So much ahead on Kansas City’s 2023 classical music scene. Here’s a guide to the best
It’s only January, but it feels like we’ve already lived through an entire winter. Luckily, there are plenty of concerts coming up to take your mind off the bitter cold, as you settle back in a warm concert hall for an evening of exquisite music.
Here are just some highlights of what promise to be a fecund few months of classical music.
Kansas City Symphony
We all need a little ecstasy from time to time, and the Kansas City Symphony is happy to oblige. Guest conductor Matthias Pintscher will lead the orchestra in Alexander Scriabin’s overwrought “Poem of Ecstasy” March 3 through 5 at Helzberg Hall. The program also includes two orchestral showpieces by Ravel, “Rapsodie espagnole” and his sunny Piano Concerto in G with pianist George Li. Plus the concert opens with the clever, radical music of Ligeti, “San Francisco Polyphony.”
8 p.m. March 3 and 4 and 2 p.m. March 5. Helzberg Hall, Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. $25-$95. 816-471-0400 or kcsymphony.org.
I always look forward to any concert featuring mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke. She has appeared several times with the Kansas City Symphony, and her performances are always transcendent. April 21 through 23, she and baritone Scott Hendricks will join the symphony and Kansas City Symphony Chorus conducted by Michael Stern for Hindemith’s “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d.”
Commissioned by the Robert Shaw Chorale after the death of President Franklin Roosevelt in 1945, Hindemith used Walt Whitman’s poem for his moving memorial. The concert begins, appropriately enough, with Holst’s “Walt Whitman” Overture. Also on the program is Haydn’s Symphony No. 96 “The Miracle.”
8 p.m. April 21 and 22 and 2 p.m. April 23. Helzberg Hall, Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. $25-$95. 816-471-0499 or kcsymphony.org.
Lyric Opera of Kansas City
Stephen King’s “The Shining” as an opera? Sounds good to me. The Lyric Opera of Kansas City will present “The Shining” by Paul Moravec March 11 to 17 at the Muriel Kauffman Theatre. According to the critics, the score perfectly captures King’s horror story. The Denver Post writes that Moravec “speaks the language of movie music — the shrill violin, the pulsing tempos of rising emotions, the bent note meant to warn audiences that things aren’t what they seem.”
7:30 p.m. March 11 and 17 and 2 p.m. March 19. Muriel Kauffman Theatre, Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. $33.50 - $188.50. 816-471-7344 or kcopera.org.
Kansas City Ballet
Devon Carney, artistic director of the Kansas City Ballet, is a master of full-length storybook ballets, but he is also superb at programs featuring shorter works by more recent choreographers. The ballet will end its season with “Bliss Point,” a collection of contemporary dance works May 12 to 21 at the Muriel Kauffman Theatre. This promises to be a program of eye-popping, provocative dance by leading choreographers like Mark Morris and Jiří Kylián. One of the ballets involves cacti.
7:30 p.m. May 12, 13, 19, 20 and 2 p.m. May 14 and 21. Muriel Kauffman Theatre, Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. $34-$134. 816-931-8993 or kcballet.org.
Harriman-Jewell Series
It’s hard to pick a highlight from the Harriman-Jewell Series’ remaining season. There are pianists like Jean-Yves Thibaudet and Khatia Buniatishvili, performance artist Laurie Anderson and the Brno Philharmonic performing a tribute to local legend Amelia Earhart and so much more great stuff yet to come.
And yet, even among this heady company, there is one concert that stands out: Riccardo Muti and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at Helzberg Hall on Feb. 26. This will be Muti’s fourth appearance on the Harriman-Jewell Series.
Muti, a conductor for the ages, is stepping down as music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at the end of this season, so expect this concert to be more emotional than usual, especially since Muti is conducting Tchaikovsky’s turbulent “Manfred” Symphony. I’m not alone in believing that the “Manfred” is Tchaikovsky’s greatest symphony.
7 p.m. Feb. 26. Helzberg Hall, Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. $17.50 - $85. 816-415-5025 or hjseries.org.
Friends of Chamber Music
The Friends of Chamber Music have some real gems coming up, including the renowned Bach Collegium Japan and pianist Richard Goode. But there’s one concert that will have special meaning, especially for longtime attendees of Friends of Chamber Music concerts.
The Emerson Quartet is making its farewell tour, and Kansas City is one of its stops. Cynthia Siebert, the former artistic director of the Friends of Chamber Music, cultivated a special relationship with the ensemble over the years, which resulted in many memorable performances. Cellist David Finckel, who was a member of the group for 34 years, will rejoin the quartet in Kansas City for Schubert’s String Quintet in C, D. 956.
8 p.m. Feb. 18. Midwest Trust Center, Johnson County Community College, 12345 College Blvd. $25-$55. 816-561-9999 or chambermusic.org.
Midwest Trust Center
I wish I had a nickel for every time I said, “The Academy of St. Martin in the Fields” when I used to be a classical radio announcer. They were my band of choice for everything from Bach to Stravinsky. The Academy is simply one of the very best chamber orchestras in the world, and Midwest Trust Center is presenting them at Yardley Hall on March 3. They’ll be joined by cellist Gary Hoffman for a program of Bach, Mozart, Corelli and Purcell.
8 p.m. March 3. Yardley Hall, Johnson County Community College, 12345 College Blvd. $16-$55. 913-469-4445 or jccc.edu/midwest-trust-center.
Park University’s International Center for Music
“Stanislav and Friends” is one of the best concert bargains of the year. Stanislav Ioudenitch himself is a concert hall headliner, and then you get his friends, who are also award-winning, towering talent. Many thanks to Park University’s International Center for Music for making this world-class music so accessible.
7 p.m. March 11. Helzberg Hall, Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. $28.50 - $58.50. 816-471-2000 or icm.park.edu
Alvin Ailey Dance Theater
On March 25, the Kansas City Friends of Alvin Ailey in cooperation with the Harriman-Jewell Series will present Alvin Ailey Dance Theater at the Muriel Kauffman Theatre. It’s always an event when these remarkable dancers perform in Kansas City. The special relationship the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater has with Kansas City is something to be proud of and nurtured.
1 p.m. March 25. Muriel Kauffman Theatre, Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. $38.50 - $93.50. 816-471-6003 or kcfaa.org.
Bach Aria Soloists
In February, Reference Recordings, one of the finest audiophile labels, will release its first CD of Kansas City’s Bach Aria Soloists. The album, “Le Dolce Sirene,” will feature violinist and founder Elizabeth Lane, keyboardist Elisa Bickers, cellist Hannah Collins and soprano Sarah Tannehill Anderson.
To celebrate, Bach Aria Soloists is hosting a CD release party and concert, “Record Revelry,” Feb. 19 at Thompson Barn. You can enjoy hors d’oeuvres and drinks while listening to the musicians perform selections from the new album.
Reference Recordings is also the label of the Kansas City Symphony. It’s great to see Bach Aria Soloists being added to their distinguished roster, which includes organist Jan Kraybill and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.
6 p.m. Feb. 19. Thompson Barn, 11184 Lackman Road, Lenexa. $40. bachariasoloists.com.
Te Deum
Te Deum does fantastic work under its founder and artistic director, Matthew Christopher Shepard. Their concerts are always well thought-out and usually reveal unknown gems. On June 3 and 4, Te Deum will present a real rarity, Monteverdi’s Venetian Vespers of 1641. Not to be confused with his more famous Vespers of 1610, these later vespers come from “Selva e Morale e Spirituale,” a collection of works chosen by Monteverdi himself to represent his best music. It’s a rare pleasure to hear any Monteverdi live in concert, let alone one of his finest choral works.
7:30 p.m. June 3, St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, 1307 Holmes St., and 3 p.m. June 4, Village Presbyterian Church, 6641 Mission Road, Prairie Village. $20-$25. te-deum.org.
You can reach Patrick Neas at patrickneas@kcartsbeat.com and follow his Facebook page, KC Arts Beat, at www.facebook.com/kcartsbeat.
