Time for weekend calendar picks from KC Studio editor Alice Thorson! The Heartland Chamber Music Festival continues tonight and through the weekend, with performances from young musicians from around the world. Tomorrow night is First Fridays in the Crossroads, with opening at Todd Weiner, Mid-America Arts Alliance, and more. The Festival of Butterflies at Powell Gardens begins this weekend, Friday through Saturday. Saturday night, the WWI Museum presents a special second screening of the animated feature, The Little Prince, adapted from the beloved classic novella. And Sunday afternoon, listen to new choral works performed by KC VITAs Chamber Choir for their second Summer Series Concert. For more ideas, visit Kansas City’s most comprehensive arts calendar at kcstudio.org/events.
Heartland Chamber Music Festival
August 4-6 @ 7:00 pm | Free
August 6 @ 2:00 pm | Free
Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral
The popular Heartland Chamber Music Festival returns this summer for a nine-day run from Friday, July 29, through Saturday, Aug. 6.
The festival, now in its seventh year with Johnson County Community College hosting, annually attracts more than 80 string and piano students, ages 8-26, from all over the world. Students receive instruction from internationally-renowned music faculty and present free summer concerts.
The event is coordinated by Heartland Chamber Music, an award-winning student chamber music academy located in Mission Kansas, in partnership with Johnson County Community College’s Performing Arts Series, Arts Education Program.
This year, the education portion of the festival will take place in JCCC’s Carlsen Center as usual. But because the college is renovating the center’s performance areas, the concerts will take place at venues elsewhere.
Here’s the concert lineup. All are free.
7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 4, Junior Festival Concert, featuring young chamber musicians 15 and under.
7 p.m. Friday, Aug. 5, Festival Scholars Concert, featuring local and national up-and-coming young artists.
2 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 6, Student Concert I, Chamber music students ages 12-26 perform the classics.
7 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 6, Chamber music students ages 12-26 perform the classics.
Contemporary Color Fields
August 5 – August 27
Todd Weiner Gallery
Patrick Schmidt, Martin Call, Eric Sall, Jim Sajokiv, Gehry Kohler, & Kim Brady-Miller
First Friday: Once Upon a Playground
August 5 @ 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm | Free
Mid-America Arts Alliance
Once Upon a Playground offers a visual tribute to the vanishing playgrounds of our past, celebrating their place in American culture and the collective memories of generations.
Join us in Kansas City’s Crossroads Arts District on August 5 as we celebrate First Friday with Once Upon a Playground from ExhibitsUSA. The exhibition features the photographs of artist Brenda Biondo alongside vintage images of playground scenes from the Library of Congress’ collections, and images from old playground catalogs and other ephemera. By bringing together these diverse sources, the exhibition highlights a playground vernacular that developed over decades, while providing historical context and cultural insight.
Festival of Butterflies
August 5 – 7
Powell Gardens
It’s the 20th anniversary of Powell Gardens’ Festival of Butterflies! See hundreds of colorful, free-flying butterflies in the indoor conservatory. Learn more about Monarch butterflies and other native species in our two outdoor butterfly breezeways. Experts from Monarch Watch will be here with a fantastic educational display and to offer advice on ways to protect these beautiful butterflies.
Don’t miss the daily costume parade, led by Ms. Frizzle! See the Gardens’ new caterpillar float, created by Linda Williams.
The Little Prince – Second Screening!
August 6 @ 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm
National World War I Museum at Liberty Memorial
Join us for The Little Prince, featuring the voice talents of Academy Award winners Jeff Bridges, Marion Cotillard and Benicio del Toro, Academy Award nominees Albert Brooks, James Franco, Paul Giamatti and Rachel McAdams and Kansas City native Paul Rudd! Based on the beloved classic novella about the captivating story of the Little Prince and his enchanting travels, tales and life lessons, the film claimed the 2016 César Award for Best Animated Film.
KC VITAs Summer Series Concert #2
August 7 @ 2:00 pm
Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral
For the second performance of their Summer Series, KC VITAs will provide a varied concert of newly-composed choral works and art song, including eight world premieres and other Missouri premieres by rising composers from across the United States. Composers featured include Jack Langdon (Minnesota), L.V Wood (Kansas), David Ross Lawn (New Jersey/Scotland), Rachel Lanik Whelan (South Carolina), Aaron Bittman (Nebraska), Charlie Leftridge (Minnesota), David Von Kampen (Nebraska), Brock Chart (Kansas), Jason Bahr (Florida), Kurt Knecht (Nebraska), Jonathan White (Pennsylvania), and Stacy Busch (Missouri). WIth a diverse program of music from tonal to avant-garde, the concert will be conducted by Jackson Thomas, Founder/Artistic Director, and accompanied by Charles Dickinson, pianist. Guest artistis include Dr.. Stella Roden, soprano, John Schaefer, organ, and more. Seating is first come, first serve with a reception in Founders’ Hall to follow. This concert is presented by the “Summer Music at the Cathedrals Series.”
