Kansas City Symphony Alliance

You are invited to the

Candlelight Masquerade preview party on

Friday, January 27, 2012 from 5:00 – 8:00 p.m.

at our 2012 Symphony Designers’ Showhouse,

47 West 53rd Street, Kansas City, Missouri

“Carnival in Venice”

Get in the spirit by donning a mask of feathers, sequins and beads and by listening to the music of Italy waft through the rooms. Your “ticket” to the party will be to bring your favorite appetizer or sweet. Beer, water and soda will be provided. Wine lovers are encouraged to bring a bottle of their favorite wine to help stock our bar.  Dress is business casual, except for the mask!

Masks, beads, merriment, music & great food!

Please RSVP your attendance to: rebeccalueth@sbcglobal.net

We hope to see you there to help us launch our 43rd season of the

Kansas City Symphony Designers’ Showhouse!

You are invited to the 43^rd Symphony Designers’ Showhouse 

HARD HAT PARTY

at 47 W. 53^rd Street, Kansas City, Missouri 64112

 Saturday, February 4 from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

 Come see the Showhouse before it is decorated, have lunch and bring your calendars so you can sign up for house sitting and various duties when the Showhouse opens.  There is no charge for this party, thanks to the Showhouse Committed of KCSA.

 

Party Co-chairs:   

Sue Forbes ts4bees@yahoo.com   816.246.8701

                              Judy O’Brien  judyfae@kc.rr.com   816.741.3823

 

Members of the Kansas City Symphony Alliance enjoyed an all-membership gathering on Tuesday, January 17 at 6:00 p.m. at the Country Club Congregational Church.  Llewellyn Crain, the Kansas City Symphony Director of Development, spoke about Symphony programs.

In addition, the members heard from Karen Hardcastle, the chair of the 43rd Symphony Designers’ Showhouse committee, and from others about the exciting Showhouse event which is coming up soon.

The Kansas City Symphony and the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts will be featured in the nationally broadcast PBS Summer Arts Festival next summer, according to an article in The Kansas City Star.

The PBS Summer Festival of broadcasts begins in June, and one of the segments is to include excerpts from the Symphony’s upcoming performances on March 23-25 featuring Prairie Village native mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato.

Having the Symphony and the Kauffman Center featured on the Summer Festival will allow Kansas City to strut its cultural stuff on the national stage, according to the Star‘s interview with andy Mason, KCPT’s executive producer for cultural affairs.

“Very few times does a symphony outside the major markets get this kind of national attention — almost never, in fact,” the Star quoted Mason as saying. “We’ll sprinkle in the personalities and professional accomplishments of Michael Stern and Joyce DiDonato, the meeting of maestro and the mezzo, if you will, with some majestic music in a majestic hall. It should make Kansas City proud.”

The Kansas City Symphony Guild, one of our sister support organizations for the Kansas City Symphony, is hosting its annual Cabaret Concert on Sunday evening, March 11, at the Embassy Suites Hotel at KCI, 7640 Tiffany Springs Parkway, Kansas City, Missouri.

The Cabaret Concert theme this year is “Circus Symphony.”  The concert features a full Kansas City Symphony performance of light orchestral favorites conducted by Associate Conductor Steven Jarvi, and also a cash bar and silent auction, dinner and dessert.  The event starts at 4:00 p.m. with the dinner at 5:30 p.m. and the concert at 7:00 p.m.  The cost is only $70 per person.  For tickets  all (816) 880-9285 or write your check to “KC Symphony Guild” and mail it to Judy Klopfenstein, 6635 N.W. Nevada Avenue, Parkville, MO 64152.  We hope to see you there!

The Kansas City Symphony Alliance invites you to attend an

 After-Concert Party

on Sunday, February 5 from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m.

 Schmitt Music, 7316 W. 119^th Street, Leawood, KS   66213

(NW corner of 119^th & Metcalf)

immediately following the Kansas City Symphony performance at the

Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts

KCSA/FOS members, please bring a sweet or savory snack to share with guests, ushers, orchestra and chorus members.  Drinks are provided.

 Special entertainment by Tom Hilton on the Steinway Grand.

 For additional information, contact Linda Hartman at 816.537.4483 or hartgarylinda@comcast.net

KCSA hosted a Fall Membership Reception and Meeting on September 20 at the Tomahawk Creek Club House in Overland Park, Kansas. 

Both old and new members of KCSA enjoyed visiting with each other, finding out more about KCSA activities and getting excited about the many events going on this year as the Symphony moves into the dramatic new Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts.

Members received their KCSA membership directories and had their photographs taken for the 2012 Designers’ Showhouse program book .

These photos show some of the members who attended the reception.  We hope that you can join us for our next event…check the other postings on this web site for details!

Attention, KCSA Members: This is the season…so please renew your KCSA Membership Now! This year we have three options for payment of your modest membership dues…

1. Use our new Pay Pal option to quickly and easily renew your membership for next season. If there are no changes to your contact information or preference for print vs electronic transmission of notices, invitations, and newsletters, all you need do is renew via this new online option. Just look at our Join Us page, and follow the instructions for your Pay Pal payment. It’s easy!

2. If you have changes in contact information or print preferences to report, you may print out the membership brochure for the 2011-12 season that is available under the Join Us! tab on this page. Then, just fill it out and return it to Marcia Hawk as instructed on the form. You may still pay online with this option.

3. Those who prefer to do everything by US mail can just wait…you will receive in the mail a printed form that can be returned with a check or credit card payment information as in years past.

We hope you enjoy these new options for joining or renewing KCSA memberships. If you have questions, concerns, or problems, please contact Linda Hartman at 816-537-4483 or hartgarylinda@comcast.net.

We know you will enjoy being with us for another year!

And….new members! We would love to have you as members of KCSA! You can just follow the same instructions as above. Please join in the fun!

The Kansas City Symphony’s Britten’s Orchestra recording for Reference Recordings has won two Grammy Awards. It won a Grammy as the “Best Surround Sound Album.”  Reference Producer David Frost also won a Grammy for “Classical Producer of the Year.”  The Reference Recordings engineer for the recording was Keith Johnson.  Congratulations to Reference Recordings and Messrs. Frost and Johnson, and congratulations to the Kansas City Symphony!

If you don’t have a copy of your recording yet, please buy it from the Symphony Shop in the lobby of the Lyric Theatre before a performance or during an intermission; the Symphony gets lots more money from recordings purchased at the Symphony Shop than if you were to buy it from a retail store or online source.  Don’t forget that Symphony recordings make excellent gifts, particularly for your out-of-town music friends whom you want to impress with the quality of our orchestra!

The Kansas City Symphony Alliance and Symphony Designers’ Showhouse 41 has won the National Award of Excellence from the League of American Orchestras.  This award is popularly known as the “Gold Book Award” and is the highest honor which is given to a symphony-associated volunteer activity in this country.  The award will be presented at the June 2011 National Conference of the League of American Orchestras, which will be held in Minneapolis.

The “Gold Book” honor was created in 1976 to honor volunteer organizations associated with symphony orchestras that provide innovative examples for other volunteer organizations to adapt and follow.  KCSA was recognized for its dedication and creativity in supporting the Kansas City Symphony.  Our submission highlighted designer activities, community involvement, use of technology and Sunday activities for children.  An adjunct was our $108,500 donation to the Kansas City Symphony and its youth programs made possible by generous KCSA members, designers, vendors and volunteers.

Congratulations to all of those involved in Designers’ Showhouse 41, and let’s dedicate ourselves to making Designers’ Showhouse 42 even bigger and better!