OUr 2019–2020 season of great performanceS

Stereophile Magazine calls Nadine Sierra’s voice “alive, gorgeous, and positively thrilling.” Winner of the prestigious 2017 Richard Tucker Award and the Metropolitan Opera’s 2018 Beverly Sills Artist Award, Sierra is hailed as one of the most promising young talents in opera today. With a jam-packed schedule, Sierra is already on the move, continually touring the world’s great opera houses. Now it’s Kansas City’s turn to discover this remarkable singer.

Some of the most exciting dance in America is coming out of Aspen Santa Fe Ballet. Founded in 1996, Aspen Santa Fe Ballet combines adventurous American athleticism with European classical and avant-garde traditions. The New York Times says that Aspen Santa Fe Ballet “raise the bar, and then they jump over it.” 

The horn-blowing angels known as the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra will swing into Kansas City under the direction of legendary trumpeter Wynton Marsalis with Big Band Holidays: a jubilant concert of seasonal favorites that could enthuse the sullenest Scrooge.

Sheku Kanneh-Mason is already a star in Great Britain, but he’s waiting to be discovered on this side of the Atlantic. Winner of the 2016 BBC Young Musician of the Year contest in January 2018, his debut album for Decca hit No. 18 on the official U.K. album chart and number one on the classical chart.

Winner of countless awards and honors, Anne-Sophie Mutter is one of the greatest violinists of our day. To celebrate Beethoven’s 250th birthday in 2020, Mutter will give an all-Beethoven recital. She’ll be joined by her longtime collaborator, pianist Lambert Orkis, to perform some of Beethoven’s most popular music, including the “Kreutzer” sonata and the lovely “Spring” sonata.

Mark Morris’s career canon of brilliant dance works are as diverse as the songs on Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, so who better to choreograph an evening-length celebration of the iconic Beatles album? Commissioned by the city of Liverpool to commemorate Sgt. Pepper’s 50th anniversary, Pepperland is Mark Morris’s joyful, unabashed, and acclaimed homage to The Beatles classic that changed the world.

Aristo Sham is probably one of the finest pianists you’ve never heard of. Sham began playing the piano at three and entered the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts at six. At the age of 12, he was featured in the documentary The World’s Greatest Musical Prodigies. Now 22, Sham has already performed with the world’s greatest orchestras.

Since its founding in 1977, the Siberian State Symphony Orchestra has established itself as one of Russia’s great orchestras, which is quite an accomplishment. After opening with Rimsky-Korsakov’s colorful overture to the opera Tzar’s Bride, the Orchestra will perform two great Russian concertos: Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 1 in D major, Op. 19, and Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18. 

The Times (London) calls Daniil Trifonov “without question the most astounding pianist of our age.” In 2011, he won the First Prize and Grand Prix at the International Tchaikovsky Competition. Trifonov has since acquired a mountain of awards and has performed with every major orchestra in the world. This will be his Harriman-Jewell Series debut.

Mozart’s piano concertos are among his greatest works, and no one plays Mozart like pianist Mitsuko Uchida. In the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, she has found her perfect Mozartean partner. With 45 players from 20 different countries, the Mahler Chamber Orchestra is truly an international ensemble with the highest standards of performance. 

John Williams is one of the greatest and most beloved living composers. His film scores, from Star Wars to Schindler’s List are forever woven into the fabric of American culture. The Boston Pops led by Keith Lockhart will celebrate Williams’ formidable legacy, heard in scores from Born on the Fourth of July and Saving Private Ryan to E.T. and Harry Potter.

Angela Gheorghiu is a diva in the grand style. Her regal bearing dominates any stage on which she finds herself. And Gheorghiu has the voice to match the persona. She’s an opera star in whom technique and charisma are abundant and perfectly balanced. Gheorghiu’s Harriman-Jewell Series debut in Helzberg Hall is an event not to be missed.

Nobody sings baroque music like Joyce DiDonato. Dazzling runs, fiery emotion, and attention to period detail are assured when DiDonato performs baroque. DiDonato will be joined by the dynamic Italian chamber orchestra Il Pomo d’Oro, performing on authentic period instruments.