Masterworks and Ovation Series
Classical Series Season Finale! ODE TO JOY: BEETHOVEN’S NINTH
Friday and Saturday, June 24-25, 2022 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, June 26, 2022 at 2 p.m.
GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL “Zadok the Priest,” Coronation Anthem No. 1
JESSIE MONTGOMERY Piano Concerto (Kansas City Symphony co-commission)
LUDVIG VAN BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 9, “Choral”
Michael Stern, conductor
Awadagin Pratt, piano
Kansas City Symphony Chorus, Charles Bruffy, chorus director
Caitlin Lynch, soprano
Kelley O’Connor, mezzo-soprano
Derrek Stark, tenor
Peixin Chen, bass

Our end of season celebration begins with the return of the KC Symphony Chorus in George Frideric Handel’s festive “Zadok the Priest”, originally commissioned for the coronation of England’s King George II in 1727. You will think the Queen herself is about the enter the building when you hear the chorus sing their first bars in Helzberg Hall! And it is thrilling to close the season as we began – with a brilliant new piano concerto, written for the outstanding pianist Awadagin Pratt, by the incandescent young American composer Jessie Montgomery. Her new concerto is based on poetry by T.S. Eliot, inspired by the dance: “At the still point of the turning world. Neither flesh nor fleshless; Neither from nor towards; at the still point, there the dance is…” Originally scheduled to close our 2019-2020 season and celebration of Beethoven’s 250th anniversary year, the Ninth Symphony is again our triumphant closing in an entirely different context. Beethoven’s Ninth is the single work most synonymous with a feeling of hope and brotherhood. It is the most glorious way to celebrate the fact that we are back, with our Kansas City Symphony Chorus, reconnecting with everyone throughout the community, with music that transforms us. Our Ovation Series is presented by Audible Hearing Centers.