Time for another round of weekend calendar picks from KC Studio editor, Alice Thorson! Tonight, Unicorn Theatre premieres their production of I’m Gonna Pray For You So Hard, which runs through May 14. Tomorrow night, vocal group Vox Luminis performs at Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral. Saturday night, hear Bach Aria Soloists perform with the Kansas City Chorale Quartet or stop by the Gem Theater for jazz master Jack Dejonhnette. Sunday night at Rockhurst University the Musica Sacra choir performs the works of Handel and Mozart. For more events this weekend, visit Kansas City’s most comprehensive arts calendar at kcstudio.org/events.
I’m Gonna Pray For You So Hard
April 19, 20 @ 7:30 pm
April 21 & 22 @ 8:00 pm
Unicorn Theatre
Ella is an up-and-coming actress who wants nothing more than to make her famous playwright father proud. Over the course of a boozy, drug-fueled evening, things begin to unravel when they read the reviews of her Off-Broadway debut. This probing and darkly funny play sheds new light on the fight to overcome a parent’s legacy, starring Kansas City favorites Theodore Swetz (“Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo”) and Dina Thomas (“Bad Jews”).
Vox Luminis
April 21 @ 8:00 pm
Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral
Comprised of 10 singers and three continuo players, Belgium’s Vox Luminis presents selections from the vast Stabat Mater literature with works by Domenico Scarlatti, Claudio Monteverdi and João Rodrigues Esteves.
BAS Sings!
April 22 @ 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm | $35
Westport Presbyterian Church
Three instrumentalists, four vocalists … expect an evening of magic when Bach Aria Soloists collaborates with the Kansas City Chorale Quartet for BAS Sings!
The internationally acclaimed Kansas City Chorale Quartet includes the voices of BAS’ Sarah Tannehill Anderson, Lindsey Lang, Frank Fleschner and Sam Anderson, all of whom have performed on the Kansas City Chorale’s Grammy-winning recordings. The evening will include choral and instrumental masterworks from Bach, Britten, Dowland, and much more.
Jack DeJohnette Trio
April 22 @ 8:00 pm | $45
American Jazz Museum – Gem Theater
Celebrate National Jazz Appreciation Month with NEA Jazz Master and GRAMMY® winner Jack DeJohnette, one of the greatest drummers in the history of the genre. In a career that spans five decades, DeJohnette has collaborated with some of the most iconic figures in modern jazz, including John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Ornette Coleman, Sonny Rollins, Thelonious Monk, Bill Evans, Stan Getz, Keith Jarrett, Chet Baker, George Benson, Stanley Turrentine, Herbie Hancock, Dave Holland, Joe Henderson, Freddy Hubbard, and Betty Carter. Along the way, he has developed a versatility that allows room for hard bop, R&B, world music, avant-garde, and just about every other style to emerge in the past half-century. His concert at the Gem also features Ravi Coltrane and Matt Garrison.
Musica Sacra choir performs the works of Handel and Mozart
April 23 @ 7:00 pm
Pedro Arrupe, S.J., Hall Auditorium at Rockhurst University
Some of Kansas City’s finest professional vocalists join Musica Sacra for its season finale. Handel’s My Song Shall Be Alway was composed for the chapel of the Duke of Chandos and features strings and oboes. Trumpets and timpani join the orchestra for Mozart’s Missa Solemnis, K. 337, one of the composers most musically mature and beautiful sacred compositions. Live program notes begin at 6:15 p.m.
