For those who love the beauty of the human voice, the Harriman-Jewell Series is promising a bountiful fall. One of the world’s greatest opera stars, Renée Fleming, and Ben Bliss, who is rapidly making his mark on the opera world, will both appear on the series this October.
Bliss will sing his American recital debut on Oct. 22 for the Harriman-Jewell Series, which has famously presented the recital debuts of many future opera stars, including Luciano Pavarotti in 1973. What makes the Bliss debut especially exciting is that he is a Prairie Village, Kansas, native. His mother, Judy Bliss, is well known among local opera lovers for her work with the chorus of the Lyric Opera of Kansas City.
Obviously something of the mother’s talent has rubbed off on the son.
After graduating from Shawnee Mission East in 2004, Bliss received a degree in film, but in 2011, he decided to pursue a singing career. It was obviously a wise choice as his career has been skyrocketing ever since. After auditioning for none other than Plácido Domingo, Bliss was invited to join the Los Angeles Opera’s L.A. Young Artist Program.
In 2013, Bliss was accepted into the Met Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, which resulted in Bliss singing the role of Vogelsang in the Met’s 2014 HD broadcast of Die Meistersinger. Bliss is also the recipient of the Mozart and Plácido Domingo awards at the 2015 Francisco Viñas International Competition in Barcelona.
The Bliss recital is a free Discovery Concert to be held at the Folly Theater.
Fleming, of course, needs no introduction. Her lustrous voice, warm personality and movie star charisma have endeared her to audiences even beyond the world of opera. Witness her rendition of the national anthem at the 2014 Super Bowl when she became the first opera singer to perform at the event. Fleming’s performance dazzled not only the crowd in the MetLife Stadium, but television viewers around the world, who shared the video of her performance in a viral frenzy on social media.
The “Fleming Effect” should be especially powerful in the acoustically brilliant Helzberg Hall on Oct. 15. This will mark the fourth time Fleming has appeared on the Harriman-Jewell Series since her first recital in Kansas City in 1993. Each of her previous appearances was a concert-of-the-year, and her first recital in the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts is certain to be memorable, as well.
In addition to Bliss and Fleming, the Harriman-Jewell Series has other autumnal delights in store. The Sphinx Virtuosi, an ensemble of 18 young Black and Latino classical string players, will kick off the Harriman-Jewell season with a free Discovery Concert on Sept. 24. Through its example of diversity and pursuit of excellence, Sphinx offers a message of hope at a time when it is needed most.
The group’s Folly Theater performance will feature a program of Latin music, “Viajes Latinos” (Latin Journeys). While in town, Sphinx also will give a workshop for Harmony Project KC and perform for the Harriman-Jewell Series’ gala benefit, Prelude 2016, on Sept. 26.
On Oct. 1, Jessica Lang Dance will make its Harriman-Jewell Series debut. This is a group that Harriman-Jewell’s executive and artistic director Clark Morris has had his eye on for quite some time, and now Kansas City will finally get a chance to experience this exciting dance ensemble.
Two of the works the company will perform are Tesseracts of Time — A Dance for Architecture and Thousand Yard Stare. Tesseracts of Time was a collaboration with Steven Holl, the architect who designed the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.
Thousand Yard Stare takes its name from a 1945 LIFE magazine story that explored a traumatized soldier’s mental state. Set to one of Ludwig Van Beethoven’s late string quartets, Thousand Yard Stare is an examination of how veterans are traumatized by war.
Jessica Lang Dance takes dance to another level, exploring complex themes and the most profound aspects of human existence.
For tickets and more information, visit HJSERIES.ORG or call 816-415-5025 for assistance.
–Patrick Neas
