Musician Spotlight – Keith Stanfield

Keith Stanfield is KCCO’s Concertmaster and a featured artist for our September 28, 2019 concert. As a member of the Opus 76 Quartet, Keith performs over 40 Quartet concerts a year, and has recently recorded two Quartets by living composers David Izzard and Mike Moreland, as well as a quartet by Franz Josef Haydn. Recordings of quartets by Mozart, Beethoven and Haydn, as well as a complete cycle of Beethoven quartets will take place in 2019. 

Outside of the quartet, Keith made recordings of Mozart Violin Concertos 3 & 4 and works by Johan Sebastian Bach for solo violin (available on iTunes). Concerto performances with orchestra for the 2019/20 season include Mozart’s “Sinfonia Concertante” and Beethoven’s violin concerto. Keith has won positions at a number of orchestras. He is currently Concertmaster of the Kansas City Civic Orchestra, the Kinnor Philharmonic Orchestra and Associate Concertmaster of the Saint Joseph Symphony Orchestra. 

Keith also presents a free recital series annually, consisting of 5 performances. This year’s series will feature all 10 of Beethoven’s sonatas for violin & piano. Three additional recitals are scheduled for this season, featuring works by Clara & Robert Schumann and Johannes Brahms. A recent performance was reviewed in K.C. Arts Beat as “full of romantic passion..played with intensity..conveyed with authority.. [Brahms’s 3rd Sonata was] lovingly played, a sense of nostalgia and heartache convincingly portrayed.. an exciting and convincing performance.” 

Keith is a former soccer player, who represented Western Samoa in the 2010 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers. He played five matches for the country (scoring two goals) before retiring to focus on the violin. He has coached soccer in the UK and the USA. More recently, Keith became a consultant for arts organizations looking to grow their audiences, specializing in online communications. Keith lives in the United States of America in Kansas City, and teaches a small number of students privately.

He started playing the violin with Alison Apley aged 3 and is an alumni of the Purcell School of Music and the Royal Academy of Music. Teachers included the late Erik Huston, Remus Azoitei and Christine Grossman.

61st Season Finale – Canceled

Due to safety measures in response to the Covid-19 virus our season finale concert will not take place as scheduled. 

We truly appreciate your support during our 2019-2020 season. Please check back with us for information on our next season and some special presentations on our Facebook page.

Stay safe and healthy!


Our final concert of 2020!

Wagner’s Overture to Rienzi kicks off our season finale program, followed by Carol Chatelain Young Artist Concerto winner Theodore Ohly (violin) performing the Allegro non troppo movement of Lalo’s Symphonie espagnole. The second half of the program honors Beethoven, opening with the Coriolan Overture, Op. 62. Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3 closes the program and features pianist Minju Choi.

 

 

 

——————-Program
R. Wagner –––––––––––Overture to Rienzi, WWV49
É. Lalo –––_________––Symphonie espagnole in D minor, Op. 21
––––––––––––––––––––-– Allegro non troppo
_Carol Chatelain Young Artist Concerto Winner Theodore Ohly, violin
–––––____INTERMISSION
L.V. Beethoven –––––––Coriolan Overture, Op. 62
L.V. Beethoven –––––––Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Op. 37
––––––––––––––––—––––Allegro con brio
––––––––––––––––__—–_Largo
–––––––––––––––––—–__Rondo: Allegro-Presto
______Minju Choi, piano

2020 Carol Chatelain Young Artist Competition

KCCO is excited to announce our 2020
Carol Chatelain Young Artist Competition!

KCCO’s annual competition for young artists, The Carol Chatelain Young Artist Competition, gives KCCO the opportunity to engage with and support young musicians in the Kansas City area. The winner of this year’s competition winner will have the opportunity to perform with the orchestra at a world-class venue – Helzberg Hall at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts! The winner will also receive a cash prize of $500. This year’s auditions will take place on Saturday, January 18, 2020. We invite all musicians aged 11 to 19 to participate!

Allen Zhang, 2019 Competition Winner

How to Enter

  • Please read the competition rules below
  • Download the application form
  • Mail the form and $25 application fee to: Kansas City Civic Orchestra, P.O. Box 224, Shawnee Mission, KS 66201

Applications must be received by January 9, 2020.

  1. Competition audition date is: Saturday, January 18, 2020 at Mennonite Church beginning at 11:00am (time will be assigned).
  2. The concerto competition is for ages 11-19.
  3. Perform a solo orchestral work that is no less than 9 minutes and no greater than 20 minutes in length, from memory (can be a movement from a standard concerto or a multi-movement work).
  4. Audition time slots will be up to 15-minute intervals (accompanist cuts are encouraged for the audition).
  5. The competition is open to all instrumentalists except piano, saxophone, and percussion.
  6. First place winner will receive a performance with the Kansas City Civic Orchestra on Saturday, April 25, 2020 at 3:00pm at Helzberg Hall (Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts) and a prize of $500.00.
  7. Second place may receive acknowledgement at our April 25, 2020 performance.
  8. Kansas City Civic Orchestra reserves the right to have both first and second place winners perform at the April 2020 concert.
  9. Winner(s) must be available for rehearsals on:  April 14 and April 21 between 7:30pm and 9:30pm and Saturday, April 25 at Helzberg Hall between noon and 2pm. Specific times within these rehearsals will be assigned at a later date.
  10. All room/board/transportation is at the expense of the competition participant.
  11. The $25.00 application fee is non-refundable.
  12. Audition date/time/place is non-negotiable.
  13. An audition time will be emailed to participant within one week of the application deadline.
  14. Competition participants must supply their respective instrument at audition/performance.
  15. Competition participants must supply their own accompanist at audition.
  16. Judges may come from within or may be guests of the Kansas City Civic Orchestra.
  17. Winner selection will be announced and emailed at the end of the audition day.
  18. Judges’ decision is final.
  19. The Kansas City Civic Orchestra can decide not to award winners/prizes.
  20. Failure to abide by these guidelines and rules may result in participant’s disqualification.

Feel free to contact our music director with any additional questions.

2019 Instrument Petting Zoo

Our annual Instrument Petting Zoo helps foster an appreciation for music by introducing children to different instruments and even giving them the chance to try playing them. This year’s participants also got to hear a few riffs from some of our talented orchestra members!

The Petting Zoo takes place before our November concert matinee performance. It is free and open to the public.

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ashley Stanfield

Ashley Stanfield is a featured artist for KCCO’s season opening concert on September 28, 2019. A former and founding member of the Hampden String Quartet, with whom she won the Sir john Barbirolli Prize for Chamber Music at the Royal Academy of Music, Ashley is a founding member and violist of the Opus 76 Quartet. 

Ashley performs regularly with the Kansas City and Des Moines Symphonies. She also serves as Principal Violist of the Kinnor Philharmonic and plays in the Saint Joseph Symphony. She has appeared as a guest artist with the Bach Aria Soloists, Spire Ensemble and the KC Baroque Consortium. In 2019, Ashley will appear as a soloist with the Kansas City Civic Orchestra, playing Mozart’s “Sinfonia Concertante”. 

Outside of classical music, Ashley has enjoyed performing with several rock/pop bands including Michael Buble, Belle and Sebastian, Hanson and Johnny Mathis.

A native of Kansas City, Ashley Stanfield has been teaching and performing locally for over ten years. She is an Alumni of both the Interlochen and Idyllwild Arts Academies and holds a Bachelors Degree in Viola performance as well as a Teaching Licentiate from the Royal Academy of Music, London, where she was a student of London Symphony Orchestra Principal Violist, Paul Silverthorne. Other teachers include  Miami String Quartet violist, Scott Lee and Christine Grossman, former Principal Violist of the Kansas City Symphony.

As a part of her studies at the Academy, Ashley also worked with many prominent conductors including Trevor Pinnock, Leif Segerstam, Yan Pascal Tortelier, Tadaaki Otaka, and Sir Colin Davis, with whom she recorded Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro and Beethoven’s Symphony No.9. With the U.K. based Hampden String Quartet, she performed regularly at the Oxford Proms and the Prom’s at St. Jude’s concert series. 

Ashley enjoys teaching and has extensive  experience at the beginner through to collegiate level. She currently teaches group violin (elementary level) in the Kansas City Missouri School district via the KC Harmony Project program and formerly served as a teaching artist on the faculty at Drake University. Many of her private students are members of the Kansas City Youth Symphony and the Kansas All-State and District Orchestras. She lives in Prairie village with her husband and son and their faithful Labrador, Miley. 

KCCO’s Original Concert Master, Dale Bryan

The Kansas City Civic Orchestra was saddened to hear of the passing of our first concertmaster, Dale M. Bryan.

Dale, a violin player, served as concertmaster from 1959 – the year of our founding – through 1966. Dale was a native of Kansas City. He graduated from Wyandotte High School in 1942. One of the accomplishments of which he was most proud was being selected concertmaster of the Kansas all-state high school orchestra festival at Emporia both his junior and senior years. It was on this return drive from Emporia his senior year that Dale learned of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. He served in the Navy during and after World War II.

Dale Bryan appears in this photo from 1959, along with our founder Hugo Vianello.

Dale held a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Kansas City and a Master of Arts degree in education from UMKC. He taught in the public schools of Smithville, North Kansas City, and Park Hill High School, where he initiated the first program of stringed instrument instruction. He left Park Hill to join the music faculty at what was then Park College. In addition to serving as KCCO’s first concert master Dale was also the original concert master of the Northland Symphony. In later years he was employed in various capacities at the Kansas City Public library. Following his retirement he spent his time in private teaching, taking care of his house and grounds, and volunteering at St. Luke’s Northland Hospital.

Dale Bryan with violin

Dale continued to play his violin until the last few years of his life. The photo at left was taken within the last few months and shows Dale with his violin – the same one he played during his time with KCCO.

Our thoughts are with Dale’s family as we mourn the loss of our fellow music lover and key figure in KCCO’s history.

You can read Dale’s complete obituary here. KCCO is grateful to David McLane Bryan, Dale’s son, for providing the recent photo of Dale and for informing us of his passing.

Meet the President – Sheila Evans

For our 2018-2019 season, KCCO is welcoming a new board member! Sheila Evans will act as co-president with Don Goldenbaum until Don departs for the north in January, after which Sheila will act as president.

Sheila Evans has a 360 degree view of the arts, having been a performer, board member, chairperson, funder, and Executive Director.

Sheila was most recently Executive Director of the Allentown Symphony Association, in Allentown, Pennsylvania. In that role, she quadrupled the number of performances in Miller Symphony Hall—including Symphony, Jazz, Dance, Children’s Theater, and popular performances; led a $6m fund raising drive in order to eliminate debt for the Hall and fund new improvements for the 120-year-old historic hall; founded the El Sistema Lehigh Valley program with other community leaders to create musical and life opportunities for at-risk students in the Allentown Public Schools; and was recognized by the Allentown Human Relations Council with a Diversity and Inclusion Award—recognizing Diversity of performers; staff, and programming.

Sheila was recognized in 2016 as a “Woman of Influence” in the Lehigh Valley. She received a “Gateway to Equity Award” from the Allentown American Association of University Women in 2013. She served as a member of the Allentown Arts Commission from 2011-2017 and as a member of the Pennsylvania Council of the Arts grant making body for multiple years. Sheila is also a member of the Muhlenberg College Board of Associates and the Allentown Rotary.

Jazz has been a part of Sheila’s life since she moved to Detroit in 1973 as a violin student of Mischa Mischakoff – concertmaster to Toscanini and of the Philadelphia and Detroit Symphonies. While a student in Detroit, Sheila discovered her love of jazz at Baker’s Keyboard Lounge. George Benson was the first performer that she heard there – and she was hooked.

After several years as a violinist with the Omaha Symphony, Sheila decided to pursue an MBA in Marketing and Finance at Arizona State University – following which she returned to Detroit to launch a 20+ year career in telecommunications in Detroit, New Jersey, and finally in Kansas City. While in Kansas City she was a board member and then Chairperson of the Lyric Opera of Kansas City. She returned to the musical life in 2009 as the Executive Director of the Allentown Symphony Association.

Sheila has three children – Ruth, an Editor at Getty Publications in Los Angeles, Nathan, a jazz trombonist and composer in Buenos Aires, and Matt, white water guide and restaurateur in Gunnison, Colorado. She has been married for three years to Robert Cort, who makes her life possible.

This summer Sheila returned to Kansas City, where she will continue her tradition of community involvement and support for the arts as co-president and then president of the board of the Kansas City Civic Orchestra. She and her husband Bob are looking forward to re-engaging with Kansas City music (and sports) as both participants and audience members.

Musician Spotlight – Charles Jessup, Flute

Charles (Charlie) Jessup grew up on Long Island about 100 miles east of New York City, although all of his relatives came from the Boston area. He began playing the flute in the 6th grade and continued playing throughout junior high, high school, and college. Initially after high school Charlie went to college in his home state of New York, but he then transferred to Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana to attend optometry school. Indiana University also happened to have a fantastic music school, and Charlie attended many wonderful concerts there. He also played in the local community orchestra, the Bloomington Symphony. He received his doctor of optometry degree in 1971, when the Vietnam War was raging. He joined the Air Force, and that brought him to the Kansas City area.

Charlie was the base optometrist at Richards-Gebaur Air Force Base in Belton, MO for two years. He really liked the Kansas City area, so he decided to stay. While he was in the Air Force, Charlie began to take flute lessons with Jim Hamilton, who was one of the flutists in the Kansas City Symphony and one of the major flute teachers in the city. He studied with him for ten years.

Charlie has been a member of both the Kansas City Civic Orchestra and the Overland Park Orchestra for over forty years now. He has been a flute soloist for various churches and played for weddings and receptions. More recently, he has developed concerts at nursing homes, focusing on music from the 1920’s, 1930’s and 1940’s. In addition to being a musician and optometrist Charlie is also bilingual (he speaks French), and he enjoys hiking and photography.

Praise for the Petting Zoo

It’s a great feeling to know you’ve impacted the life of a budding musician! The following was submitted by the parent of one of our petting zoo attendees. Looks like we got Olivia hooked!

This is long overdue, but I wanted to thank you for the instrument petting zoo that was held in November.  My 7 year old daughter was fascinated by the violin and we began lessons last December.  The opportunity you provided made an impact that we as family will never forget.  There are days when we have to tell her that she’s practicing too much!  The violin has become an important part of our lives because of the petting zoo!

[Olivia] tells everyone she meets that she plays the violin.  We recently attended the KC Symphony performance for Harry Potter and afterward she talked about how each violinist had their own way of playing and holding their violin. I think she stared at the musicians the whole time instead of watching the movie!   Music education is vital to our society and I’m happy that my husband and I can give Olivia this opportunity.  – Lucinda Adams