Author: Libby Hanssen
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Fall Season Lookahead: Dance
The dance community starts out strong this season with five straight weekends of stunning contemporary dance. New Dance Partners at Johnson County Community College’s Carlsen Center, which has facilitated some thrilling performances during its tenure, once again brings together the Kansas City Ballet, Owen/Cox Dance Company, Störling Dance Theater and Wylliams/Henry Contemporary Dance Company with national-level choreographers.
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Fall Season Lookahead: Music
Sure, nearly every classical music fan is drooling over the Beethoven Bicenquinquagenary (250th anniversary) in 2020, but there’s a fair bit of action in the last quarter of 2019 to keep us busy. Park University’s International Center for Music hosts a special benefit concert evening with Stanislav & Friends in Helzberg Hall, with the audience seated onstage (Sept. 20).
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Jean Belmont Ford: The Joy of Writing Music
Last March, during the last performance of the American Choral Directors Association’s conference, the Kansas City Chorale performed the latest work by Kansas City composer Jean Belmont Ford, “Manifesto.” The piece wasn’t listed on the program and when artistic director Charles Bruffy announced that she was in the audience, people gasped.
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Harlem Quartet Comes to Carlsen Center as Ensemble-in-Residence for Heartland Chamber Music Festival
The Harlem Quartet debuted in 2006, named to honor the Harlem Renaissance of 100 years ago. The ensemble was founded by the Sphinx Organization, which uses classical music to further social justice. It has traveled the world promoting diversity in classical music and engaged young audiences by presenting both traditional string quartet repertoire and a variety of styles by underrepresented composers.
