What does Steven Jarvi have in store this - Kansas City Symphony ...

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As the Kansas City Symphony’s assistant conductor, Steven Jarvi takes on some unusual assignments. Most people have seen him lead the orchestra at pops concerts or at the family concerts. However, the more challenging work is with the chamber series, which he initiated. Steven Jarvi gives a lot of thought to how he puts together programs. You can’t just throw some music on a program and expect the audience to pay attention. Well, maybe some of the rock and roll radio stations can get away with that style of programming, but audiences at the Symphony expect better. Steven Jarvi will lead the orchestra in two series during December. We asked what he was thinking about as he put the two programs together. Steven Jarvi Takes the Lead Kansas City Symphony Alliance: What are the two programs you are conducting this month? Steven Jarvi: First, the Kansas City Symphony Chamber Players which will perform An Old World Holiday on December 10 & 11. Then, the Symphony’s annual Christmas program for families which is an all-new production we’re calling the Symphony’s Christmas Festival. That will take place on December 17, 18, and 19. KCSA: Let’s start with An Old World Holiday. What should we look forward to? Steven: We’ll take a look at how people celebrated Christmas with music from the 15th Century all the way to the present. A German carol, Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming will open the program (editor’s note: the Song of Solomon, 2:1 “I am a Rose of Sharon, a lily of the valleys” was inspiration for the carol). Then, we’ll move to the 18th Century with Arcangelo Corelli’s Christmas Concerto (Concerto Grosso in G minor for strings and continuo). Then, on to Handel’s Organ Concerto, opus 4. KCSA: Who will be the organist? Steven: Jan Kraybill is the principal musician at the Community of Christ auditorium and temple in Independence. She is a tremendous and enthusiastic musician so we look forward to hearing her performance. KCSA: Then what? Steven: We’ll move to the 19th Century with some of the finest music evocative of Christmas. We’ll perform Franz Liszt’s Angelus which is a lush piece of music, ideally suited to the venue where we’re performing. KCSA: Where will that be? Steven: We will be at Visitation Church, located just south of the Plaza. Sound swirls around you -- almost like a warm hug. I enjoy performances there. The sound is fantastic! KCSA: Back to the program. What else will be performed on An Old World Holiday? Kansas City Symphony Alliance Newsletter December, 2010 Page 2
Steven: The St. Paul Suite by Gustav Holst, which will remind you of the traditional Christmas melody, Greensleeves. This is just a fantastic piece. We’ll close with a modern composition, Leroy Anderson’s Suite of Carols. I’m really looking forward to it! KCSA: Now, let’s take a look at what you’ve planned for us with the Symphony’s Christmas Festival. Steven: We wanted to do something different this year -- something in anticipation of the new Helzberg Hall in the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, which will be our home beginning next season. We wanted to focus on us, the Kansas City Symphony, with giant music. This will be a huge musical showcase. KCSA: So, no guests? Just the orchestra? Steven: Certainly not! We will be joined by the Kansas City Symphony Chorus plus the Allegro Children’s Choir, and the Rezound! community handbell ensemble. The Rezound ensemble is made up of fanatics about handbells. They are fantastic. KCSA: So, what’s the program? Steven: We open with two big fanfare overtures. First, Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro overture which will lead directly into Joy to the World. From there, we will go to a choral piece by Franz Biebl (a German composer who spent part of his life in the U. S.). The Allegro Children’s Choir will be in the balcony singing out into the theater. KCSA: You’ll really keep things moving! Steven: Definitely. We’ll bring in the Kansas City Brass Quintet and then a surprise entrance by the Rezound ensemble. KCSA: Of course, it’s not so much a surprise now that we know they’re coming. Steven: You’ll have to come to the concert to see how they do it. The Kansas City Symphony Chorus will come in, then the orchestra will perform music from the film It’s A Wonderful Life, and the Polar Express. KCSA: And, that ends the concert? Steven: Of course not. That’s just intermission. KCSA: Then, what will you come up with? Steven: Radio personality Dick Wilson will read the Night Before Christmas, and there will be a sing-along with Santa. The orchestra will then perform the newest, most florid Hollywood lush arrangements of Christmas music that I could find. Concerts with a big orchestral sound were what hooked me on classical music. I grew up in Detroit and remember attending performances of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker, and the big orchestral concerts. I’ve never forgotten those. They were big; powerful. Those concerts were packed full of big, lush music. Besides, those arrangements are a perfect way to show off the orchestra. I know Kansas City will really like this Christmas show! The Kansas City Symphony Chamber Players will perform An Old World Holiday on Friday, December 12, and Saturday, December 13 at 8 PM both nights at the Visitation Church, located at 5141 Main Street. If you use an internet map program, enter zip code 64113 to locate the church. The Kansas City Symphony orchestra, with the Kansas City Symphony Chorus, the Allegro Children’s Choir, the Rezound community handbell ensemble, and the Kansas City Brass Quintet will perform the Christmas Festival. There will be four performances: evening performances on Friday, December 17 and Saturday, December 18 at 7:30 PM both nights; then matinee performances on Saturday, December 18 and Sunday, December 19 at 2 PM both afternoons. All Christmas Festival performances will be at the Lyric Theatre located at 11th & Central in downtown Kansas City. Tickets are available from the Kansas City Symphony box office by calling 816/471-0400, by visiting the box office at 17th & Wyandotte, or at the Symphony’s web site www. kcsymphony.org Kansas City Symphony Alliance Newsletter December, 2010 Page 3
Page 1: December, 2010 Edition What does St
Page 5 and 6: work a Private Party or simply help
Page 7 and 8: Tracey Reports on Showhouse Adverti
Page 9 and 10: Showhouse Treasurer Peggy Jacobson

What does Steven Jarvi have in store this - Kansas City Symphony ...

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