UMKC’s weekly arts and culture roundup

*Please note: The University is closed Friday, February 22, 2013, due to inclement weather. Campus events scheduled for Friday are either cancelled or postponed. 

Every week, the University of Missouri-Kansas City offers an array of on-campus activities. It’s nothing new. UMKC has a long legacy of hosting countless culturally enriching events. These activities are part of what has made UMKC an arts and culture powerhouse. The influence of UMKC-based and UMKC-trained artists extends well beyond the campus’ edge, so their activities are listed here as well.

Featured: Conservatory Orchestra: Great 20th-Century American Classics

The story of Filip Lazovski’s profound love of the violin involves abandoned piano lessons, an aunt and uncle, and a family of musicians. As concertmaster of the Conservatory Orchestra, Lazovski has big dreams, and he has been studying and practicing for many years to achieve them.

Originally from Skopje, Macedonia, Lazovski is working on his Artist’s Certificate at the Conservatory under associate professor of violin Benny Kim. On Friday, February 22, Lazovski performs Samuel Barber’s Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 14, with the Conservatory Orchestra on the White Recital Hall stage, as the winner of the inaugural Chancellor’s Concerto competition.

The Chancellor’s Concerto competition gives Conservatory students the opportunity to perform a complete concerto in concert — something they would do as professional musicians.

To win that competition, Lazovski prevailed over six finalists who performed on piano, bassoon, clarinet, horn, and violin. The competition, which was open to all students in the Conservatory, was narrowed from about 15 students to the finalists, all of who performed a full concerto.

The Kansas City Symphony’s associate conductor, Aram Demirjian; Frank Weinstock, chair of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music’s piano department; and Janell Weinstock, general manager of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra were the competition’s judges.

Lazovski has a BM from Eastman School of Music, Rochester, NY, and a double masters degree from Ohio’s Kent State University in chamber music and violin performance. Despite being just a few credits shy of a masters degree at the University of Colorado, Lazovski jumped at the chance to attend Kent State to work with the storied Miami String Quartet, which features violin professor Benny Kim, with whom Lazovski wanted to study.

The Miami String Quartet, in residence at Kent State University’s Hugh A. Glauser School of Music since 2004, also includes Conservatory viola faculty Scott Lee.

“My primary goal is to be in a professional string quartet and to perform chamber music. I want to perform,” Lazovski said.

Coming from a musical family—his mother plays the piano and his aunts and uncles are all musicians—Lazovski seemed naturally drawn to music. His aunt’s violin, which he thought was the most beautiful thing in the world when he was a young boy, launched his deep connection to the instrument.

Lazovski’s devotion to violin performance motivated him to leave home at age 17 to attend his last two years of high school at Michigan’s prestigious Interlochen Arts Academy High School, on a full scholarship. From there he went to Eastman School of Music to earn his Bachelor of Music degree.

Lazovski chose Barber’s three-movement violin concerto for the competition because of its difficulty, lusciously beautiful melodies, and its structural quality. In particular, he loves the nostalgic second movement because of “the incredible, intimate, and heart-wrenching moments between the solo violin and the orchestra.”

What: Conservatory Orchestra: Great 20th-Century American Classics. Directed by Robert Olson, featuring the first Chancellor’s Competition winner, violinist Filip Lazovski performing Barber’s complete Violin Concerto, Op. 14 with the orchestra.
Where: White Recital Hall, James C. Olson Performing Arts Center, 4949 Cherry Street, Kansas City, Mo.
When: Friday, February 22, 7:30 p.m.
Get more details. 

Friday, February 22 – Thursday, February 28

What: “Nazi Persecution of Homosexuals 1933-1945”
Where: Dean’s Gallery, Miller Nichols Library, 800 East 51st St., Kansas City, Mo.
When: Through April 10.
It’s free. Get more details.

What: Kids Club: “Children’s Story Corner.” “Pondery” by Nihan Yesil is a one-act chamber opera based on an original short story about a girl who loves to dream.
Where: White Recital Hall, James C. Olson Performing Arts Center, 4949 Cherry Street, Kansas City, Mo.
When: Saturday, February 23, 10 a.m.
Get more details.

What: Conservatory Connections: Chinese Journeys, Traditional and New (featuring the students of composer Chen Yi). The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art partners with the UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance’s Academy to offer gallery performances for audiences of all ages.  Sight, movement and sound mingle in the spaces of the Museum to offer exciting art interactions.
Where: Kirkwood Hall, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 4525 Oak Street, Kansas City, Mo.
When: Saturday, February 23, 2:30 – 3:30 p.m.
It’s free. Get more details.

What:  Faculty recital presented by Jane Carl, clarinet; with Patricia Higdon, piano; and Jan Gippo, piccolo.
Where: White Recital Hall, James C. Olson Performing Arts Center, 4949 Cherry Street
Kansas City, Mo.
When: Saturday, February 23, 2:30 p.m.
It’s free. Get more details.

What: Master’s Recital with Jonathan Young on piano.
Where:  White Recital Hall, James C. Olson Performing Arts Center, 4949 Cherry Street
Kansas City, Mo.
When: Saturday, February 23, 5 p.m.
It’s free. Get more details.

What: Juan Francisco La Manna, piano Alumni Recital with pianist Juan Francisco La Manna, associate professor at SUNY Oswego and UMKC Conservatory alumnus (2000), featuring Todd Graber, tenor.
Where: Diastole, 2501 Holmes Street, Kansas City, Mo.
When: Saturday, February 23, 7:30 p.m.
It’s free. Get more details.

What: Conservatory Singers: A Celebration of the Poetry of Langston Hughes. Directed by Robert Bode, featuring composer William Averitt’s settings of Langston Hughes poetry. Dr. Averitt will be in attendance at this performance. Also featuring faculty member Vinson Cole, tenor; and pianists Lee D. Thompson and Melissa Loehnig.
Where: White Recital Hall, James C. Olson Performing Arts Center, 4949 Cherry Street, Kansas City, Mo.
When: Sunday, February 24, 7:30 p.m.
It’s free. Get more details.

What: Sophomore recital with Michael O’Brien on flute, Dan Velicer on piano and Katie Howard on flute.
Where: White Recital Hall, James C. Olson Performing Arts Center, 4949 Cherry Street
Kansas City, Mo.
When: Tuesday, February 26, 5 p.m.
It’s free. Get more details.

What: Tuba/Euphonium Ensemble and UMKC Graduate Fellowship Brass Quintet. Directed by Tom Stein, with the UMKC Graduate Fellowship Brass Quintet and faculty artists Keith Benjamin, trumpet; Martin Hackleman, horn; and Joseph Parisi, flugelhorn.
Where: White Recital Hall, James C. Olson Performing Arts Center, 4949 Cherry Street
Kansas City, Mo.
When: Tuesday, February 26, 7:30 p.m.
It’s free. Get more details.

What: “Musica Nova” directed by Zhou Long, featuring the finalists of this year’s UMKC Chamber Music Composition Competition and guest composer Eric Moe.
Where: White Recital Hall, James C. Olson Performing Arts Center, 4949 Cherry Street, Kansas City, Mo.
When: Wednesday, February 27, 7:30 p.m.
It’s free. Get more details.

What: Master Class with Poet Dean Young. Young is the author of 10 books of poetry, most recently Bender: New and Selected Poems (Copper Canyon Press, 2012). His Elegy on Toy Piano (2005) was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Young received an MFA in Creative Writing from Indiana University. He has taught at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and the University of Texas-Austin, where he holds the William Livingston Chair of Poetry.
Where: 104 Cockefair Hall, Kansas City, Mo.
When: Sunday, February 24, 2 – 5 p.m.
It’s free. Get more details.

What: Opening of Santa Muerte. “Santa Muerte” is a new exhibition concentrating on the dramatic increase in violence that has taken place over the past two decades in the Mexican city of Ciudad Juarez. An insatiable drug war, volatile political status, and widespread poverty have morphed the city into a hellish breeding ground for murder and femicide, consequently reshaping urban cultural identity. Artists from both Mexico and Texas offer their perspectives on the current situation.
Where: Fine Arts building room 203, 5015 Holmes Street, Kansas City, Mo.
When: Monday, February 25 – Friday, April 5.
It’s free. Get more details.

What: Do I Look Fat? Film Screening and Discussion This documentary explores the issues surrounding body image for gay men. Filmmaker Travis Mathews profiles eight men and their stories of how addiction, self-hatred, and illness contributed to problems with body image. Lunch will be provided.
Where: Miller Nichols Library, Room 303, 800 East 51st St.
When: Tuesday, February 26, 2013, 12 – 2pm
It’s free. Get more details.

What: Leon Litwack, “Fight the Power, America’s Enduring Struggle for Civil Rights,” 18th Annual Richard D. McKinzie Symposium. Co-sponsors: UMKC Bernardin Haskell Lectures Fund, the Kansas City Public Library, the UMKC College High School Credit Partnership, the UMKC Division of Diversity, Access & Equity, and the Black Studies Program
Where: Truman Forum, Kansas City Public Library, Plaza Branch
When: Thursday, February 28, 2013, 6 – 8pm
It’s free. Get more details.

What: “On Golden Pond” is a poignant comedy about the seasons of life and the bond that can develop between the very young and the very old.
Where: The New Theatre Restaurant, 9299 Foster, Overland Park, Kan.
When: Through March 31.
UMKC Connection: Co-owners Dennis Hennessy and Richard Carrothers are both UMKC graduates and both were presented this year with honorary doctorates by the UMKC College of Arts and Sciences.
Get more details.

What: The Coterie Theatre presents Tell-Tale Electric Poe 2013. One act and one musician perform Edgar Allen Poe stories and poems with musical lines.
Where: 2450 Grand Blvd., Suite 144, Kansas City, Mo.
When: February 23 – March 10.
UMKC Connection: Two UMKC graduate theatre students founded the Coterie.
Get more details.

What: Design Speaks: Julie Cortés is a successful freelance copywriter and proofreader, having worked with ad agencies, corporations, design studios, small businesses and mom ‘n’ pop shops, in all media types, including print, collateral, radio, TV, outdoor, direct mail, Web, and more. This is part of the Art Department’s 2012-2013 Visiting Artist & Scholar Lecture Series.
Where: UMKC’s Department of Art & Art History, 204 Fine Arts Building, 5015 Holmes Street, Kansas City, Mo.
When: Monday, February 25, 4 p.m.
It’s free. Get more details.

What: Christine Brewer is one of the world’s most acclaimed and respected sopranos. She will perform a work for which she has a special affinity –Richard Strauss’ Four Last Songs.
When: Friday, February 22, 8 p.m.
Where: Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, 1601 Broadway, Kansas City, Mo.
UMKC Connection: The Kansas City Symphony was founded by faculty member Karl Krueger in 1933.
Get more details.