Dancers Henry Steele Dillon and Emara Neymour Jackson in a vignette from the Owen/Cox Dance Group production of “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King,” Dec. 13 and 15 at Midwest Trust Center (photo by Kenny Johnson)
There’s a lot of love about the upcoming classical music and dance season, as popular favorites of the repertoire spark the concert lineups and good friends return to Kansas City stages.
There’s also the chance to try new things, with new concert formats, a new music director at the Kansas City Symphony and some premier talent coming to Kansas City for the first time.
You can read about Kansas City Symphony’s new music director, Matthias Pintscher, in KC Studio’s July/August 2024 issue, and you can see him in action when the Classical Series begins in September, after the orchestra’s return from their first European tour.
But before the season opener, the symphony presents a new style concert: “On Stage.” This chamber music concert includes guest artist cellist Alisa Weilerstein and members of the Kansas City Symphony performing for an audience on the Helzberg Hall stage, creating an intimate setting for artistic exchange.
Weilerstein is also the guest artist for the opening weekend Classical Series, performing Antonín Dvořák’s Concerto in B Minor for Cello and Orchestra with Pintscher and the Kansas City Symphony. www.kcsymphony.org
Performances: Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, Sept. 12, 8 p.m. (On Stage), Sept.13, 8 p.m. (Classical Series), Sept. 14, 8 p.m. (Classical Series) and Sunday, Sept. 15, 2 p.m. (Classical Series).
New Dance Partners, the popular annual performance in Johnson County, always brings in fresh choreographic talent, and this season they’ll present a new dance company, too. Along with new work performed by Kansas City Ballet, Owen/Cox Dance Group and Störling Dance Theater, the Regina Klenjoski Dance Company from Wichita, Kansas, is the latest partner with Midwest Trust Center. The groups will perform works by choreographers Peter Chu, Alexander Anderson, Hélène Simoneau and Kia S. Smith, respectively. jccc.edu/midwest-trust-center
Performances: Midwest Trust Center, Johnson County Community College, Sept. 20, 7:30 p.m. and Sept. 21, 7:30 p.m.
Friends of Chamber Music begins their season with “Voyages of Love,” celebrating the many facets of love with work from Clara Schumann, Arnold Schoenberg and Johannes Brahms. The concert features co-artistic directors (and spouses) Dmitri Atapine and Hyeyeon Park along with internationally acclaimed friends. And the concert falls on the birthday anniversaries of Schoenberg (150th) and Schumann (205th). www.chambermusic.org
Performance: Folly Theater, Sept. 13, 7 p.m.
The Lyric Opera of Kansas City presents “The Brightness of Light,” a concert-style performance featuring the effervescent soprano Renée Fleming and tenor Rod Gilfry. “The Brightness of Light,” a song cycle by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Kevin Puts, is based on letters between Georgia O’Keeffe and Alfred Stieglitz and includes projections of O’Keeffe’s paintings in correlation with the music. (Lyric Opera fans will remember their 2015 performance of Puts’ “Silent Night.”) The second part of the concert includes both opera and Broadway selections performed by Fleming and Gilfry. www.kcopera.org
Performances: Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, Sept. 27, 7:30 p.m. and Sept. 29, 2 p.m.
Harriman-Jewell Series, celebrating its 60th season, will bring world-renowned violinist Itzak Perlman back to Kansas City with his klezmer music project, “In the Fiddler’s House.” Perlman has performed for the series 13 times, beginning in 1971. With this concert, he’s joined by members of the Klezmer Conservatory Band for an exuberant party of music and joy. L’chaim! www.hjseries.org
Performance: Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, Sept. 29, 5 p.m.
The Kansas City Ballet presents the popular “ALICE (in Wonderland),” by choreographer Septime Webre, first seen in Kansas City in 2014. (Webre also choreographed KCB’s “The Wizard of Oz” in 2018.) The classic story by Lewis Carroll gets a balletic reimagining of the chaotic and charming world of Wonderland, filled with zany characters, outrageous circumstances and colorful visuals. www.kcballet.org
Performances: Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, Oct. 11 – 20; sensory friendly performance Oct. 17, 6 p.m.
One of the newest groups on the performance scene is Twelfth Night Ensemble, founded in 2012. Presented by Friends of Chamber Music, the ensemble will perform “Love and Laurels,” with works by George Frideric Handel and Johann Friedrich Fasch, including Handel’s seldom heard cantata “Apollo e Dafne,” featuring soprano Nola Richardson and baritone Roderick Williams OBE. www.chambermusic.org
Performance: Atonement Lutheran Church, Oct. 26, 7 p.m.
Kansas City Symphony also introduces the Symphonic Piazza Series, with shorter concerts on Friday evenings for select programs designed to encourage audiences to mingle before and after the show. They’ll begin with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Requiem, featuring guest soloists and the Kansas City Symphony Chorus. On Saturday and Sunday, audiences will also enjoy Franz Schubert’s Symphony No. 5 in B flat major. www.kcsymphony.org
Performances: Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, Nov. 1, 8 p.m. (Piazza Series), Nov. 2, 8 p.m. and Nov. 3, 2 p.m.
Harriman-Jewell Series welcomes back mezzo soprano Joyce DiDonato for a performance of “KINGS ReJoyce!” with Dallas-based a cappella quartet Kings Return and pianist Craig Terry. DiDonato, who grew up in Prairie Village, Kansas, often brings her eclectic and moving projects to hometown audiences, and this holiday concert will feature both sacred and secular repertoire. www.hjseries.org
Performance: Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, Dec. 9, 7 p.m.
Owen/Cox Dance Group revives one of Kansas City’s beloved holiday shows with the modern dance interpretation of E.T.A. Hoffman’s “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King.” With a saxophone-playing Mouse King, vibrant costumes, eclectic re-imagining of Tchaikovsky’s score and investigation into the darker nuances of the original story, the show strips the sugarcoating from this holiday tradition. www.owencoxdance.org
Performances: Midwest Trust Center, Dec. 13, 7:30 p.m. and Dec. 15, 2 p.m.
