RSS 2.0 FeedMay 5, 2010, City Classics
Music and Dance through May 12
Dance aficionados have been waiting for the Kansas City Ballet’s spring production, and it’s here this weekend, with choreography by George Balanchine, Todd Bolender and contemporary choreographers Toni Pimble and Jessica Lang. The music ranges from the classical strains of Vivaldi and Donizetti to the Broadway show tunes of Gershwin. You have five performances from which to choose, so there is no excuse for missing it! Also featured this weekend are two local vocal ensembles, the William Baker Festival Singers and the UMKC Collegium Vocale. The Baker Singers will sing a varied program including arrangements of classic works, spirituals and world premieres by two Kansas City based composers. The UMKC Collegium Vocale and the Kansas City Baroque Consortium will present Baroque and Renaissance music by French and Flemish masters.
Kansas City Ballet
Who Cares?
Thursday, May 6 at 7:30 p.m.
Friday, May 7 at 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, May 8 at 2:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, May 9 at 2:00 p.m.
Lyric Theatre
11th and Central Streets, Downtown Kansas City, MO
For tickets call 816-931-2232 or online at www.kcballet.org
Who cares? Well, the dance fans of Kansas City will certainly care about the Kansas City Ballet's spring production, set for five performances this weekend.
The title ballet, Who Cares?, consists of fifteen "show stoppers" by American songwriter George Gershwin. The Ballet is set to songs Gershwin composed between 1924 and 1931, including "Strike Up the Band," "Bidin' My Time," "'S Wonderful," "The Man I Love," "Stairway to Paradise," "Embraceable You," "Fascinatin' Rhythm," "Who Cares?," "My One and Only," "Liza," and "I Got Rhythm." Orchestrator Hershy Kay (Chorus Line, Evita) drew extensively on Gershwin's own piano arrangements of his songs taken from player piano rolls.
The music will certainly be familiar to any lover of Broadway shows, and the choreography by the legendary George Balanchine will "bring pizzazz, class, high kicks, and upbeat energy" to the Kansas City Ballet.
The program also features three other ballets, one a tried-and-true classic and the other two world premieres.
The classic ballet is the Donizetti Pas-de-Deux, choreographed by the Ballet's late, great artistic director Todd Bolender. Set to the music of the irrepressible Italian opera composer Gaetano Donizetti (from his opera La Favorita), the ballet demonstrates "playful musicality," according to current dance master James Jordan who will mount the piece. Since its original premiere in Kansas City the work has been performed by several other companies as well, including the Pacific Northwest Ballet and the Royal Winnipeg Ballet.
The first world premiere is the classically-named Concerto Grosso by choreographer Toni Pimble. Ms. Pimble is a noted American choreographer whose ballets have been performed by numerous American companies, including Two's Company for New York City Ballet as part of the prestigious Diamond Project. In Concerto Grosso she features fourteen dancers in four movements set to the 19th century German composer Ernest Bloch's Concerto Grosso No.1 for strings and piano.
The second world premiere is A Solo in Nine Parts by Jessica Lang. The dance is set to the music of Baroque composer Antonio Vivaldi (of Four Seasons fame). This ballet, performed in three movements, features a whimsical and touching play on the music of Vivaldi. About creating the ballet, Lang said "there are nine solo moments for one violin in the first and third movements in this Vivaldi score and I cast nine dancers so each dancer could have a moment to be that solo voice within the group. The dance is a reflection of the connection between working as a group and then taking your time in the front as a solo."
The Denver Post has written of the choreographer: "Expect big things from Lang. She is a major choreographic talent."
Members of the Kansas City Symphony will be accompanying the dancers in live music from the Lyric Theatre orchestra pit, always a good thing, at least to this audience member, who much prefers live accompaniment to the canned sort.
William Baker Festival Singers
Twelfth Annual Home Concert
Friday, May 7 at 8:00 p.m.
Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral
415 West 13th Street, Downtown Kansas City, MO
For tickets call 913-403-9223 or online at www.festivalsingers.com
The William Baker Festival Singers closes out its season this weekend with a concert of choral works covering many periods and styles, ranging from those of the English Baroque master William Byrd to the early 20th Century Russian composer Alexander Gretchaninov to arrangements of religious music by contemporary American composer Alice Parker.
The concert will feature premieres by two Kansas City based composers, John Leavitt and R. Douglas Helvering. It will also include traditional spirituals and music recently discovered from 16th Century Mexico.
UMKC Collegium Vocale
Early French and Franco-Flemish Music
Sunday, May 9 at 7:00 p.m.
Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic Church
2552 Gillham Road, Kansas City, MO
Tickets available at the door. For more information visit www.kccollegiumvocale.com/
The UMKC Collegium Vocale is joined again this weekend by the Kansas City Baroque Consortium instrumental ensemble for a concert of the music of Perotin (a European composer, believed to be of Flemish origin, who lived at the end of the 12th and beginning of the 13th Century), the brilliant Renaissance composer Josquin Des Prez, the Baroque French master Marc-Antoine Charpentier and the 18th-century French composer Louis-Nicolas Clerambault.
The featured work on the program is an arrangement of Clerambault's Miserere by Josh Maize, a member of the Collegium Vocale. The conductor of the UMKC Collegium Vocale is the talented young Dr. Ryan Board.
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.
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