The Kansas City Ballet 2004-2005 season concludes with the Spring Performance May 5 through 8 at the Lyric Theatre. This performance will particularly appeal to contemporary classical music lovers as it features music by composers Bela Fleck and Edgar Meyer, Maria del Mar Bonet, Lowell Liebermann and Toru Takemitsu. It will feature works by contemporary choreographers including Nacho Duato’s Jardi Tancat, the WORLD PREMIERE of Robert Hill’s Piano Concerto #2, William Whitener’s Haven and the WORLD PREMIERE of Whitener’s Gingham Shift. The Spring Performance opens with the WORLD PREMIERE of Gingham Shift, choreographed by Kansas City Ballet’s Artistic Director William Whitener and set to the blue grass music of premiere banjo player Bela Fleck and master instrumentalist Edgar Meyer.
Nacho Duato’s Jardi Tancat is based on the folk music of the Catalonian people of Spain and features Maria del Mar Bonet, the voice of Mediterranean song. The warmth of her voice and her passionate elegance has seduced audiences who fall under the Spanish charm of her defiant pride. Born on the island of Majorca, del Mar Bonet was introduced in Barcelona to Catalan musical traditions. Her songs portray the daily rituals, tasks and recreations of Catalan life. Duato portrays the peasants' connection to the earth and to each other in the powerful movements of three couples. It was one of the most popular of the ballets presented during the 2002-2003 season and the Kansas City Ballet is pleased to be able to respond to the many requests we received to bring it back to the Lyric stage.
The third piece is an encore performance of William Whitener’s Haven. This piece is a collaborative impressionistic work which accentuates the sensuality of movement utilizing textile artist Jason Pollen’s set designs, Kirk Bookman’s lighting, and costumes by Kansas City designer Lisa Harper. The music is by Japanese composer Toru Takemitsu. Takemitsu composed music for 93 Japanese films including Kurosawa’s Ran. Famous for assimilating Western avant-garde music from composers such as John Cage into traditional Japanese sounds such as the Japanese lute and bamboo flute, Takemitsu incorporates nature into each of his works. The 2004-05 season will conclude with the second WORLD PREMIERE, Piano Concerto #2, which will be an introduction to Kansas City audiences to Robert Hill and Lowell Liebermann. Mr. Hill, a former principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre, has quickly made a reputation as a talented and exciting young choreographer on the American ballet scene and Kansas City Ballet is pleased to have him create a new work specifically for our dancers. Lowell Liebermann at age 41 is perhaps the most widely performed and commissioned composers of our time. His Piano Concerto #2, which won a 1998 GRAMMY Award nomination for Best Contemporary Classical Composition, has been called by the Baltimore Sun as “perhaps the best piece in the genre since Samuel Barber’s Concerto.” The Spring Performance
will be May 5 through 8 at the Lyric Theatre (1029 Central) in downtown
Kansas City, Missouri. Performance days and times are Thursday at
7:30 p.m., Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. and Sunday
at 2:00 p.m. Contact Kansas City Ballet box office at 816.931.2232
x375 to reserve the best seats today or click
here to order tickets online.
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