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William Walton created music for film adaptations of Shakespeare plays and Hector Berlioz wrote one opera inspired by Shakespeare. We’ll hear music from each in today’s show.
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This week we'll hear Bach's Fantasia and Fugue in C minor as arranged by Edward Elgar. The rest of the program is Gustav Mahler's gargantuan Symphony No. 2, known as "The Resurrection." Mezzo-soprano Kelley O'Connor shares what excites and scares her about performing the work. And as always, co-hosts Michael Stern and Dan Margolies offer insightful background on each composer and composition.
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When you think about the guitar, your favorite rock band or a singer-songwriter might come to mind, but classical guitar rocks just as hard as its more mainstream counterparts. April is International Guitar Month: celebrate by learning more about Kansas City’s classical guitar scene.
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This month marks the onset of the most rewarding season for music under the stars, and groove-rock band 311 is set to oblige Kansas City audiences outdoors. Waxahatchee, Kane Brown and others will entertain this April’s indoor listeners.
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Celebrate the 292nd birthday of Franz Joseph Haydn by hearing the Kansas City Symphony perform three of the prolific composer's works. We'll also hear Nikolai Rimsky-Korsokov's rousing "Russian Easter Festival Overture" and the first of Sergei Rachmaninoff's four genre-defining piano concertos.
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It’s Easter weekend and an appropriate time to feature some of the wonderful music inspired by this ancient celebration. It’s even better when the music is by two of the greatest composers in history.
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Many people who work and play in the Crossroads Arts District are concerned a downtown baseball stadium would close local businesses and disrupt the neighborhood's character. Jackson County residents will vote April 2 on whether to extend a 3/8th-cent sales tax to fund a new ballpark there.
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For more than 10 years, Ensemble Ibérica has brought the musical landscape of southwestern Europe and beyond to Kansas City.
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Waxahatchee — also known as the musician Katie Crutchfield — got sober, moved to Kansas City and hit indie rock stardom with her last album. Now she's back with "Tigers Blood." She spoke with KCUR about the writing process, managing stage fright and her favorite burnt ends.
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Throughout classical music history, women composers have been creating right along with the men, but they weren’t given the flowers they were due. In honor of women’s history month, we’re sharing a program of music from some of our favorite women and female-identifying composers, including listener requests.
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This week we'll hear the Kansas City Symphony perform Franz Joseph Haydn's Symphony No. 102 and Leonard Bernstein's "Serenade," a work composed for Isaac Stern, the legendary violinist and father of co-host Michael Stern. Also, we'll hear a recent performance of Béla Bartók's "Concerto for Orchestra."
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We’ve just passed the official start of Spring, so we have a program of music inspired by the season. Some had literary inspirations, some are prayers for spring, and others a celebration of new life after winter. All capture the beauty of the season in vivid tone-painting.