A Thousand Nights: Series Marks Milestone with Brilliant Soprano
The Independent
Paul Horsley
January 5, 2023
Just about everybody who is anybody has appeared on the Harriman-Jewell Series. Or so it seems these days, 58 years after the Series was founded by two William Jewell College professors, Richard Harriman and Dean Dunham, Jr. Let’s put it this way: If you are a classical performing artist or ensemble or dance company or even a Broadway singer who has not been on Kansas City’s world-renowned Series, you might want to have a heart-to-heart with your management.
This Saturday, January 7th, at the Folly Theater, South African-born Soprano Pretty Yende will present what is, astonishingly, the 1,000th performance in the Series’ august history.
The star of major houses (Metropolitan Opera, Covent Garden, Opéra National de Paris, La Scala, Staatsoper Berlin) makes her local debut with a program of songs and arias by Bellini, Donizetti, Rossini, and Liszt. Her collaborative pianist is Indian-American Conductor and Pianist Kamal Khan, who will perform solo piano works by Chopin and Verdi/Liszt.