Young people do grow up, a fact we sometimes forget when we expect youthful celebrities to act mature beyond their years. The version of Lang Lang who played Tuesday, September 15 on the Harriman-Jewell Series was a notably more serious pianist than the one who performed on the same series in 2004, also at the Folly Theater. Considerably toned-down […]

Stefan Jackiw played a  beautiful recital on September 26 at the Folly Theater, confirming once again my ongoing impression that he is destined to lead a career at the very top of the toughly competitive world of classical violin. In fact he is already leading it, and Saturday’s Harriman-Jewell Series recital with pianist Max Levinson showed […]

As a vocal student, Lawrence Brownlee wanted to sing the big romantic roles that tenors pine for: Rodolfo in La Bohème, Alfredo in La traviata, Cavaradossi in Tosca. Looking back, he’s awfully glad he heeded the advice of those who knew his voice was destined for a different realm. For instead of leading a short career in the wrong vocal fach, the 36-year-old native of […]

Imagine a future in which Our Town’s nationally renowned ballet company had its own home for the first time in its 52-year history, a dynamic place where professional creativity, community arts and education all converged into a synergistic hub in the heart of downtown. Well dream no more, supporters and fans of the Kansas City […]

In the center of a giant disc of white lycra covering half the dance studio stands a lone ballerina, Stayce Camparo, wearing the heavy, textured fabric around as a burdensome skirt. As she twists slowly counterclockwise, the skirt pleats together liked twisted rope and gently binds her. Meanwhile at the edge of the shrinking circle of fabric, Marcus […]

If you want an excellent example of what small-to-medium-sized arts groups in Kansas City can achieve when they team up, look no further than the October 16-18 production of Henry Purcell’s The Fairy Queen, a masterpiece from 1692 that has reportedly not been performed here in a half-century. This partnership of the Kansas City Chamber Orchestra, the […]

If theater and drama in English began with the plays of Shakespeare, the modern English song began with the works of the Elizabethan singer-songwriter John Dowland and, a bit later, Henry Purcell. A rare treat awaits Kansas Citians this week, as British early-music goddess Emma Kirkby and Swedish lutenist Jakob Lindberg bring to the Performing Arts Program of Johnson […]

Deborah Voigt is known to the opera world for her portrayals of stern, stately and imperious Wagner and Strauss heroines: Ariadne, Brünnhilde, Elisabeth, Elsa, Isolde, Salome. Her persona in solo recital is decidedly different, chatty and folksy and witty, and on October 30 a smallish Harriman-Jewell audience seemed to have a pleasant time listening to […]

Gilbert & Sullivan’s operettas are so durable that directors succeed best when they go easy on shtick and focus on dead-on execution of the shows’ intrinsic rich humor. The Lyric Opera of Kansas City’s production of HMS Pinafore, which opened November 6 at the Lyric Theatre, was most convincing when it stood back and let us […]

We like to think of the United States as a classless society, where a pauper can rise to the top and anyone can marry for love regardless of rank or station. Still, the idea of our daughter marrying the gardener gives pause — unless, of course, it turns out that the gardener was “switched at […]

Take eight younger singers with decades of rigorous vocal and choral training, hone them to a razor-sharp blend and place them in a church with clean, resonant acoustics, and you have the formula for a sonority that is as luxurious as a Lexus, as rich as triple-chocolate cake, as eloquent as a Shakespeare sonnet. Then […]