There are some things on this earth that many of us just thought would never happen. Who could have imagined the dissolution of the Soviet Union, or the reunification of Germany, or the Arab Spring, with dictators falling like dominoes? And now there’s a new “first,” courtesy of the Harriman-Jewell Series: the first United States tour by the 52-year-old National Symphony Orchestra of Cuba, one of the finest ensembles of its type in the world and one that has toured extensively – but just never here. On October 16^th, Kansas City is fortunate to be the very first stop on this group’s 17-city tour, as the Harriman continues its legacy of presenting debuts of all manner of performers. The conditions are becoming more favorable for such cracks in the cultural “wall” between Cuba and the United States, and the Harriman stepped right up to the plate. “This is good timing for this,” says Leonid Fleishaker of World Touring Entertainment, who has partnered with Eric Amanda of Arts Management Associates to organize the tour. The tour does not intend to make any sort of political statement, he adds: It’s just about the music. “Cuba has always been a neighbor of the United States … but because of the curtain between them, the American audience has been hungry for the great talent that lives in Cuba.” As things loosen up between the U.S. and Cuba, he says, “I think we’re moving toward a world of peace.”

It may come as a surprise to many that Cuba even has a full-time national symphony, much less that it’s been around since 1960 and has a home in the Teatro Amadeo Roldán, one of Havana’s most beautiful historic structures. Like the National Ballet of Cuba, which achieved worldwide acclaim under legendary ballerina Alicia Alonso, the NSOC was built with grit and feisty determination after being founded by conductors Enrique González Mántici (who trained at the Moscow Conservatory) and Manuel Duchesne Cuzán. The orchestra has a storied history, having collaborated with artists such as Claudio Abbado, Mstislav Rostropovich, Victoria de los Angeles, José Carreras and many others, both in Havana on international tours. “Classical music in Cuba is very rich,” says Leonid, a Russian native who is also a professional violinist, “and many musicians from Cuba went to the Soviet bloc countries, to Moscow and St. Petersburg … because of the relationship between the Soviet Union and Cuba. That was an ideal place for Cuban musicians to study with some of the world’s famous teachers.”

Unlike tours by U.S. orchestras, which are heavily funded by corporations and other donors, the National Symphony’s tour is funded purely through fees earned by the individual presenters and their donors. (The Harriman performance is sponsored by Gaye McCarty Stevick.) “There are no sponsors, unfortunately,” Leonid says of the tour. “And Cuba is certainly not in a position financially to chip in.” It will surprise no one that putting this tour together has been a tangle of red tape, beginning with 75 musicians applying for U.S. visas and each having to be interviewed individually by American representatives in Cuba – and cleared by Homeland Security. The costs of visas, airfares, hotels and per diems are huge, Leonid adds, and the tour took a year and a half to organize. “But we put the numbers together and then sold the idea to presenters and off we go.” The Harriman’s executive and artistic director Clark Morris says, “A hallmark of our Series is the role of discovery. We love being in the business of reaching beyond our borders and drawing from a breadth of cultures to share with our community. This American concert debut is a landmark event for the Series and for Kansas City.”

The tour will continue through November, culminating in several concerts in Florida, including Daytona Beach, Naples, St. Petersburg and West Palm Beach. The absence of Miami from the schedule was purely logistical, not political, Leonid says. “This is just the way it worked out,” he says. “We’re dealing with venue availability, with scheduling, with empty days with no concerts taken into consideration. … So many factors worked into it. … We happened to secure as many cities in Florida as we could.”

The orchestra will be conducted by its internationally renowned music director Enrique Pérez Mesa and associate conductorGuido López-Gavilán. They’ll be joined by Cuban-born piano soloist Ignacio “Nachito” Herrera, who in addition to his classical chops has own jazz combo, Puro Cubano, which is a pillar of the Twin Cities’ jazz scene. The orchestral will play La Comparsaby the late, great Cuban composer Ernesto Lecuona and Copland’s Cuban Overture, but Leonid says the point of the tour is also to show off the musicians’ skill in the standard repertory: The rest of the program consists of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue(featuring Nachito) and Mendelssohn’s “Italian” Symphony. They will also tour with music of Beethoven and Schubert. “Obviously we realized that a Cuban orchestra is not going to give the best performances in the world of Beethoven’s Fifth or Mendelssohn or Schubert, to an American audience. But they are going to offer their own interpretation, their own touch … a fresh interpretation of those works that American audiences are obviously very familiar with.”

The National Symphony Orchestra of Cuba performs on October 16th at the Kauffman Center’s Helzberg Hall. For tickets and information call 816-415-5025 or go to hjseries.org.