A “Resurrection” in Kansas City
Stern, who has been music director here since 2004, also seems to be in the right place at the right time. His pre-concert remarks before the Mahler were at once entertaining and helpful without a speck of patronizing. He gave a big clear beat on the podium and displayed an earnest sense of drama by observing the five-minute silence Mahler proscribed between the first and second movements. Stern seems genuine and authentic, Midwestern values through and through. The orchestra, despite some muddled playing in spots, rose admirably to the occasion.
Residents of the Show Me state can be skeptical. But you never would have known it from the ovation that greeted the climax of the Mahler Second. In the back row of the center mezzanine, one couple in their twenties jumped to their feet and started cheering. So, albeit a little more slowly, did a pair of septuagenarians nearby. Two of the four single women in front of them were in tears.
Nothing is ever quite so simple as it seems in a musical. But at least for as long as the cheering continued, the fanciful line from the musical Oklahoma! seemed altogether apt: “Everything’s up to date in Kansas City.”
– Steven Winn
Page 2 of 2 | Previous page
Mike:
February 13th, 2012 at 11:51 am
The Lyric Theater was only 1600 seats, not 3000. Where are you getting this information?
Fred Sellers:
February 13th, 2012 at 12:15 pm
Great article. Thanks so much. One correction, however: Mayor Kay Barnes was not the force behind the Kauffman Center, and neither was the city. The center was built with private funding, led by Julia Irene Kauffman. Ms Kauffman was carrying out the dream of her late mother Muriel Kauffman and drawing on the financial resources of her late father Ewing Kauffman, founder of the Kauffman Foundation and also founder/long-time owner of the Kansas City Royals baseball team. The city contributed to the project by building the adjacent parking garage.
Steven Winn:
February 14th, 2012 at 8:24 am
Fred : Glad you liked the post. About Kay Barnes, I didn’t say, or mean to, that Kay Barnes was the force behind the Kauffman Center. She was a leading-edge force in the downtown arts renaissance. Full credit goes, as you say, to the private funders and one of the country’s great civic-minded families for the Kauffman Center
Mike — Right your are about the Lyic’s seating capacity during the KC Symphony’s tenure there: 1600.
Mark Clague:
March 17th, 2012 at 11:51 am
Nice post Steven — I was in KC a bit before the Kauffman Center opened and the excitement was palpable. Peter Witte, dean of the music conservatory, will be at the U-M Orchestra Summit next week and I’m sure we’ll hear more about it.