The kansas city symphony and opera singer show “Homecoming: The Kansas City Symphony Presents Joyce DiDonato

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The crowds that attended the Kansas City Symphony performances at the end of March with Prairie Village native Joyce DiDonato, now a world renowned opera sensation with the mezzo soprano voice, may have been witness to a little bit of history. The three performances were recorded, plus rehearsals, backstage interviews and a master class led by DiDonato, to be part of the PBS Summer Arts Festival, hosted by Anna Deavere Smith. The Kansas City show called Homecoming: The Kansas City Symphony Presents Joyce DiDonato will air July 20.

However, the hours and hours of work that went into coordinating and filming may be more similar to writing and staging a symphony than the audience realized. While the Symphony was rehearsing and learning the Rossini and Heggie pieces to perform with DiDonato, local producer Angee Simmons and executive producer Randy Mason were well and thoroughly immersed in planning the tapings.

Along with Simmons and Mason, national producer for PBS Jim Arntz was brought in. He has previously worked on the national PBS Fall Arts Festival. One of his main jobs here was writer. John Paulson, Arntz’s partner, serves as editor. “In this case, I got to serve as a storyteller, aiding in the interviews, rehearsal scenes and making sure the music helped to tell the story.”

The director onsite was Berlin musician Michael Beyer. Arntz says Beyer is the “go-to” man for theater, symphony and opera recordings. Another big name draw was Jeff Ravitz, who has served on Bruce Springsteen tours as lighting designer. His role was to create the right lighting to set off the architecture in Helzberg Hall and perfectly highlight both the symphony and DiDonato for the recording.

“Several dreams were fulfilled with this production,” Simmons says. “Each individual had the chance to work in the Kauffman Center and put forth their creative best. Helzberg Hall is an audio engineer’s dream when you think about the perfect acoustics. Joyce was a dream to work with and she even kept telling us how unbelievable it seemed that we were going to be part of this national stage. Michael Stern stopped in before the first rehearsal and asked about how collectively we could make it a great TV show. It just seemed that everyone was behind this effort. As a PBS station and for the city too, it’s a chance to put all the very best in front of a national audience. This hall is amazing. Joyce is amazing. The Symphony is amazing. It all just pops.”

Simmons says she was excited to discuss with DiDonato the important role that PBS plays in providing the arts to homes all over the country. “Of course she is a believer that the arts need to be supported in public media and that mirrors KCPT’s mission. She’s a big believer in exposing people, especially kids, to opera, symphony and other classical mediums. Being part of this show is another way to bring art to people’s living rooms. KCPT has been fortunate here in Kansas City that we work with the symphony each year to show Celebration at the Station each Memorial Day. This is just one more way we can highlight the incredible talent here.”

While the crew had long days and a crazy schedule, the satisfaction of a project done well for a national series was worth the tiring pace. “Personally it’s a dream project. It was the perfect set, the perfect players and the perfect crew. We were all like worker ants, moving about the hall with a precision that can be tough. It really is like a symphony as we all knew our parts within this intricate piece.”
Arntz, the PBS national producer and writer, says the show was recorded to be a more performance documentary rather than a straight performance of DiDonato and the Kansas City Symphony. “Instead of a concert film, classical music really needs more. By adding those interviews of the performers and her interaction with students, we give a context to the music and the experience. We all get to know the performers. And in so regards, the viewing audience gets to understand the music and the challenge of creating a concert and this documentary together.”
The project’s success hinges first on the good idea and then on who can make the project a success, Arntz says. As Simmons says, the pieces fell into place. “Joyce especially made the whole production great. She’s a winner. She has a great personality. Joyce told us all that this show is close to her heart as she got to sing in Helzberg Hall for the first time. The concert meant she also got to sing for her friends and family – something she doesn’t get to do that often.”

While the 11 cameras stationed around Helzberg Hall may have been awkward for some symphony goers, Arntz says he hopes the audience had an enhanced excitement because of the cameras and crew. “It’s really a big deal to be featured as an artistic town within a national context. PBS often features the opening of Carnegie Hall and concerts at Lincoln Center, both in New York. Maybe there will be some show from San Francisco or Los Angeles. Occasionally Chicago is featured. Honestly for a medium-sized city to get its symphony on air when the bigger players dominate is big. Credit goes to Kansas City Symphony Executive Director Frank Byrne and ConductorMichael Stern for all the support.” He also praised the serendipitous pairing ofDiDonato and the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts.
Production funding came from the Hall Family Foundation; David T. Beals III Charitable Trust; Bank of America, Trustee; Richard J. Stern Foundation for the Arts; Commerce Bank, Trustee; Merrill Lynch; and PBS.

This entry was posted in KCPT News, Performing.

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Photos by Chris Lee ©2012 Chris Lee

The Kansas City Symphony is committed to bringing music to University Academy students through coachings, chamber music performances, open dress rehearsals in Helzberg Hall, and a full orchestra performance on campus.

Acting Associate Concertmaster Sunho Kim

Acting Associate Concertmaster Sunho Kim

Principal Viola Christine Grossman

Principal Viola Christine Grossman

Principal Viola Christine Grossman

Principal Cello Mark Gibbs

Principal Cello Mark Gibbs

Principal Cello Mark Gibbs

Photos by Eric Williams

Showhouse Landscape Before

Showhouse Landscape After

In 1994, Patrick Vogt started mowing lawns as a Parkville teen. Soon, his business grew into By The Blade Lawn and Landscaping. And today, we’re proud to be the lead landscape designers for the 2012 Symphony Showhouse.
As first-time Showhouse participants, we knew we had to bring our A game. Our team spent over 150 hours creating a master plan that included a fire pit, water feature, and other recommendations for the entire home exterior.

It’s pretty typical of us to go above and beyond our assignment. That’s because we realize owners may want to make further improvements down the road. We also take our inspiration from things our clients personally care about. That’s why we decided immediately to landscape the Showhouse like a French Country Manor, since the previous owners had spent time abroad.

Our first challenge was reshaping the lawn to provide contrast to the home. Initially, all the beds were square like the house itself, which provided little visual interest. Instead, we created circular beds to provide a striking pattern. We edged them with light stone, but filled them with dark mulch for an even more dramatic look.

The large, mature trees provided an excellent starting point for a rustic shade garden. Lush evergreen and foliage were planted alongside vibrant, naturally coordinated blooms. Many of the existing shrubs were transplanted to different areas of the landscape to save on cost. Seasonal pot plantings were added for enhanced color. Finally, outdoor lighting was installed to add a soft illumination to the ambiance of the landscape.

After the entire project is finished, we will have donated around $35,000 of plants, stone, mulch and other materials to the Showhouse , which the new owners will be able to keep as a gift from our company.

For more information about By The Blade Lawn and Landscaping, contact us at:

By The Blade Lawn and Landscaping
7014 NW Kerns Dr.816.505.0444
www. bythebladekc.com.

Patrick@bythebladekc.com

Written in 1930-1931, the second explores Bartok’s fascination with the piano as percussion instrument while celebrating the folk music of his native Hungary. While some may think the first movement (where the piano is mostly accompanied by winds and percussion) is simply a raucous, pounding romp, Stern and Bronfman made sure we heard not just the rhythms of a wild folk dance but also the occasional lyrical Hungarian folk voices hidden beneath all the violent action. The all important orchestral brass and winds were at their best, only a couple of times getting close to overwhelming the piano with their accumulated power.

Bronfman and all were perfectly in sync and quite affecting in the haunted, oriental tinged slow movement, bringing out the lyrical and melodic interplay in this somewhat rhapsodic movement. Lesser focused performances let the music wander, but Stern and Bronfman kept this movement flowing yet in control.

The last movement is another driving, surging folk dance. As in the similarly percussive first movement, Bronfman never slipped into relentless pounding but dazzled with his almost effortless command of this jagged, cluster filled dance. The main reason this performance worked so well overall was due to the pianist and the symphony emphasizing, but not dawdling over, the more lyrical and relaxed passages in the outer movements, giving the work an ebb and flow that many lack.

The concert began with the world premiere performances of Daniel Kellogg’s “Water Music” the second of three works commissioned by the Symphony to celebrate the opening of the Kauffman Center and the fountains of Kansas City.

Kellogg took his inspiration from three of our fountains and crafted a colorful three movement work for large orchestra.; The JC Nichols Fountain is portrayed in “Battling Torrents”, the downtown “Muse of the Missouri” inspired the quieter, slow central movement and the finale “Cascades” captures the Henry Bloch fountain at Union Station. For the uninitiated, Kansas City supposedly has more fountains than anywhere else but Rome.

The audience seemed to enjoy the work, as did my concert compatriot Gerry, who usually hates anything written past 1900. I tended to a different view. Although colorfully orchestrated, “Water Music” was thin on melodic ideas and structure, relying on the color to hold it all together. The sea creatures, bears and horses in “Battling Torrents” romp and play for sure, but in a generic 20-21st century accessible music form that could have depicted any action.

“The Muse of the Missouri” is described by the composer as “a contemplation of the passage of water through the passage of time”. I guess the slow, undulating music did just that. But as that activity can be a bit tedious, so went this slightly over long movement.

“Cascades” was frankly similar to the first movement, but best captured its fountain in music. The vibrant movement danced and played almost stopping (as the fountain does) and then erupting in watery dance.

The orchestra did a fine job with this likely difficult and unfamiliar music; the lavish percussion and augmented winds were outstanding as usual. But Respighi did it all so much better and memorably (with a different set of fountains of course) as did Chen Yi in her “Fountains of KC” that began the season.

The early Classical era orchestra of the Mozart “Jupiter” looked almost forlorn and overwhelmed by the stage after the big orchestras of the Kellogg and Bartok. But genius as he was, Mozart used these more limited forces to create one of the truly great icons of music. Stern and the small orchestra presented an elegant yet never fussy reading of this grand symphony. This was “old school” Mozart, symphonic and powerful when needed yet sweetly refined when called for. A perfect foil for the more clangorous music that comprised the first half.

Don Clark

Associate Conductor Steven Jarvi, new Assistant Conductor Aram Demirjian and composer Daniel Kellog listen to rehearsal in Helzberg Hall.

Composer Daniel Kellogg in rehearsal with Music Director Michael Stern and the Kansas City Symphony

Composer Daniel Kellogg discusses "Water Music" with Principal Percussionist Christopher McLaurin

KC Symphony rehearses with Music Director Michael Stern

Composer Daniel Kellogg discusses "Water Music" with Pianist Dan Velicer

Composer Daniel Kellogg and Music Director Michael Stern speak to the audience at the World Premiere of "Water Music"

Composer Daniel Kellogg and Music Director Michael Stern at the Inside Music Series Event: A Conversation with Composer Daniel Kellogg

Left: Associate Principal Clarinet Boris Allakhverdyan Right: Principal Clarinet Raymond Santos perform Daniel Kellogg's "Conversations" at the Inside Music Series Event, A Conversation with Composer Daniel Kellogg

Photos by Eric Williams

It then goes without saying that any concert hall worth its salt has to have a fine concert pipe organ. Many do not, notably cross state rival St Louis and Carnegie Hall in New York (it has a famous Rogers Electric organ). The Lyric Theatre, the KC Symphony’s old home, had a simple old electric organ of dubious quality.

So a fine new hall, such as Helzberg Hall, had to have a fine pipe organ. And who better to build it than Casavant Frères of Quebec, probably the finest organ builders around today. Somewhat unique in concert halls today, the organ was built along with the hall and not as a later, compromised addition.

On March 10 and 11, renowned organist James David Christie, organist for the Boston Symphony and chair and professor of organ at Oberlin Conservatory, dedicated the Casavant Organ, opus 3875 in a solo recital. Organ and music enthusiasts, including most of the organists of note in Kansas City, filled the hall to capacity on Saturday. The concert was repeated on Sunday eve.

Christie told the audience he thought op. 3875 was the best Casavant he has ever played, “and I have played many”. Celebrating the organ’s French heritage, his program was heavy on the French repertoire (but annoyingly ignoring Messiaen, Tournemire and Widor) but included works ranging from 1644 to the present day. Many of the first half’s baroque works were rarities and even little trifles, often lovely but not the high points of their era.

The organ is magnificent and is a joy to see with its funky wood covered, angled pipes. I just seemed to notice a lack of earth shattering power and an overall mellowness that is probably best for a concert hall organ, but will not overwhelm you like the best of the cathedral organs. Op. 3875 is a fleet lady, with clear and precise action, allowing the organist to trill and throw off scales like a piano. She could handle the smoothest of legato, as demonstrated by Christie’s own “Élégie” (2006, the most recent work on the program) and the lightest of skittering trills as in Italian Giuseppe Gherardeschi’s (1759-1815) amusing Rondo.

Where I wished for more power was in the major French work, the Sonata # 1 in D for Organ by Alexandre Guilmant. Christie played two movements of the work, the finale and the “Pastorale”. The simple and charming Pastorale came off best, benefiting from the aforementioned mellow qualities of the organ and an incredible Voix Humaine stop. The finale needed some more depth and clarity in the lowest registers. Same with the famous Bach Toccata and Fugue in d, which seemed a bit rushed and just lacking that wall shaking, buzzing power in the lower notes.

Still a magnificent achievement and likely one of the top 5 concert hall organs in the country. The mellowness and restrained power qualities that detracted a bit from the solo recital are ideal for an organ with orchestra. In June, we get to hear op. 3875 in the famous Saint-Saëns Organ Symphony. It was announced that Paul Jacobs, who will solo with the Saint-Saëns, will also do a recital this spring. Next season the orchestra will program Poulenc’s Organ Concerto as part of its subscription series. May we wish for a concert by the Dean of Kansas City organists John Obetz? Obetz guided Op, 3875’s birth and installation, and is synonymous with organ music in this town, so it would be fitting.

Out of the box, Op 3875 is really quite an impressive work. We await future performances with high expectations.

Don Clark

Wednesday, Mar 7, 2012

Organist Paul Jacobs on The King of Instruments

On March 29—as part of American Mavericks at Carnegie Hall—organist Paul Jacobs joins Michael Tilson Thomas and members of the San Francisco Symphony for a performance of Lou Harrison’s Concerto for Organ with Percussion Orchestra. Here—in the first of two posts—Jacobs reveals some of the minutiae of preparing for such a performance.

As an organ student at Curtis, I craved any opportunity to make music with others, so much so that adding a double-major in harpsichord ended up occupying a significant amount of my time. The primary allure wasn’t the solo repertoire, but rather the pleasure of improvising continuo lines and playing chamber music with the more widely accepted violinists, flutists, and oboists. Until this point, what Mozart called the “King of Instruments”—the organ—struck me as the loneliest of all instruments. But this impression began to fade dramatically after some simple digging. Little by little, I unearthed an extraordinarily rich repository of music, permitting an organist to interact with ensembles large and small. And ever since this personal epiphany, it’s been a passion of mine to build even a modest bridge between the insular world of the organ and the broader domain of classical music.

Paul Jacobs (Stefan Cohen)
Photo by Stefan Cohen

Today’s organists must be the most versatile of contemporary musicians, able to adapt swiftly to a largely non-standardized instrument. They must possess adequate skills to conquer these formidable beasts, performing with stylistic sensitivity some five centuries of music. In preparation for the performances with the San Francisco Symphony, I’ll arrive at each venue a day or two in advance of the first rehearsal to become familiar with the organ. Initially, it’s like sitting in the cockpit of an airplane. I must find my bearings with hundreds of buttons, keys, pedals, and other gadgets, memorizing the location of each at the the organ console (where the organist sits). I’ll also test the beauty (or ugliness) of individual stops—those numerous knobs on an organ that control a particular rank or row of pipes of similar timbre.

Then comes the fun part that occupies the bulk of my preparation—the art of registration. This intricate, personal process involves experimenting with the endless variety of tonal color available on a given instrument. Imagine a painter with a vast palette of colors that can be mixed and mingled in a thousand different ways. Such is the case with the stops on an organ; each can be combined with other stops—many or few—to create a desired effect. On modern organs, complex combinations of stops are “saved,” much like a computer file, on preset buttons known as pistons; these can be recalled immediately at the organist’s will.

Paul Jacobs (Stefan Cohen)
Photo by Stefan Cohen

While some composers have indicated precisely which registrations they desire an organist to use (the French having the most fastidious track record), typically only dynamic markings and general pitch indications are offered; much organ music contains no clues for registration. For example, in Bach’s immense output for organ, only a handful of pieces contain indications for which stops should be drawn. Mendelssohn, a virtuoso organist in his own right, remarked in the preface to his Six Organ Sonatas that, since both the number and tonal quality of stops available on any given instrument will vary—sometimes drastically—from those on a another organ, it’s preferable for the composer to offer generic suggestions for registration in the score. This yields greater artistic freedom to the organist and allows for more sensitivity to the unique character of a specific instrument. The decisions for selecting registrations are ultimately at the discretion of the organist.

Finally, I’d like to share with the reader one of the more significant hurdles I’ve experienced while playing with orchestra: not feeling immediately connected with the larger ensemble. Consider the fact that every other musician has a most intimate relationship with the sound being produced by his or her instrument. And all the players of an orchestra are arranged systematically, so as to be able to see the conductor and to hear one another with relative ease. Not so for the organist. Sometimes I must cope with a pesky delay, albeit slight, from the time keys and pedals are depressed to when the pipes actually speak, making it necessary to anticipate the conductor. What I see from the maestro doesn’t precisely align with what I feel at the organ console, which in turn doesn’t exactly correspond to when I hear the organ sound. So there’s initially a disconcerting incongruity with what I see, feel, and hear. But usually, after a few rehearsals, the idiosyncrasies of the organ become less distracting, and we all get on with the business of making music.

Taking Lou Harrison’s Organ Concerto plus a newly commissioned work by Mason Bates on tour with MTT and the San Francisco Symphony might seem to be a bit of an anomaly. Can you recall the last time a major orchestra carried an organist on tour with them? While this is certainly unusual, the fact that it’s occurring at all makes me optimistic for the future of such collaborations. I’m very excited about bringing this music before the public.

Check back next week for Paul Jacobs’s post about the experience of touring with the San Francisco Symphony for performances of Harrison’s Organ Concerto.