By Paul Horsley Kansas Citians might look back at 2013 as a year of sea-change in the local performing-arts scene. It was the year the Lyric Opera spent record amounts on magnificent productions that garnered substantial national attention. It was the year the Harriman-Jewell Series brought the greatest Wagnerian soprano of our time to town, […]

AN APPRECIATION By Paul Horsley Russell Patterson was a “player,” and not just in the musical sense. Anyone who played tennis or bridge or even poker with the Lyric Opera of Kansas City’s founding general director, who died October 1st in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, at age 85, knows that his single-minded goal was to win. […]

By Paul Horsley When traditional holiday performances continue to meet public and critical success year after year, presenters may show understandable resistance to tinkering with them. The “if-it-ain’t-broke” cycle is of course partly about revenue stream, so one always moves forward with stealth. The Kansas City Ballet’s durable production of The Nutcracker has stood up […]

By Paul Horsley Devon Carney, who began as KC Ballet’s new artistic director in July, has made some tweaks to Todd Bolender’s Nutcracker for 2013, though most of the changes will be unnoticeable to all but the most seasoned KCB fans. “I really don’t want to fool around with Todd’s production too much,” says the […]

By Paul Horsley It’s true that the production of The Nutcracker Todd Bolender created for the Kansas City Ballet is more than 40 years old, but through the years many a hand has helped freshen up the holiday classic, which runs at the Kauffman Center from December 7th through the 24th. An altered variation here, […]

By Paul Horsley When a choir counts J.S. Bach among those who have led it over its 801-year history, and still functions in the church where the master and his offspring thrived, performance expectations are high. The Thomanerchor, or St. Thomas Boys Choir of Leipzig, has weathered all manner of political and cultural vicissitudes through […]

By Paul Horsley Just because Gabriel Fauré’s Requiem uses standard Catholic liturgy as texts doesn’t mean its messages are strictly Christian or even inordinately religious. Indeed its message of consolation is universal, and its gentler approach to death stands in stark contrast to that of some of the more severe Requiems in the repertoire. “The […]

By Paul Horsley That the Lyric Opera’s new production of Mozart’s The Magic Flute is a banquet of visual delights is beyond question. Its wildly colorful scenic designs, digital animations and costumes by world-renowned sculptor Jun Kaneko are quite unlike anything we’ve seen on the Lyric stage: Playful and fun in often explosively eye-dilating ways, […]

By Paul Horsley Artists are always being told to create art about what they know, even though many live such insulated lives that they know little beyond the world of their own art. But it can work: From Nabokov’s Pale Fire to Fellini’s 8 ½, from 30 Rock to Rembrandt’s “The Artist in His Studio,” […]

Paul Horsley Deborah Voigt is one of the great sopranos of our age or any other, and although her voice has diminished in recent years she can still delight an audience at the drop of a hat, in just about any context. At her Harriman-Jewell Series recital on October 25th she presented a personal side […]

By Paul Horsley Mozart’s The Magic Flute is so full of opportunities for visual display that an opera company would be lax not to take advantage of them. But hiring a real-live artist to design an opera presents problems, too: If the scenic and costume designs are too overwhelming you don’t even need the opera. […]

By Paul Horsley In 2008 the world-renowned trumpeter and Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Wynton Marsalis determined to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Harlem’s Abyssinian Baptist Church with an ambitious mass for choir, soloists and jazz orchestra. Abyssinian 200: a Celebration was a hit, and on October 19th the Grammy-winning performer, author, classical celebrity, ambassador of peace […]

By Paul Horsley What a delight it was to see the Dance Theatre of Harlem back on the local stage, in its first appearance on the Harriman-Jewell Series, or in Kansas City for that matter, since April of 2001. After experiencing an eight-year hiatus, the performing company returned to the stage last season, and it […]

By Paul Horsley Deborah Voigt is at an enviable point in her life where she can make career choices on the basis of what she wants to do. “I’m very lucky in that I’ve sort of already done the dream roles,” says the Illinois-born soprano, who recently captured the world’s heart in the Metropolitan Opera’s […]

By Paul Horsley Violinist Stefan Jackiw’s official bio and press clippings read pretty much like those of any young musician these days. He is “one of his generation’s most significant artists” who possesses “talent that’s off the scale” (Washington Post) with playing that is “striking for its intelligence and sensitivity” (Boston Globe). Like their biographies, […]

By Paul Horsley One of the challenges of the Kauffman Center these days is for the resident companies to prove that the brilliant successes of the first two seasons were not a fluke. The Kansas City Ballet’s first 2013-2014 program that opened October 11th augurs well for the company’s attempts at constant renewal: Its generous […]

By Paul Horsley Jodie Gates has danced, choreographed, staged ballets, created festivals, served as mentor for young dancers. But few things excite the California native more than creating new choreography, not only for its invitation to creative expression but for its potential for passing on the huge amount of knowledge she’s gained over a 30-year […]

By Paul Horsley The operatic version of the Romeo and Juliet legend that Bellini and his librettist Felice Romani created from Italian sources predating Shakespeare is at least as action-packed as the bard’s telling, perhaps even more so. The Lyric Opera has devoted considerable resources to its production of this gripping bel canto opera, The […]

By Paul Horsley Always look both ways before crossing, because sometimes the car that hits you comes from the place you least expect. The season-opening productions by the KC Actors Theatre and the KC Rep offered meaty subjects and impressive performances, but the show that I’ll most remember is the Unicorn Theatre’s Venus in Fur, […]

By Paul Horsley Not every child prodigy makes it through adolescence to emerge as an extraordinary adult artist. One such musician to arrive recently at the “other side” is pianist Ji-Yong, who is quietly gaining attention as a brilliant pianist on the rise who has been willing to take some alternative roads toward his goal. […]

By Paul Horsley Opera is such a collaborative art form that it cannot succeed unless music, acting, stage direction and design all work together to form a sort of magical fusion. The Lyric Opera has built an exceptional production of Bellini’s The Capulets and the Montagues for its season opener, with a team headlined by […]