Mark Bugnaski / Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra
History will be made at 7 pm on Friday, April 30 when the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra celebrates its 100th season with the premiere of a new piano concerto by Michael Brown with the composer at the keyboard. Brown has appeared multiple times at the Gilmore Keyboard Festival, which co-commissioned the work with the NFM Leopoldinum Orchestra in Poland. Brown, Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra music director Julian Kuerti, and executive director of The Gilmore Pierre van der Westhuizen join Cara Lieurance for a preview.
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Rachel Miller and the KSO in rehearsal.
Credit Matthew Schweppe / Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra
The concert, which was recorded under COVID-19 guidelines at Comstock High School Auditorium, opens with an opera overture by the Chevalier de Saint-Georges, the son of a French nobleman and a Senegalese slave who became an accomplished violinist, composer, swordsman and military leader in 18th century France. Rachel Miller, the KSO s principal harpist since 2018, is featured in Debussy s
Danses sacrée et profane. She says it is one of the best-known pieces in the harp repertoire, and a challenging one. Daniel Brier highlights the connections between Debussy s sound-world and that of Wagner s
Kalamazoo Civic Theatre Ushers In Virtual Series of Plays
The show must go on. Kalamazoo Civic Theatre will stage a series of productions that will be performed live and streamed to your living room.
You know your favorite bartender or server has missed you, and musicians are craving an audience to play for, but don t forget the thespians. Actors live for the moment and live theatre. Yes, countless hours of rehearsal and preparation go into a production, but each performance is unique. To quote Hamlet, the play s the thing.
You need three things in the theatre the play, the actors and the audience, and each must give something.
The Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra Digital Concert Hall Is Open
It s not the start to their 100th season that Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra had hoped for, but, like the rest of us, they re adapting to new ways of doing things with virtual concerts.
The Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra is tuning up and getting ready to perform live concerts again. KSO Conductor and Musical Director Julian Kuerti will pick up the baton at Comstock Auditorium to film five special concerts for the centennial season.
You can t get a ticket to sit in the audience, but you can subscribe to the entire Final Fridays series. On the last Friday of January, February, March, April and May, the concerts will premiere online. You can purchase tickets for individual shows in the range of $10-$30, or show your support for the orchestra and get a season ticket. Each of the Final Fridays Digital Concert Hall performances will be streamed to ticket holders on its opening night and remain available for 30 days on demand.