Aram Demirjian, now in his third year as music director of the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra, returns to Kansas City to lead the Kansas City Symphony..

Q: What do you call 158 trombonists playing holiday tunes? A: A blast! Now, it’s not often that I get to toot my own horn, but last November, when I learned about the inaugural Trombone Christmas Kansas City concert at Union Station, I roused my instrument out of hibernation and signed up before you could finish saying fa-la-la-la la la-la la la.

Composer and improviser, phonographer and performer, Shawn E. Hansen works outside: outside of convention, outside of expectations, and, sometimes, literally out-of-doors, outside the realm of the traditional concert stage or studio. Hansen received a 2018 Charlotte Street Generative Performing Artist Award.

Orpheus Chamber Orchestra returns to Kansas City with an ambitious program featuring not one but two soloists from beyond the classical tradition: Israeli mandolinist Avi Avital and Polish accordionist Ksenija Sidorova. Presented by Friends of Chamber Music, the ensemble performs a program titled “Stars Align,” featuring concert work from prolific film composers from both the golden age of Hollywood and today.