Marie Brown, and many other locally popular musicians, in a variety of different combinations.  Be sure to check them out.



Community of Christ Church
Organ Demonstration Recitals
Daily at 3:00 p.m. throughout July
Community of Christ Temple or Community of Christ Auditorium
201 South River or 1001 West Walnut Street
Independence, MO
Free admission. For more information visit www.cofchrist.org/dome_spire/

The Community of Christ boasts two outstanding organs, one being the famous Casavant organ at the Community of Christ Temple at 201 South River in Independence, Missouri, and the other being the Aeolian-Skinner organ at the nearby Community of Christ Auditorium at 1001 West Walnut. Both of these magnificent organs are featured in daily 30-minute concerts given by the music staff throughout July (and August too) at 3:00 p.m.   The weekday concerts are always held at the Temple, while the weekend concerts alternate between the two venues.

Kacico Dance
“Inspired” at the Kansas City Fringe Festival
Wednesday, July 28 at 7:00 p.m.
Thursday, July 29 at 8:30 p.m.
Saturday, July 31 at 10:00 p.m.
Hemingway Gallery
132 West 19th Street, Kansas City, MO
Admission at the door. For more information visit www.kacicodance.org/

The Kansas City Fringe Festival schedule for July 23 to August 1 is not available as of press time for this July 1 column, but it will include a number of performances, some of which offer one of the few summertime opportunities for dance fans to enjoy their favorite art form.  Once of them will be the performances of Kacico Dance, to be held during the Fringe Festival this year at the Hemingway Gallery.  No programming information is available, but this audience member has always enjoyed the innovative Kacico Dance performances, accompanied by live music. 


Jewell Early Music Summer Festival 2010
Italian Landscapes: A Festival of Baroque Masterworks
William Jewell College
Liberty, MO
For information check with the JEMS Fest Facebook page.  No ticket information is available at press time.

This summertime festival, now in its second season, features performances at William Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri and also may include venues in Kansas City (details are not available at our July 1 press time).  The Festival features local countertenor Jay Carter, the outstanding young soprano Ida Nicolisi and three of Missouri’s top early music ensembles, Collegium Vocale, the Kansas City Baroque Consortium, and the St. Louis Baroque. 

The concerts include a July 30 chamber music concert and a July 31 performance featuring Collegium Vocale and the Kansas City Baroque Consortium.  Performances will also be held August 1 through 6.

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.