Once at KCRep
Take this sinking boat and point it home
We’ve still got time
Raise your hopeful voice, you had a choice
You’ve made it now
Could the lyrics of the Oscar-winning song Falling Slowly from the Irish musical Once be more apropos this year?
From September 3 through 22, the romantic musical tells the story of two lonely people who find music and love in the streets of Dublin. Music and lyrics are by Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová and the book is by Enda Walsh. Once is directed by KCRep’s own Stuart Carden.
These star-crossed lovers—he had a painful breakup with a girl who cheated on him and moved to London; she has a husband in Czechoslovakia and a toddler at home—have feelings for each other. But life is messy. And they have choices to make. . .
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Matthias Pintscher Debuts with the Kansas City Symphony Orchestra
From September 13 through 15, Matthias Pintscher, new music director of the Kansas City Symphony, makes his dramatic debut with Stravinsky’s ballet The Firebird, cello virtuosa Alisa Weilerstein’s styling of Antonin Dvořák’s Concerto in B Minor for Cello and Orchestra, and contemporary composer Unsuk Chin’s subito con forza.
Stravinsky’s Firebird from 1910 shocked audiences with its audacious and iridescent music scored to choreographer Serge Diaghilev’s ballet. It’s a rare treat to hear the entire score.
Unsuk Chin, a South Korean native who now lives in Berlin, was commissioned to write a brief piece celebrating Beethoven’s 250th birthday. Her work subito con forza (suddenly with force) is the result, combining the classical master’s recurring musical themes and patterns.
Cellist Alisa Weilerstein, a MacArthur genius award recipient, brings out the gorgeous melodies in Dvořák’s beloved Cello Concerto.
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Why Prairie Matters: New Relevancies of a Vanishing Landscape
On September 18, pack a lunch and come to the Helzberg Auditorium of the Kansas City Library’s Central branch from noon to 1 p.m. for the newest edition of Science Matters Lunch & Learn, co-sponsored with the Linda Hall Library. You can also eat your lunch at your desk—wherever you are—and live stream the lecture on the libraries’ Facebook pages.
Says Carol Davit, executive director of the Missouri Prairie Foundation (MPF) and presenter of this lecture, “I consider myself fortunate to help conserve some of the most biologically rich habitat on earth and to work with the many people in the MPF and Grow Native! community who are so passionate about prairie conservation and native plants.”
Missouri was once covered with more than 15 million acres of tallgrass prairie, and prairie soils made the state into the agricultural powerhouse that it is today. Yet now, Missouri’s prairie legacy is reduced to fewer than 45,000 scattered, unplowed acres, but these old-growth remnants are biodiversity reservoirs and hold keys to sustainable future land use to benefit all Missourians.
In a time of climate change, it makes sense to rediscover the plants and ecosystems that fare best in our terroir. The MPF supports grassland and wildlife-friendly land-use policies and state, regional, and national conservation initiatives. Come and find out more.
Click here for more information and to register.
Itzhak Perlman in Concert with the Harriman-Jewell Series
“I know that I can describe certain sounds with color. It’s not music—it’s notes, it’s single sounds,” says Itzhak Perlman, the 16-time Grammy-winning violinist. “So, if I hear a particular sound on a particular string on the violin, I could associate that sound with color. It’s not like I play a piece and I see sparkling blue things.”
While he has championed classical music, Perlman channels more of Fiddler on the Roof than Mozart for this unique concert experience.
On September 29, Perlman comes to Kansas City’s Kauffman Center with a joyful and uplifting program entitled In the Fiddler’s House. Like Paul Simon incorporating the rhythms and melodies of Africa into his now-classic Graceland album, Perlman breathes new life into klezmer music, the spirited instrumental musical tradition of Ashkenazi Jews in central Europe, as well as the Romani people.
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