The Ruel Joyce Recitals feature Kansas City's best classical musicians. Direct from their performance venue of Johnson County Community College's Recital Hall in the Carlsen Center for the Performing Arts. KPR was there to record them. Enjoy these concerts Thursday evenings at 7. Darrell Brogdon is your host for the broadcasts, produced by Cordelia Brown.
Thursday, July 2: Chun and Choi
Brahms, Saint-Saëns and Brahms with viola and piano are on the program with Chung-Hoon Peter Chun and Jiwon Choi. Chun adds a viola d’amore version of the heartbreakingly-beautiful swan song from Saint-Saëns’ Carnival of the Animals.
Thursday, July 9: Kansas City Cello Sound
Calling themselves the Kansas City Cello Sound, eight cellists from the KC Symphony play three pieces arranged for cello choir, including the famous Chaconne from Bach’s D minor Partita, Rachmaninoff’s haunting Vocalise and the Introduction Prelude and Fugue from Bachianas Brasileiras No. 1 by Argentine composer Heitor Villa-Lobos.
Kansas City classical guitarist Douglas Niedt’s overflowing cornucopia of tunes includes South American folk dances, a medley from West Side Story, a Gershwin suite, and much more including a Flamenco fantasy by Jorge Morel.
A winner of piano competitions around the world, Iskandar Mamadaliev was only 13 when KPR recorded this Ruel Joyce Recital. Listen for his completely grown-up technique and sound-shaping when he plays Beethoven’s Grande Sonate Pathetique, Schumann’s Carnaval and the Vladimir Horowitz encore version of Variations on a Theme from Bizet’s Carmen.
Forrest Pierce teaches music composition at KU. From three of his song cycles, we’ll hear mezzo-soprano Jennifer Weiman with pianist Michael Kirkendoll. Listen for songs from The Wild Iris, Sonata to Orpheus and Gazelles, which are musical settings of poetry by Louise Gluck, Rainier Marie Rilke and by Forrest Pierce himself.
