Dan Margolies
Co-host, The Kansas City Symphony on Classical KCAs a reporter covering breaking news and legal affairs, I want to demystify often-complex legal issues in order to expose the visible and invisible ways they affect people’s lives. I cover issues of justice and equity, and seek to ensure that significant and often under-covered developments get the attention they deserve so that KCUR listeners and readers are equipped with the knowledge they need to act as better informed citizens. Reach me by email at dan@kcur.org or on Twitter @DanMargolies.
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The Kansas City Symphony shines in performances of music by César Franck, Zoltán Koldály and Jean Sibelius. We'll hear Franck's Symphony in D minor, Koldály's "Concerto for Orchestra," and the powerful Symphony No. 2 by Jean Sibelius. Co-hosts Michael Stern and Dan Margolies add depth and color to each performance.
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This week, we'll hear an astounding array of soloists. Pinchas Zukerman and Noah Geller play Bach's "Concerto for Two Violins," and the husband and wife team of Jamie Loredo and Sharon robinson play André Previn's "Double Concerto for Violin and Orchestra." Superstar violinist Augustin Hadelich takes a solo turn in a concerto written by Thomas Adés, and local piano hero Kenny Broberg performs Sergei Rachmaninoff's challenging and lyrical second piano concerto.
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Richard Berkley served a record three terms as Kansas City's mayor, from 1979 to 1991, and was the first Jewish mayor in city history. His tenure was defined in large part by his quick response to the Hyatt Regency skywalk collapse, a disaster that killed 114 people and injured hundreds more.
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It turns out that Ludwig van Beethoven was having a bit of fun during and following the harried premiere of his third piano concerto. Co-hosts Dan Margolies and Michael Stern recount that story and sing the praises of soloist Emanuel Ax. We'll also hear Felix Mendelssohn's puffin-inspired "Hebrides Overture," Frederick Delius' beautiful and foreboding "Walk to the Paradise Garden" and the inner struggle of Peter Tchaikovsky's "Symphony No. 4."
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The premiere of Aaron Copland's piano concerto was his mother's proudest moment and — as she said — "made all those music lessons worthwhile!" We'll hear that work, plus Copland's "Three Latin-American Sketches," a "Chacony" by Henry Purcell (as arranged by Benjamin Britten), Samuel Coleridge-Taylor's suite from his ballet "Hiawatha" and Stravinsky's timeline altering "Rite of Spring."
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This week, co-hosts Michael Stern and Dan Margolies celebrate the birthday of composer Paul Hindemith. We'll hear his 'Trauermusik' featuring Pinchas Zukerman alongside the Walt Whitman-inspired oratorio 'When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd: A Requiem for those we love.' We'll also hear the combined efforts of three Russian masters in Alexander Borodin's posthumously premiered 'Overture to Prince Igor,' and a haunting 21st century work by David Hertzberg.
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Celebrate Halloween with two ghastly tone poems by Antonín Dvořák: "The Noon Witch" and "The Water Goblin." Plus, we'll see if The Kansas City Symphony can "embrace the madness" of Hector Berlioz's dark and emotional "Symphonie fantastique." We'll also hear Claude Debussy's "Danse sacree et profane" featuring harpist Katherine Siochi.
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This week, co-hosts Michael Stern and Dan Margolies celebrate the birthday of the French composer Camille Saint-Saëns. We'll hear his Piano Concerto No. 2 featuring Behzod Abduraimov, his Violin Concerto No. 2 featuring Gil Shaham and his Symphony No. 3 featuring organist Jan Kraybill. Michael and Dan also explore the life and work of Polish composer Grażyna Bacewicz and we'll hear her delightful Overture.
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This week, hear the Kansas City Symphony perform Giuseppe Verdi's expanded string quartet known as the Symphony in E minor and Percy Grainger's anthropological 'Lincolnshire Posy' featuring the Symphony brass section. We'll also hear the third symphony by American iconoclast Charles Ives, and Howard Hanson's Symphony No. 2, which inspired John Williams' score for "E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial."
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This week we'll hear the Kansas City Symphony in a recent performance of George Gershwin's perennial favorite, "Rhapsody in Blue," alongside a 21st century Saxophone Concerto written by composer and jazz pianist Billy Childs. We'll also hear a fanfare by Paul Dukás and two works from the under-appreciated Austrian composer Alexander Zemlinsky: his setting of Psalm 23 and a massive symphonic tone poem based on Hans Christian Andersen's "The Little Mermaid."