performing arts

Bryson Bruce, a graduate of Lee's Summit West High School and the University of Missouri, grew up performing in plays and musicals around the Kansas City area. Now he's a touring cast member in one of the most popular musicals of our time: "Hamilton."

Christina Anderson's play follows a Black family's journey through the years after desegregating the public pool in their fictional Kansas town. The show will tour 10 Kansas City community centers and libraries, after completing a run at Kansas City Repertory Theatre.

Carnegie Hall is a name that is world-renowned and for a few Kansas City ensembles, they have the rare opportunity to step onto that stage themselves. Learn about the groups that will be headed to New York to perform there this upcoming season.

World-touring jazz trumpeter Hermon Mehari is back in Kansas City to perform music from his new album "ASMARA," inspired by his family's Eritrean roots, at the Folly Theater.

A scheduling snafu for organist Jan Kraybill started an unique tradition — a Super Bowl Sunday organ concert — that's lasted 24 years.

There aren't many saxophone concertos that exist, let alone one written for a Black musician, by a Black composer, and commissioned by a group of major orchestras. This month, saxophonist Steven Banks will perform the world premiere of Billy Childs' new saxophone concerto with the Kansas City Symphony.

Bach Aria Soloists — Kansas City's all-star, all female chamber ensemble — is releasing a brand new album. Classical KC welcomes founder, artistic director and violinist Elizabeth Suh Lane and soprano Sarah Tannehill Anderson to talk about the new release and what they're working on next. We'll hear selections from the album including music from Bach, Handel and a new work from contemporary British composer Cecilia McDowall.

Our January birthday celebration of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart concludes with a hearing of his "Divertimento in D" and a recent performance of his "Concerto for Clarinet" featuring Kansas City Symphony principal clarinet player Raymond Santos. Co-hosts Michael Stern and Dan Margolies will also celebrate the January birthdays of composers Francis Poulenc and Witold Lutoslawski.

Classical KC's Brooke Knoll welcomes Jim Murray and Andrea Johnson from the Northland Symphony Orchestra. We'll learn about the group's origins, mission to keep concerts free and educational efforts. We'll hear performances of music by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Édouard Lalo and Camille Saint-Saëns.

Join co-hosts Michael Stern and Dan Margolies as they continue a birthday month celebration of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart paired with a celebration of composers also born in January: Josef Suk and Édouard Lalo. We'll hear the 17th and 20th piano concertos of Mozart, Suk's "Scherzo Fantastique," and Lalo's "Concerto in D Minor for Cello and Orchestra."

Kansas City’s 5-time bluegrass ‘Guitarist of the Year,’ Greg Blake, is in demand around the country and abroad. In 2022, the International Bluegrass Music Association nominated him for ‘Male Vocalist of the Year.’

Classical KC presents a recent Harriman-Jewell Series Discovery Concert performance at the Folly Theater from pianist, composer and chess champion Harmony Zhu. We'll hear works by Chopin, Rachmaninoff, Kapustin and Debussy followed by a post-concert audience question and answer session led by Harriman-Jewell Series director Clark Morris.