“Brilliance”
The Forty-Eighth Season
“Spark of Genius”
A program specially assembled by Dmitri and Hyeyeon for you, our Kansas City audience. Joining them on stage will be the winner of the Queen Elisabeth Competition violinist Stella Chen, the multi-award winning violinist Sean Lee, the “most impressive” violist Matthew Lipman, and the spectacular violist Milena Pájaro-van de Stadt. In these hands, our International Chamber Music series will close with the fiery genius of Felix Mendelssohn in his String Quintet in B-flat Major. A true essence of “Brilliance!”
Chanticleer
The GRAMMY Award-winning vocal ensemble Chanticleer has been hailed as “the world’s reigning male chorus” by The New Yorker, and is known around the world as “an orchestra of voices” for its wide-ranging repertoire and dazzling virtuosity. They will bring our forty-eighth season to a brilliant close with “Music for a Hidden Chapel” – a moving program marking the 400th anniversary of the death of William Byrd.
PAST EVENT: Quicksilver
“Revered like rock stars within the early music scene” (The New York Times), the group brings together today’s top North American historically-informed performers. Appearing for the first time in Kansas City, their program titled “The (Very) First Viennese School” will showcase their “drop-dead gorgeous” (Early Music America) and “irresistible” (Fanfare) music-making.
PAST EVENT: Le Consort
One of the most exciting young early music groups today, Le Consort has been described by Diapason as “Brilliant throughout, daring, sensual” while the BBC Music Magazine asserts them to be “Ravishing, exhilarating and uniquely beautiful.” The four musicians will take us on an entrancing tour de force through Europe of the Baroque era.
PAST EVENT: Jeremy Denk, Master Pianist
Described as an “artist you want to hear no matter what he performs” (The New York Times), Jeremy Denk brings to Kansas City a monographic program featuring the complete Six Partitas for Keyboard by Johann Sebastian Bach.
PAST EVENT: Apollon Musagète Quartet
The winners of the prestigious ARD Competition and one of the most charismatic and creative ensembles on the international music scene today will perform in Kansas City for the first time. Theirs is an enthralling program featuring the works of Dvořák and Brahms, as well as the charming and poignant Crisantemi by the operatic master Giacomo Puccini.
PAST EVENT: “Extraordinary Imaginations” | Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center on Tour
The nation’s premier chamber music organization — the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center — visits us in January. The artists of the Society will share a fun and bold program exploring the transformational time of the early 20th century, an era of tireless innovation and limitless imagination.
PAST EVENT: Alessio Bax & Lucille Chung, Master Pianists
The real-life marriage of concert pianists Alessio Bax and Lucille Chung, with their abundant artistic chemistry, passion, and stunning virtuosity, has led to one of the most appealing and impressive piano duos of our time. They will share with us a French-themed program, with music by Debussy, Ravel and Poulenc, all culminating in a fiery tango-world of Astor Piazzolla.
PAST EVENT: Sir András Schiff, Master Pianist
“One of the most penetratingly serious masters of the keyboard before the public today” (Boston Globe), Sir András Schiff makes a triumphant return to Kansas City. Sir András will perform a program announced directly from the stage – a unique and immediate experience inspired by the moment!
PAST EVENT: Quartetto di Cremona
Praised for their “splendid balance, abundant colour, and a relaxed mastery of all musical elements” (The Strad), the imaginative Quartetto di Cremona makes their Kansas City debut days away from their first Carnegie Hall appearance. They will delight us with works by Beethoven and Ravel, as well as the mercurial Italian Serenade by Hugo Wolf.
PAST EVENT: VOCES8
The 2023 GRAMMY nominees, described as the “Rolls-Royce of British acapella groups” (The Arts Desk), visit us with a program distilling the most moving repertoire for voices from the Renaissance to present day.
PAST EVENT: “New Horizons”
A fascinating journey towards the “new horizons” of chamber music, featuring a new work co-commissioned by The Friends by David Serkin Ludwig, as well as other works by Chen Yi, Valerie Coleman, Reena Esmail, Osvaldo Golijov, and Ellen Taafe Zwilich.
PAST EVENT: Aizuri Quartet
The winners of the coveted Cleveland Quartet Award and the M-Prize — Aizuri Quartet — make their Kansas City debut in a unique program blending the old and the new. In their program, works by Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel,, Felix Mendelssohn, Joseph Haydn and Béla Bartók.