Atonement Lutheran Church
9948 Metcalf

• Bring your family and friends to hear some of the season’s most wonderful music.  You’ll hear something traditional, something meaningful and something fun!  This is a concert event the whole family will enjoy.  Come ready to hear the Kansas City Civic Orchestra with the Atonement Lutheran Chorus (Rick Deasley, music director) perform your favorite SOUNDS OF THE SEASON!

KCCO and Atonement Lutheran Church will host a food drive to benefit Harvesters. We invite you to bring a non-perishable food item and help stamp out hunger in Kansas City this holiday season.

Cost: FREE, no tickets required.

Encore concert at John Knox Village

The Pavilion at John Knox Village
520 NW Murray Road

• Bring your family and friends to hear some of the season’s most wonderful music.  You’ll hear something traditional, something meaningful and something fun!  This is a concert event the whole family will enjoy.  Concerts are always FREE, so come ready to hear the Kansas City Civic Orchestra perform your favorite SOUNDS OF THE SEASON!

Cost: FREE, no tickets required.

Financial assistance for this project has been provided by the Missouri Arts Council, a state agency.

We have five exciting concerts planned for this year:

The Kansas City Civic Orchestra will hold auditions for the 2010-2011 season at the end of August. We are currently auditioning for principle oboe and strings.

Please see below for times, dates and audition information.

Principal oboe auditions (click for PDF flier)

Monday, August 30, 2010
Beginning at 5 p.m.
1st Lutheran Church of Prairie Village
6400 State Line Road

All auditions will be blind and the winner will be announced the same evening.

Candidate will be asked to play a movement from a concerto and play the following excerpts:

• Brahms Variations on a Theme by Haydn: Chorale and Var. III (click here for music*)
• Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade: Mvt. 3: pick up to Letter A – 8 after A (click here for music)
• Ravel: Le Tombeau de Couperin: PRELUDE: Opening – Reh. 2 & Reh. 8 – Reh. 9 (click here for music)

*All http sites are links to public domain sheet music that can be copied into a browser

Sight reading will be at the committee’s discretion.

String auditions (click for PDF flier)

Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Beginning at 5 p.m.
1st Lutheran Church of Prairie Village, 6400 State Line Road

Auditions will be held for:

• Violin I and II
• Viola
• Cello
• String Bass

Those auditioning may be asked to be placed on the KCCO’s Sub-Musician list.

Candidates will be asked to play a movement from a concerto and sight reading excerpt.

To audition

Musicians of the Kansas City Civic Orchestra are volunteer. Rehearsals take place one evening a week (Tuesday evenings, 7:30 – 9:30pm) and begin Tuesday, August 31, 2010.

Please contact Chris Kelts, music director and conductor, at 314-255-6604 or e-mail cmkelts@yahoo.com.

Or complete this form:

In 1959, Hugo Vianello helped establish a community-based orchestra calling on musicians from all walks of life to form the Kansas City Civic Orchestra. The orchestra was created as an artistic venue for both amateur and professional instrumentalists to expand their dedication to music. The longstanding tradition of offering classics has been a defining characteristic of the civic orchestra. Listeners have been enjoying the talents of many featured soloist as well as the orchestra’s extensive repertoire for years.

For more than 50 years this tradition has continued, and the Kansas City Civic Orchestra continues to be one of the premier community orchestras in the Kansas City Area. As we reflect on the rich history of the Kansas City Civic Orchestra, we look forward to the wonderful music the next 50 years will bring!

 

Now in his third year as music director/conductor with the Kansas City Civic Orchestra, Christopher Kelts is preparing to embark on the orchestra’s 52nd season.

Through his programming, Mr. Kelts has expanded the audience base for the KC Civic Orchestra. He has also expanded the concert season to feature extra “classical” series concerts, an “Encore” holiday concert and educational outreach. The Civic Orchestra, under the baton of Christopher Kelts, invites soloists from all over the United States: from local talent such as guitarist Doug Neidt to internationally acclaimed violinist Mark O’Connor.

In addition to the Kansas City Civic Orchestra, Mr. Kelts has been appointed Director of Orchestras at Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas. He is also co-artistic director and conductor for the new Springfield (MO) based The Opus 6 Project: a chamber group of musicians devoted to baroque performance practices and the Op. 6 works of Corelli and Handel.

A native of St. Louis, Mr. Kelts has had many opportunities to perform in his home city. He has been the recipient of the “Arts for Life” Award for his musical direction in local theatre, served as guest conductor for the St. Louis Suburban Honors Orchestra and clinician to to many St. Louis School Districts. Kelts has also served as a guest clinician for the Hickman Mills Honors Orchestra (Kansas City) in addition to giving many clinics to local and state wide middle and high schools. He has also served as an adjudicator for the American String Teacher’s Association (ASTA).

Other conducting engagements have included: assistant conductor of the Kansas City Ballet, Chamber Orchestra of the Ozarks and the Urban Cultural Project (Kansas City).

Mr. Kelts completed his formal conducting training at Illinois State University and University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Dance. His teachers have included Glenn Block, Robert Olson and Paul Vermel. While in his studies at UMKC Conservatory, Chris served as the assistant conductor for the Conservatory Symphony and Chamber Orchestra. He maintained the position as Opera conductor of many of the Conservatory’s opera productions. Mr. Kelts has conducted stage productions as: Le nozze di Figaro, Il Ritorno di Ulisses in Patria, Susannah, Pirates of Penzance, Hansel und Gretel, Guilio Cesare, Suor Angelica, Gianni Schicchi and recently premiered Tonatzin. Chris has worked with stage directors, Linda Ade Brand, Marciem Bazell and Richard Gammon.

Not limited to his studies in orchestral conducting, Mr. Kelts formally trained as a violist where he studied at Missouri State University and Illinois State University. Mr. Kelts has ample symphonic experience as a violist. Recent positions have included; Springfield (MO) Symphony Orchestra, Peoria Symphony, Opera of Illinois Orchestra and the Fort Smith Symphony Orchestra. His teachers have included Amy Muchnick, Kate Hamilton and Karen Tuttle.

For over nine years, Chris has served on the summer faculty for Missouri State University’s String Institute (String Fling) and is conductor for Stringendo-Heartland’s summer Chamber Music festival. Christopher Kelts is a member of the Conductor’s Guild.

The Kansas City Civic Orchestra is a community-based orchestra in the Kansas City metropolitan area. For more than 50 years, our mission has been to bring high quality, free concerts to the local community. Our all-volunteer orchestra is comprised of amateur and professional musicians with one thing in common – a love for music!

With more than 80 members of the orchestra, we continue to grow and expand our repertoire. Each season we offer a wide array of music and we are proud to be a part of the diverse music community in Kansas City.

As a not-for-profit organization, it is our goal that concerts remain free. We operate through the generous support of area foundations, companies and our dedicated listeners. Click here to learn more about you can support the Kansas City Civic Orchestra.

Listen to Carmina Burana (Orff)

Listen to Carmen Suite 2 (Bizet)

Kansas City based musician Brett Gibson received a rousing standing ovation and encore performance for his rendition of Piazzolla’s Concerto when he made his debut with the Kansas City Civic Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Andy Anderson.

Brett was born in Auckland, New Zealand but now makes his home in the Kansas City area of the United States where he has established himself as one of the leading accordion specialists in the Celtic music scene having performed several seasons with The Elders, Gabriels Gate and is a regular musician with Eddie Delahunt. Brett began playing the accordion at age seven and at the age of 12 won his first New Zealand championship for that age category and continued to seriously perform and compete into his late teens as a soloist and with duet, trio, quartet, ensemble and orchestra. He went on to tour overseas with both the Air New Zealand Accordion Orchestra and also the UMKC Accordion Orchestra.

The Kansas City Civic Orchestra focuses on community enrichment and interaction, drawing players from all walks of life and bringing music to people of all ages and interests, the Kansas City Civic Symphony’s concert on Saturday was the last in the 48th season.

The Civic Opera Theater of Kansas City and the Kansas City Civic Orchestra presented a fine production of the rarely performed opera “Edgar” by Italian composer Giacomo Puccini at the Folly Theater last weekend.

“Edgar” was Puccini’s second opera, written for Milan’s Teatro alla Scala in 1889. While it does not approach the name recognition of the composer’s more mature works (”Madama Butterfly,” “La Bohème” and “Tosca), “Edgar” contains its fair share of voluptuous melodies.

The semi-staged production featured an onstage orchestra partially hidden from view by sets, a small chorus veiled in monks’ robes, and five principal singers. The placement of the orchestra resulted in a better balance between voices and instruments than has been the case in previous productions employing the Folly pit.

The opera was cast well, particularly with regard to the women’s roles. Megan King portrayed the pure-hearted shepherdess Fidelia, and sang splendidly with her lovely, light soprano voice.

Stacey Stofferahn Uthe was the standout singer in the role of the lusty and wild Tigrane. The darker coloring made a fine contrast with King’s, and her rapid passages were nicely delivered. In her opening piece, though, the low range did not project well.

Bruce Burstert as Frank and Robert Grady in the title role of Edgar generally sang well and with expression. Grady sang with a tight upper range that was not always attractive in Act I, but improved markedly in later acts.

Opera librettos can be convoluted, but that of “Edgar” was downright silly at times, with plot twists and references that make you want to jump up and say “huh?” The music was wonderful, though, and included a welcome number of marvelous orchestral interludes, played with passion by the Civic Orchestra under the direction of Andy Anderson.

The Civic Opera and Orchestra are to be commended for taking a chance on a little known work by a major composer and turning into a wonderful evening of summer opera.

Posted Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2005
By PAUL HORSLEY
The Kansas City Star

In opera, you can hear only so many “La Bohèmes” before you are ready to move on to fresh fare.

On Sunday at the Folly Theater, I found myself fascinated and more than a little amused by Puccini’s early opera “Edgar,” in a shoestring production by the Civic Opera Theater of Kansas City.

Despite being the composer’s first completed opera, it is hardly a primitive piece: It predates his “Manon Lescaut” by only four years and “Bohème” by just seven. It contains the Debussian parallel chords and Wagnerian orchestration of the later works, not to mention the ferocious choral climaxes. Its voluptuous vocalism is, if anything, refreshingly unfettered compared to the more mannered restraint of the later works.

The Civic Opera’s “Edgar” won the heart with remarkable solo singing and an inventive stage setup that might prove revelatory for future small-scale opera productions here.

The orchestra was upstage, largely hidden by the stage set — designer Laura Burkhart’s lowlying representation of a wall, a set of glass doors and so forth — and a choir of monks.

This allowed the leads to sing from the stage extension, which thrust them into the audience’s front-and-center view. Three video monitors allowed them to follow conductor Andy Anderson, who was well behind them.

The setup somehow filled the hall with amazingly rich sound. From the balcony, I heard a blend between soloist and orchestra that was as fine as you get in any theater in Kansas City.

Granted, the performance remained earthbound by marginal choral males and unpredictable orchestral playing by the Kansas City Civic Orchestra. And the supertitles were so faint as to be unreadable, leaving us to rely on our college Italian.

But none of this obscured the fine solo performances. Bruce Burstert as the hotheaded Frank sang with a warm, mellow sound. Robert Grady in the title role belted out the high notes, at least, with precision, and commanded the part despite some lack of vocal support, which might explain why his voice was failing by Act 3. Phil Eatherton showed off a highly polished voice in the small role of Gualtiero.

Stacey Stofferahn Uthe’s focused, penetrating voice made her ideal for the torchy Gypsy

Tigrana. Act 3 belonged to Megan King as Fidelia, which she inhabited with a sparkling, textured soprano and a mature dramatic grasp.

The Civic Opera continues to take risks and to score marginal successes despite its use of volunteer performers. For a few dollars more, the company could easily pass into the ranks of truly significant local arts groups.