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The birthday celebration for Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart continues with two of his piano concerti and his profound "Jupiter" symphony. Co-hosts Michael Stern and Dan Margolies explore Mozart's frame of mind during each compositional period and offer insights on performing these great works.

This week features highlights from two recent Memorial Day concerts by the Kansas City Symphony at Union Station. The concerts feature fanfares, patriotic marches, a sing-a-long, Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture, fireworks and a rendition of "Amazing Grace" sung by former Kansas City Mayor Sly James. We’ll also hear powerful remembrances honoring members of the Armed Services from Kansas City Symphony Music Director Michael Stern and Jim Birdsall.

Celebrate the birthday of Sergei Prokofiev by listening to the Kansas City Symphony perform three of his works: the invigorating suite from "Love of Three Oranges," his third piano concerto and an epic cantata comprised of music from his score to the Sergei Eisenstein film "Alexander Nevsky." We'll also hear Beethoven's portentous tone poem "Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage."

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.

This week we begin a celebration of May birthdays and May performances. We'll hear music by Isaac Albéniz, Malcolm Forsyth and Franz Schubert in performances by the Kansas City Symphony led by music director Michael Stern and guest conductors Pinchas Zukerman and Carlos Miguel Prieto. We'll also hear the Kansas City Symphony Chorus in a performance prepared by director Charles Bruffy.

This week, co-hosts Michael Stern and Dan Margolies celebrate the birthday of the great French composer Maurice Ravel with works from throughout his career. The Kansas City Symphony's next Music Director, Matthias Pintscher, will lead the orchestra in two works, plus we'll hear Leon Fleisher in a performance of the "Left Hand Concerto," alongside the crowd-pleasing Bolero and the Suite No. 2 from Daphnis et Chloé.

While many composers wrote multiple concertos for violin and piano, Samuel Barber wrote just one for each instrument. This week, in honor of the American composer's birthday, we'll hear those two concertos featuring violinist Philippe Quint and pianist Alessio Bax. Also, we'll hear "Scheherazade," the orchestral warhorse by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsokov, who was also born in the month of March.

Classical KC speaks with the director of The Kansas City Youth Percussion Ensemble, Kevin Clarke, plus two talented young members of the group. We'll hear performances of eclectic music that explores the large world of percussive sound.

On this special Kansas City Local Feature, we'll hear music to honor mothers and mother figures chosen by Classical KC listeners. Enjoy some lovely music and stories dedicated to your moms.

Classical KC speaks with composer Ian Coleman and poet Ruth Williams about collaboration, overcoming artistic challenges, and the similarities between writing poetry and composing music. We'll also hear a variety of music composed by Coleman.