Roderick Cox
Led by guest conductor Roderick Cox, the Kansas City Symphony performed a scintillating program of orchestral works at Helzberg Hall on Friday, January 9.
In the orchestra’s first concert of 2026, the 250th anniversary year of the Declaration of Independence, it is probably not a coincidence that the program opened with an American work. Composed in 1942 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the N. Y. Philharmonic, Essay No. 2 for Orchestra, op. 17 by American Samuel Barber is one of the composer’s most popular symphonic works.
The piece opened with a flute theme echoed by the clarinet and supported by other winds. Shortly after, the strings entered with a warm, blended sound. Soon the entire orchestra played at full volume, but the brass overwhelmed the other orchestral sections. The central fugal section with its playful theme was crisp and well delivered. The work ended triumphantly with full orchestra, this time very well balanced.
From the outset, Cox proved to be a highly expressive conductor, with clear and sure technique and a penchant to infuse the music with emotion.
Pianist Avery Gagliano made her Kansas City debut, joining the orchestra for Clara Wieck Schumann’s Concerto for Piano and Orchestra in A Minor, op. 7. Gagliano began her career with an education at Philadelphia’s renowned Curtis Institute of Music and a first prize in the 2020 National Chopin Piano Competition.
Clara Schumann served as a highly influential figure in 19th-century Germany, active as a performer, composer and educator. In particular, she was a mentor and sounding board for Johannes Brahms. She began performing in public at the age of 9 and composed her piano concerto as a teenager—she began it at the age of thirteen and completed it when she was sixteen. And, of course, she was the wife of composer Robert Schumann.
After the orchestral opening, Gagliano launched the passionate beginning piano theme with expression and emotion. She tastefully stretched the rhythm of the phrases, enhancing the expressive quality of the music. Cox proved himself to be a willing and able musical partner, leading the orchestra through the lush melodic passages.
Schumann’s concerto breaks some conventions of the genre and nowhere was this more evident than the slow second movement, where the orchestra does not play at all. Rather, the piano begins with an extended solo. Halfway through the movement, the theme is taken up by a solo cello, played in this case by Mark Gibbs. Gagliano displayed the beautiful interpretive playing that won her the Chopin competition, performing with lyricism and sensitivity. Gibbs utilized a very warm and rich tone, wonderfully delivered. Only at the very end of the movement did the timpani enter for the breakless transition to the finale.
When the concerto was composed, the finale was intended as a stand-alone work and is indeed the most substantial movement of the composition. Gagliano dove into the robust opening theme, and the movement proceeded with virtuosic solo fireworks and beautifully nuanced orchestral dynamics. The audience responded with a standing ovation. Gagliano proved herself to be an excellent pianist and collaborator and deserves much attention for a very promising career.
The concert concluded with the Symphony No. 4 in E Minor, op. 98 of Johannes Brahms. The opening movement featured a gently undulating passage with nicely shaped dynamics and thematic contrasts. Despite a couple choppy and unsynchronized wind entrances in the middle of the movement, the ending was emotionally spirited. The second movement sputtered open when the horns were not together, but the orchestra (including the horns) soon redeemed itself. The third movement, Allegro giocoso, was written in a major key to contrast with the symphony’s mostly minor key orientation. The orchestra presented it boisterously and with tongue-in-cheek aplomb.
The work’s finale was inspired by a movement from a Bach’s Cantata 150, which employs an 8-measure repeated bass line. Cox and the orchestra delivered an exciting and impassioned reading. In the slow central section of the movement, Cox employed elegant technique and the orchestra responded with lovely legato playing. Deserving special mention in this section was flutist Michael Gordon, who played with sure lyricism, and the three trombonists, who blended beautifully. Perhaps the most stirring moment came when the opening theme returned, driving the moment on to its exhilarating conclusion.
For more information on the remaining weekend performances, or upcoming Kansas City Symphony concerts, visit www.kcsymphony.org.
Reviewed Friday, January 9, 2026.
