Christy L'Esperance
Community Engagement Specialist & On-Air Host, Classical KCKansas City native Christy L’Esperance (pronounced “LESS-per-ahns") started listening to classical music on the Snoopy radio she got for her 4th birthday. Today, as Classical KC’s Community Engagement Specialist and On-Air Host, she enjoys classical music through much better speakers.
The years between were filled with the adventures of earning a degree in piano performance and pedagogy, working as a classical announcer for Iowa Public Radio and as a classical announcer/producer for Northern Public Radio in Illinois, teaching piano and music composition, performing frequently as an accompanist, and raising a ginormous family with her husband.
You can reach Christy at clesperance@ClassicalKC.org. She would love to hear about the ways you keep music in your life.
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In a fusion of art, live music and narration, works by ground-breaking female artists and composers throughout history will weave together for one fierce evening. Classical KC's Christy L'Esperance speaks with Bach Aria Soloists' Elizabeth Suh Lane and art curator Aimee Marceau DeGalan about the collaborative event. -
This weekend, Opus 76 will join the Kansas City Symphony and Kansas City Ballet for a performance that challenges preconceived notions about the artform — and involves a fair number of cacti.
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After the death of her son, Tyler Clementi, Jane Clementi founded an organization dedicated to addressing teen bullying and suicide. Through that work, a song cycle was created in Tyler's honor. Hear Christy L'Esperance's conversation with Anthony Edwards, Music Director at All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church, about this choral tribute.
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This week on the Kansas City Local Feature, we get to know Classical KC's new Community Engagement Specialist and On-Air Host, Christy L'Esperance. We'll learn about her background as a pianist, her large family, and enjoy her quirky sense of humor. Christy has curated a varied program of music that includes works by Maurice Ravel, Anna Clyne, Henry Purcell and Sergei Prokofiev.
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Nicholas Dold, founder of Kansas City Young Chamber Musicians, is adding "chamber music kid" to the typical "band kid" and "orchestra kid" identities. Classical KC's Christy L'Esperance spoke with teenaged members of a chamber trio about music, emotions, and small group collaboration.
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With their "Voices of the Met" concert, Kansas City's Mid-America Performing Arts Alliance will feature singers with local ties, who regularly perform at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. MAPAA Co-founder Jesse Henkensiefken and Met soprano Lindsay Ohse speak with Classical KC's Christy L'Esperance about this musical reunion. We'll hear works by Jules Massenet, Sergei Taneyev, Jacques Offenbach and even a little Mozart on ukulele.
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Renowned pianist Anne-Marie McDermott plays over 100 concerts a year, has over 50 concerti in her repertoire and takes on mammoth recording projects. However, her personal and musical life has not been without struggles, including the death of a parent when Anne-Marie was a teenager. Classical KC's Christy L'Esperance speaks with the pianist about finding her way and finding her voice.
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It can be daunting for children approaching a classical concert or opera for the first time. Lyric Opera of Kansas City's newest production — 'Listen, Wilhemina!' — aims to make kids feel at home in the audience.
