With champagne corks popping for the new Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts and area arts groups pouring forth their finest, Kansas City is in for a vintage year indeed.
The Kansas City Symphony, the Lyric Opera of Kansas City and the Kansas City Ballet are offering ambitious seasons for their first year in Moshe Safdie’s majestic building. The Harriman-Jewell Series and Friends of Chamber Music also will present concerts in the shiny new facility.
While the spotlight will certainly be on the center, Kansas City’s beloved recital hall, the Folly Theater, will remain a very busy venue.
Kansas City Symphony
Befitting the Kansas City Symphony’s historic first year in the Kauffman Center’s Helzberg Hall, Michael Stern has programmed a memorable season with guest artists worthy of a world-class performing arts center.
Concerts this fall featuring soloists include pianist Emanuel Ax, who will open the season Sept. 23-25, followed by Park University’s piano superstar Behzod Abduraimov performing Nov. 18-20.
The Independence Messiah has been a Christmas tradition for decades. This year it moves to the Kauffman Center, where Yasuhita Toyota’s acoustics should make the work sound brand new. Led by Steven Jarvi, the large Independence Messiah Choir will join the Kansas City Symphony and Chorus for Handel’s masterwork for three performances Dec. 2-4.
The Lyric Opera
Ever since Ward Holmquist became artistic director of the Lyric Opera of Kansas City, the company’s production values have been getting better every year. For its debut in the Kauffman Center’s Muriel Kauffman Theatre, the Lyric will pull out all the stops with Puccini’s opulent “Turandot.”
Dripping with jewel-like melodies, “Turandot” will give the Lyric an opportunity to show what it’s capable of, musically and theatrically. There will be four performances of “Turandot” beginning Oct. 1.
In November, the Lyric will perform Mozart’s “Cosi Fan Tutte,” an opera that lends itself to creative updating. The Lyric will present the Mozart classic in an eye-popping production for four performances beginning Nov. 5.
Harriman-Jewell
Clark Morris, executive director of the Harriman-Jewell Series, has several concerts planned for the new Helzberg Hall, mostly large-scale ensembles that would have previously performed in the Music Hall. The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra led by trumpeter Wynton Marsalis will perform Oct. 1 .
The Vienna Symphony conducted by Fabio Luisi with the Eroica Trio will perform Nov. 9.
For its more intimate programs, such as its Discovery Concerts, Harriman-Jewell will use the Folly. Harriman-Jewell begins its season with a Discovery Concert on Sept. 24 featuring violinist Caroline Goulding. All of 18, Goulding has already won an Avery Fisher career grant and has been nominated for a Grammy.
Morris is maintaining the Harriman tradition of introducing Kansas City to vocalists on the cusp of stardom. For a Discovery Concert on Nov. 19, Harriman-Jewell will present tenor Alek Shrader, who has been receiving rave reviews from critics on the coasts and is poised to be opera’s next big thing. Both Discovery concerts are free.
Also this fall, as part of its series Great Masters: The Ingram Events, Harriman-Jewell is bringing three of classical music’s most impressive talents to the Folly. Piano Powerhouse Marc-Andre Hamelin will perform on Oct. 15, violin virtuoso Midori will give a recital on Oct. 27 and James Galway will bring his Irish charm and Golden Flute to the Folly on Nov. 3.
Carlsen Center
Emily Behrmann, general manager of the Performing Arts Series at Johnson County Community College, has lined up one of her most eclectic seasons yet. Yardley Hall’s excellent acoustics make classical and jazz performers sound their best, and Behrmann is bringing great performers from both worlds.
On Sept. 30, the Miles Davis Experience will give audiences a taste of a true American genius, and on Nov. 6, the Munich Symphony with Gloriae Dei Cantores will fill Yardley Hall with Mozart’s sublimely spiritual Requiem.
Two more concerts of note this fall at the Carlsen Center are the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet on Oct. 22 and “69 Degrees South: The Shackleton Project.” The latter tells the story of Ernest Shackleton’s heroic voyage to and from Antarctica through highly imaginative music and puppetry.
Behrmann always likes a holiday concert that’s off the beaten path, and this year she’s bringing the 12-piece Burning River Brass to deck Yardley Hall with good cheer on Dec. 16.
Friends of Chamber Music
Cynthia Siebert, artistic director of the Friends of Chamber Music, is one of this city’s foremost classical music presenters. This year, she’s also a producer with the ambitious “Darwin Project” on Oct. 14. The chamber music organization commissioned the work from local writers, scientists and musicians that will take advantage of the multimedia capabilities of the Kauffman Center.
Thankfully, the warm and intimate Folly Theater will still be used for many of the group’s concerts, including the Tokyo String Quartet on Oct. 21.
Early music fans can look forward to a couple of programs. Rebel, an early music ensemble based in New York, will perform a vibrant concert of baroque music on Nov. 18 at Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral. And perhaps the world’s greatest choral group dedicated to Renaissance polyphony, the Tallis Scholars, will return to Kansas City for a Christmas concert on Dec. 8 at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception.
Kansas City Chorale
The Catholic Church is rediscovering the beauty of Gregorian chant. Even in a non-liturgical setting, chant has the ability to calm, center and restore. The Kansas City Chorale led by Charles Bruffy will explore this ancient tradition with “Chant and Beyond” Oct. 15 at St. Michael Archangel, 143rd and Nall; Oct. 16 at Redemptorist Church, 3333 Broadway; and Oct. 18 at Asbury Methodist, 5400 W. 75th St. In addition to pure Gregorian chant, the Chorale will also perform music by the medieval mystic Hildegard von Bingen and Renaissance polyphony, which uses chant as the basis for elaborate settings of the Mass.
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