Cynthia Siebert (photo by Nathan Lang)
While the history of classical music and dance is dominated by men, Kansas City has welcomed many women artists through the years, each making a lasting impression on the cultural heritage of the region.
Dancer, choreographer and educator Tatiana Dokoudovska was the founder of Kansas City Ballet. From 1954 to 1989, she taught at what would become UMKC Conservatory and established its dance program.
Dokoudovska was born in France in 1921 and became a professional ballerina at the age of 12. She came to the United States in 1939, dancing with Mordkin Ballet (which would eventually become American Ballet Theatre). According to her Kansas City Ballet biography, she was dancing at Kansas City’s Starlight Theatre as a soloist when she was offered a teaching position with the Conservatory of Music (precursor to UMKC Conservatory). She stayed in Kansas City for the rest of her career.
The ballet company was an offshoot of her academic success. In 1957, the company premiered at the Victoria Theater (later known as Lyric Theater and now a YMCA), with 50 dancers including students from the Conservatory, and full orchestra.
From that beginning, the organization has become the preeminent regional ballet company, built its own highly acclaimed ballet school and garnered a national reputation.
UMKC Conservatory was also where two other women made their mark on the music scene of Kansas City.
Charmaine Asher-Wiley taught a legion of musicians as UMKC Conservatory’s first percussion professor, one of the first women in the nation to serve in such a role. Born in 1929, she grew up in Kentucky and then attended Stephens College in Columbia for a year before transferring to the Eastman School of Music, where she earned a degree in percussion in 1950 and then her master’s degree in music literature.
She returned to Stephens as percussion instructor, then joined the Kansas City Philharmonic in 1952. She then taught at the University of Kansas before joining the music faculty at Kansas City University (precursor to UMKC) in 1959.
In 1962, Asher founded the school’s first percussion ensemble, one of the first of its kind, and arranged much of the music on the program. A composer herself, Asher programmed music by many of the avant-garde of the era. During the 1970s there were 25 people in the ensemble. She also founded a marimba quartet and swing drum quintet.
Asher retired from the Conservatory in 1993 and died Oct. 6, 1994.
One of Asher’s colleagues at UMKC Conservatory was Joan Cochran Sommers, professor of accordion.
Sommers was born in 1934 in Kansas City. Her mother bought an accordion from a door-to-door salesman and Sommers was hooked at the age of 9. She competed in the 1955 and 1956 Coupe Mondiale, one of two musicians selected from the United States.
Sommers started at the Conservatory in 1961 and established the accordion orchestra — or Accordionaires — considered one of the finest ensembles of its kind, winning national awards on multiple occasions under her direction. The accordion orchestra even performed for USO tours, including trips to Asia, Russia and Scandinavia. The group still exists today as the UMKC Community Accordion Ensemble … and it’s still conducted by Sommers, now 91 years old.
In 1975, Cynthia Siebert founded the Friends of Chamber Music with intimate concerts held in private homes. The following season, the Friends presented five small concerts at All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church. Half a century later, the organization’s 50th season presents internationally renowned musicians performing in the city’s most beautiful venues.
Originally from Virginia, Siebert developed a love for chamber music in her youth, when she and her sister and their sailor father were living on a yacht with a built-in piano. When they docked, she’d seek out churches to practice on instruments not subject to the whims of the sea.
Siebert ended up in Kansas City in 1974 and not long after decided to start a chamber music concert series. She brought in guest artists of national acclaim, but as a trained pianist, she would also perform in some of the concerts.
At first, she ran the organization with all the hopefulness and chaos of youth (even using her own piano as collateral once) but within a short time developed a reputation for an elite roster of varied performers. Now, Friends of Chamber Music presents international artists regularly at the Folly Theater, 1900 Building, Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception and the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, among other large-capacity venues.
Siebert left Friends of Chamber Music in 2021. Current Friends’ artistic co-directors pianist Hyeyeon Park and cellist Dmitri Atapine continue her legacy of excellence and enthusiasm for chamber music.
