PRELUDE 2026

Monday, September 28, 2026 

6:00 — cocktail Reception

7:00 PM — DINNER, performance, and CELEBRATION

FEATURING EXCLUSIVE performance by GUEST ARTISTs Soprano Christine Goerke and pianist Craig Terry

The 1900 Building, 1900 Shawnee Mission Parkway, Mission Woods, KS

KICKING OFF our 62nd season

Join us in celebrating the Harriman-Jewell Series’ 61st season! Prelude benefactors will enjoy a cocktail reception, elegant dinner, and private performance on Monday, September 28, 2026. You are invited to a night of celebration as we begin the 62nd Season of the Harriman-Jewell Series!

 On Monday, September 28, 2026, the Harriman-Jewell Series celebrates Prelude, a special event to mark the start of our performance year. Last year we launched the Series as an independent non-profit entity, and this year we are eager to share stories of growth, engagement, and artistry true to the heart of the Series. For our upcoming 62nd Season, we are launching an all-new line up of private, exclusive performance events we call the Salon Series. Prelude this year will serve as a starting point for this wonderful new programming, featuring a rare performance by acclaimed artists, soprano Christine Goerke and pianist Craig Terry, celebration, and delightful dialogue for another once-in-a-lifetime event in Kansas City.

GUEST ARTISTS: Christine Goerke, soprano and Craig Terry, piano

Soprano Christine Goerke is the recipient of the Richard Tucker Award, Musical America’s Vocalist of the Year Award, and the Opera News Award. Highlights of her 2026/27 season include returns to The Metropolitan Opera and Washington National Opera for the world premieres of Missy Mazzoli’s Lincoln in the Bardo and Christopher Tin’s O'Keeffe: Kiss the Sky. On the concert stage, she returns to Lyric Opera of Chicago for Wagner: Myth & Music, performs the Götterdämmerung Immolation Scene with New World Symphony, sings Vaughan Williams’s A Sea Symphony with the University Musical Society, and makes her Princeton Symphony Orchestra debut.

Internationally acclaimed for her commanding portrayals of the dramatic heroines of Wagner and Strauss, Goerke has appeared at many of the world’s leading opera houses, including The Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Bayerische Staatsoper, San Francisco Opera, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Opéra national de Paris, Deutsche Oper Berlin, La Scala, Teatro Real, and Houston Grand Opera. Her signature roles include Brünnhilde, Elektra, Turandot, Ariadne, Kundry, Ortrud, Leonora (Fidelio), Eboli, and Die Färberin.

A celebrated concert artist, she has performed with many of the world's leading orchestras and conductors. Her acclaimed discography includes multiple GRAMMY® Award-winning recordings, highlighted by Vaughan Williams’s A Sea Symphony and Britten’s War Requiem.

Grammy Award winning pianist and arranger Craig Terry enjoys an international career regularly performing with the world’s leading singers and instrumentalists. Currently Craig serves as Music Director of The Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center at Lyric Opera of Chicago, after having served for eleven seasons at Lyric as Assistant Conductor. Previously, he served as Assistant Conductor at The Metropolitan Opera after joining its Lindemann Young Artist Development Program. He is Artistic Director of “Beyond the Aria,” a highly acclaimed recital series now in its twelfth season, presented by the Harris Theater in collaboration with the Ryan Opera Center and Lyric Opera of Chicago.

Craig has performed with such esteemed vocalists as Jamie Barton, Stephanie Blythe, Christine Brewer, Janai Brugger, Lawrence Brownlee, Nicole Cabell, Sasha Cooke, Eric Cutler, Danielle de Niese, Joyce DiDonato, Giuseppe Filianoti, Renée Fleming, Christine Goerke, Susan Graham, Denyce Graves, Bryan Hymel, Brian Jagde, Joseph Kaiser, Quinn Kelsey, Kate Lindsey, Amanda Majeski, Ana María Martínez, Eric Owens, Ailyn Perez, Nicholas Phan, Susanna Phillips, Luca Pisaroni, Patricia Racette, Hugh Russell, Bo Skovhus, Garrett Sorenson, Heidi Stober, Christian Van Horn, Amber Wagner, Laura Wilde, and Catherine Wyn-Rogers. He has collaborated as a chamber musician with members of The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, the Lyric Opera of Chicago Orchestra, the Gewandhaus Orchester, and the Pro Arte String Quartet.

Please join us on Monday, September 28, 2026 for Prelude Season 62!

Questions? Please contact:
Eryn Bates Kemp at 816-415-7814 or batese@hjseries.org