Local music

Cellist Carter Medina, a Blue Springs South High School student, speaks with Classical KC about his earliest musical inspirations and how playing the cello offers comfort from stressful high school days. Carter's mother Jennifer shares the ways she encouraged Carter's growth, and her heartfelt emotions about Carter's next steps.

Whether you're a student, parent, or a lifelong learner, Kansas City-area libraries have a wide range of resources to check out for back to school season and beyond.

Keelon Vann plays guitar and brings a unique sound to the Kansas City music scene. Love, Mae C. has performed all across the metro, and her music was featured on the second season of the Peacock sitcom “Bel Air.”

You won't hear gendered terms like "ladies" and "gents" at a new square dance in the West Bottoms. Organizers of this do-si-do scene put an inclusive spin on the traditional American art form.

This month may signal the end of summer, but Kansas City's selection of musical offerings will stay hot. To make sense of all the options, we pared the list down to simply the best.

Grab a seat in between the enormous black and white marble columns inside Kirkwood Hall at the Nelson-Atkins Museums of Art and enjoy a performance by the Grammy Award-winning Kansas City Chorale. Charles Bruffy will lead the Chorale in works by Benedict Sheehan, Rene Clausen, Ēriks Ešenvalds and others.

This week we'll hear three violin concertos from three different centuries. Geneva Lewis solos on Mozart's third concerto, Jennifer Koh takes on Missy Mazzoli's modern concerto and Augustin Hadelich shines in the only violin concerto that Jean Sibelius ever wrote. We'll also explore Hollywood's highest hill with "The Observatory" by Pulitzer Prize winner Caroline Shaw.

Dean Courtney Crappell joins Brooke Knoll for a conversation about the year ahead at the UMKC Conservatory. We'll highlight some of the many upcoming performances happening at the music school and hear several recordings featuring Conservatory students and faculty.

This year marks hip-hop's 50th anniversary, and rappers SleazyWorld Skyy and Shay Lyriq are the latest Kansas City artists making their mark on the national scene.

Violist Victor Diaz and violinist Jose Ramirez stopped by the Classical KC studio to play Colombian music and to talk about life as international music students in Kansas City.

This week, Michael Stern and Dan Margolies continue to celebrate the life and work of Leonard Bernstein. We'll hear his Suite from "On the Waterfront," "Three Meditations from Mass" and "Chichester Psalms." We'll also hear Alexander Glazunov's Violin Concerto in A minor and the rollicking "Academic Festival Overture" by Johannes Brahms.

Join co-hosts Michael Stern and Dan Margolies for a birthday celebration of Leonard Bernstein and Claude Debussy. We'll hear Bernstein's enduring Symphonic Dances from "West Side Story," and Symphony No. 2: "The Age of Anxiety" along with Debussy's "Prelude to the Afternoon of the Faun" and "En blanc et noir." Plus, we'll hear a fun work from contemporary American composer Jonathan Leshnoff called "Starburst."