Summerfest Announces Summer 2009 Season of Chamber Music Concerts

KANSAS CITY, MO (March 31, 2009) - Summerfest Concerts announces the summer 2009 season bringing Kansas City works to evoke and engage all your senses, including the Beethoven Septet, Dvorak’s Cypresses for string quartet, Handel’s Gloria, and Schubert’s Shepherd on the Rock.  Relax in their musical garden and enjoy the perfect escape from the summer heat as the musicians of Summerfest Concerts perform their 19th season of chamber music concerts from July 11 through August 2. Each concert is followed by a Meet the Musicians wine and cheese reception.

Week 1
The July 11 and 12 Summerfest program opens with a riot of color: Jenni Brandon’s Wildflowers for oboe, bassoon, and piano, inspired by the plantings of Ladybird Johnson.  Tempête de sable (Storm of Sand) for clarinet, violin, and viola, by the exciting young composer Alexandra du Bois, is a bold lament in a windswept landscape.  Join us in celebrating the rediscovery of Georg Frideric Handel’s exultant Gloria for soprano, strings, and harpsichord, lost to posterity for nearly three centuries.  The program will also include Antonio Vivaldi’s All'ombra di Sospetto for soprano, flute, cello, and harpsichord.

Week 2
Summerfest’s second week of programming, July 18 and 19, David Morgan’s The Secret of the Golden Flower exudes the perfumed exoticism of an ancient Eastern world.  The light-hearted, tuneful Septet, op. 20 for strings, woodwinds, and horn, by a youthful Ludwig van Beethoven, was a favorite of Viennese audiences throughout the composer’s career.  The program also includes Nancy Galbraith’s Incantation and Allegro for oboe, bassoon, and piano.

Week 3
The centerpiece of our third concert, the weekend of July 25 and 26, is Edward Elgar’s richly romantic Quintet, op. 84, for piano and strings, inspired by the twisted silhouettes of dead tree branches. The concert also includes Endre Szervánszky’s lively Wind Quintet no. 1, influenced by Hungarian folk music, and Giacomo Puccini’s heartrending Chrysanthemums for string quartet.

Week 4
In the final weekend of programs, August 1 and 2, Summerfest features Attilio Ariosti’s cantata for soprano, flute, strings, and harpsichord, The Flowering and Fading of Love, in which the rose tenderly blooms yet wounds with its thorns—just like love.  The lonely mountain shepherd calls his beloved in Franz Schubert’s splendidly melodious The Shepherd on the Rock for soprano, clarinet, and piano.  The program also includes Antonín Dvorák’s Selections from Cypresses for string quartet, and Knudåge Riisager’s Divertimento, op. 9, for string quartet and woodwind quintet

Summerfest musicians include Mary Grant, violin; Michael Kimber and Jessica Nance, viola; Alexander East and Mark Gibbs, cello; Larry Rice, double bass; Shannon Finney, flute; Susan Brashier, oboe; Jane Carl, clarinet; Joshua Hood, bassoon; Tod Bowermaster and Albert Suarez, horn; Melissa Rose and Patricia Higdon, piano, Rebecca Bell, harpsichord; and Rebecca Sherburn and Gwen Coleman Detwiler, soprano.

Summerfest will perform its 19th season of chamber music concerts in July and the first weekend of August on Saturdays in White Hall, 4949 Cherry, on the UMKC Campus, and Sundays at historic St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, 13th and Holmes, in downtown Kansas City.  Performances will be at 7:00 p.m., Saturday, July 11, 18, 25, and August 1, and repeated at 5:00 p.m., Sunday, July 12, 19, 26, and August 2.

Season tickets are $80 for a four-concert package and $60 for a three-concert package.  To make chamber music affordable for everyone, these subscription packages include major savings and patron benefits including: selection of all Saturdays, all Sundays or any combination thereof for their package purchases, ticket discounts, savings on single ticket prices, and free ticket exchange. A $5 handling charge will be added to each subscription order.

Single tickets are $25 for adults and $20 for seniors and students. $10 student tickets are available with a valid student ID.  Youth 18 and under are admitted free of charge.  A $2 handling charge will be added to each ticket. Tickets can be ordered by calling the Central Ticket Office, 816-235-6222, or stopping by the office located in the Performing Arts Center, 4949 Cherry, on the UMKC campus.  For more information or to order tickets online, please visit www.summerfestkc.org.

About Summerfest Concerts
Summerfest Concerts, founded in 1991, is a professional chamber music ensemble that enriches the cultural life of Kansas City by providing fine performances of chamber music in the summer. Summerfest programming offers variety in instrumentation and musical styles and emphasizes the performance of lesser-known pieces from all eras, as well as the works, input, and appearances of living composers. The centerpiece of Summerfest’s activities is its series of concerts on Saturdays and Sundays in July. Educational outreach and “out-of-season” concerts allow Summerfest to serve the community and stay in touch with their audience throughout the year.

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Please direct all media inquiries to: Karen (Bowser) Badgett at kabadgett@gmail.com or 913-269-9342.