Kansas City’s Friends of Chamber Music explores ‘New Horizons’ with these new works

The Friends of Chamber Music has a long history of presenting and commissioning new music.

Dmitri Atapine and Hyeyeon Park, the Friends’ co-artistic directors, continue that legacy with “New Horizons” Oct. 7 at the 1900 Building. The program will feature all new music, including a work by Kansas City composer Chen Yi and a co-commissiond piece by David Serkin Ludwig.

“When we came to the Friends, we noticed that they have been at the forefront of presenting new music for many years,” Atapine said. “However, there was never a formal series for it. One thing that we wanted to explore is to create a forum for music of our time and music of the future. Create a kind of younger, less formal opportunity.”

Atapine says “New Horizons” will not be your typical classical chamber music concert.

“This concert is happening at the 1900 Building,” he said. “It’s a very open, modern-feeling space. We actually want to create an atmosphere where the audience can sit around tables and enjoy the concert in a cocktail lounge kind of atmosphere.”

He says the idea for “New Horizons” grew out of a single piece of music.

“We asked David Serkin Ludwig, who is one of the foremost composers today, as well as the dean of the Juilliard School, to write a piece for us,” Atapine said. “With that idea, Hyeyeon and I said we can bring him and the musicians to perform this piece, but what do we surround it with? What makes sense to present around it. So we had an idea to present music by living composers who reside in America.”

Ludwig has a distinguished piano lineage. His grandfather is Rudolf Serkin and his father is Peter Serkin. There’s also a local composer on the program, Chen Yi, violinist and professor of music at the University of Missouri-Kansas City’s Conservatory of Music and Dance.

“Her piece is called ‘Qi’ for flute, cello, percussion and piano,” Atapine said. “Qi” means breath, and according to Taoists, is the flow of the life force.

Ludwig’s piece, “Hashkiveinu” for piano, violin and cello, is a Hebrew prayer for peace before going to bed. It was co-commissioned by the Friends of Chamber Music, Music@Menlo Festival, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and Apex Concerts.

“We said, OK, for this concert we need a flute, violin, cello, percussion and piano. Out of those amazing ideas, this wonderful program was born.”

Atapine and Park will play cello and piano respectively, and they’ll be joined by Sooyun Kim, flute, Ian David Rosenbaum, percussion, and Bella Hristova, violin.

Other works on the program include a Fantasy for Solo Violin by Ellen Taaffe Zwillich; “Mariel for Cello and Marimba” by Osvaldo Golijov; “Nadiya” for flute and cello by Reena Esmail, a composer who merges Western and Indian traditions; and “Danza de la Mariposa for Solo Flute” by Valerie Coleman, a Black flutist and composer.

“And then we conclude with David’s ‘Hashkiveinu’ in its second performance in the world,” Atapine said.

Atapine is hoping that “New Horizons” will become a permanent series, much like the Master Pianists series.

“We want to make sure that we present the music of today,” Atapine said. “I’m always reminding audiences about this. Every single piece of music you ever hear was new music when it was premiered. Your most beloved Beethoven Fifth Symphony or your most beloved Bach St. Matthew Passion was new music the first time it sounded.”

As Atapine and Park continue to shape the Friends of Chamber Music, Atapine says they want to maintain the series’ rich legacy, while expanding its offerings with programs like “New Horizons.”

“We truly believe this is an amazing organization,” Atapine said. “When Hyeyeon and I came, nothing was broken. It has an enormous tradition and a loving following, and we’re very respectful of that. We want to continue that tradition with the most careful love, and explore what we can mold rather than what we can blow out of the water.”

7:30 p.m. Oct. 7. 1900 Building, 1900 Shawnee Mission Parkway, Mission Woods. $44. 816-561-9999 or chambermusic.org.

Kansas City Symphony, Michael Stern and Yefim Bronfman

The powerful Israeli-American pianist Yefim Bronfman will join the Kansas City Symphony for Brahms’ blockbuster Piano Concerto No. 2 from Oct. 7 to 9 at Helzberg Hall. The concert, conducted by Michael Stern, will open with “Kauyumari” by Mexican composer Gabriela Ortiz. The title means “blue deer,” referring to the Huichol spirit guide who guides a seeker through a peyote trip.

The symphony will also provide another kind of psychedelic experience, Bartók’s rip-roaring Concerto for Orchestra. Composed for the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1943, the Concerto for Orchestra is a virtuoso showpiece highlighting the entire orchestra. A performance of the work should leave the audience gasping for air.

8 p.m. Oct. 6 and 7 and 2 p.m,. Oct. 8. Helzberg Hall, Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. $25-$99. 816-471-0400 or kcsymphony.org.

Mid America Freedom Band

No password necessary to get into the Lavender Flamingo. The Mid America Freedom Band will create the atmosphere of a Prohibition-era speakeasy when it presents “A Night at the Lavender Flamingo” Oct. 7 at St. Andrew’s Undercroft. The program will include music by jazz greats like Sonny Rollins, Duke Ellington and Mary Lou Williams.

7:30 p.m. Oct. 7, St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church Undercroft, 6401 Wornall Terrace. Free. freedomband.com

Spire Chamber Ensemble

It was 25 years ago on Oct. 6, 1998, that a 21-year-old gay University of Wyoming student was kidnapped, beaten, and left to die. The Spire Chamber Ensemble led by its artistic director and founder Ben Spalding will commemorate the tragic anniversary with Craig Hella Johnson’’s “Considering Matthew Shepard” Oct. 6 and 7 at Country Club Christian Church.

This semi-staged performance will relate Shepard’s tragic story through varied music from Bach to country to soul.

7:30 p.m. Oct. 6 and 7. Country Club Christian Church, 6101 Ward Pkwy. $25. spirechamberensemble.org

Park ICM Orchestra

The Park ICM Orchestra led by guest conductor David Amado will present a thoroughly delightful program Oct. 6 at the Graham Tyler Memorial Chapel on the campus of Park University.

Amado is the former associate conductor of the St. Louis Symphony and has conducted other orchestras, like Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic and Royal Stockholm Philharmonic. He’ll lead the orchestra in audience favorites by Hugo Wolf, Ottorino Respighi and Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky.

7:30 p.m. Oct. 6. Graham Tyler Memorial Chapel. Park University, 8700 N.W. Park Drive, Parkville. Free with reservation. icm.park.edu.

Kansas City Chorale

The Kansas City Chorale led by Charles Bruffy will present a program they’re calling “Song of the Heavens” Oct. 1 at Our Lady of Sorrows and Oct. 5 at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. The program will include contemporary choral works by Ēriks Ešenvalds, Robert Chilcott and René Clausen.

2 p.m. Oct. 1 at Our Lady of Sorrows, 2552 Gilham Road, and 7:30 p.m. Oct. 5 at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 4525 Oak. $20-$50. 816-444-7150 or kcchorale.org.

You can reach Patrick Neas at patrickneas@kcartsbeat.com and follow his Facebook page, KC Arts Beat, at www.facebook.com/kcartsbeat.