Join us for our 38th Season!
2024 – 2025 Season concerts
Vino & Violins
Sunday, June 1, 2025
5:30 p.m.
Cru Bistro & Bottles
128 West 63rd Street
Kansas City, MO​​​​​​​
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Bruce Sorrell, conductor
This incredible event is an elegant 4 course meal paired with international wines and beautiful music by the KC Chamber Orchestra string quartet - a real celebration of the end of the concert season and great way to launch and support the 2025–26 concert season of KC's professional chamber orchestra!
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The beautiful new Cru Bistro & Bottles in Brookside, and owners Avery Bailey and Hannah Koenig will be the hosts of this year’s exciting event. KCCO Music Director Bruce Sorrell will preside over an evening of music and wines, each paired with the special multi-course menu. Wine tasting and music notes will accompany each course. Don’t forget a silent auction and some special surprises will add to the fun! Please join us!
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Tables of 4 to 8, patron levels include prime seating and special gifts. For any additional information or to order by phone, leave a message with KC Chamber Orchestra office at (816) 960-1324.
​5:30 PM - 6:15 PM
Greetings, Cocktails and Silent Auction
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6:15 PM
Wine Tasting, Dinner and Music begins
Bruce Sorrell, conductor
Spring Glories!
Thursday, May 1, 2025
7:30 p.m.
Country Club Christian Church
6101 Ward Pkwy
Kansas City, MO​​​​​​​
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Bruce Sorrell, conductor
Folk music has always been a source of inspiration for composers, and the Danish String Quartet continues to enthrall the world with their arrangements of folk tunes from their native Scandinavia. Their Nordic Suite for strings is a delicious, tuneful, energetic trip through the folksongs of Northern Europe.
Aaron Copland’s music came to define the “American” sound during the 20th century, and his Appalachian Spring is perhaps the most iconic work of that whole era. From its expansive opening harmonies to the final exuberant setting of the Shaker tune “Simple Gifts,” the score is a masterpiece. The glorious, inventive music makes it a perennial favorite, heard in this performance in its original instrumentation for 13 instruments.
One of the most evocative works for solo violin is Ralph Vaughan Williams’s The Lark Ascending. Depicting the skylark dipping and soaring, the music emerges from a breathless hush and climbs to the ether above, inspired by the lines from George Meredith’s poem, “He rises and begins to round, / He drops the silver chain of sound.”
American composer Samuel Barber is from the same era as Copland, and his iconic Adagio for Strings is one of the most well-known works of all time. On this concert, we will hear his earlier Serenade for Strings.
Program​
Samuel Barber Serenade for Strings
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Ralph Vaughan Williams The Lark Ascending
Rena Ishii, Violin soloist
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Danish String Quartet Nordic Suite
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Aaron Copland Appalachian Spring
Bruce Sorrell, conductor
Love is in the Air
Friday, February 14, 2025
6:30 p.m.
The Magnolia Brookside
624 E 63rd St, Kansas City, MO​​​​​​​
Or call (816) 960-1324 for tickets
Love is in the Air will be a special evening featuring a cozy, romantic dinner and concert at the Magnolia-Brookside. The event includes dinner, wine, chocolates, and a musical program of romantic chamber music.
Single tickets (concert and 3 course dinner) are available for $100 or $125 each for a limited number of “Sweetheart Tables” for two. Reservations are required and can be made at Eventbrite—just click Order tickets! above—or call (816) 960-1324.
This intimate evening will feature a wind ensemble of KCCO players including flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons and horns—performers that aren’t often featured on their own. Pre-concert entertainment during dinner will precede the formal program.
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KCCO Music Director Bruce Sorrell programmed the works for this Valentine’s concert—something that has been a tradition and a favorite for the KC Chamber Orchestra.
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Mozart took the 'serenade' and elevated it into art. The serenade in the 18th Century was literally music to be played outdoors in the late evening. The image of a lover being serenaded is not far off! It rather obviously lends itself to a Valentine's concert. The idea to program this came as a suggestion for some audience members when we were discussing Mozart. It is a work we performed in our very first season back in 1988 and only one other time in 1991, and it is a delight to bring it back after nearly 25 years.
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The Gounod 'Petite Symphonie' is truly a delightful French bon-bon for winds with toe-tapping march music and lilting tunes throughout. The gorgeous slow movement is the kind of music that makes you glad to be alive, heart-meltingly beautiful.
This all-winds concert gives us a chance to hear the wind players of the KCCO—flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, and horn—in all their glory!
Program​
Amy Beach Pastorale
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Charles Gounod Petite Symphonie
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W.A. Mozart Serenade No. 11 in E-flat, K. 375
Bruce Sorrell, conductor
The Joy of the Holidays!
Tuesday, December 3, 2024
7:30 p.m.
Old Mission Methodist Church
5519 State Park Rd, Fairway, KS​​​​​​​
In December, Vivaldi’s “Gloria” returns after nearly a decade in our seasonal "Baroque by Candlelight" concert. The KCCO will welcome the choral ensemble Cardinalis for the performance.
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There is nothing quite like music from the Baroque to usher in the holidays. Bach’s Concerto for Violin and Oboe delights with the virtuosity and sonorities of both instruments. It is hard to believe that this gorgeous work was reconstructed from a concerto for two harpsichords!
Vivaldi’s ‘Winter’ is a marvel of wintry soundscapes. From chattering teeth to slipping on ice, from sitting by the fireside listening to the cold rain to a biting north wind, it is a masterwork.
Vivaldi’s ‘Gloria’ is a work that resonates with audiences and performers alike. It is celebratory and reflective, and deeply moving. With chorus, two soloists, and small orchestra, it provides an emotional and visceral experience of joy.
Program​
G.F. Handel Concerto Grosso in G Major, Op. 6, No. 1 in G major
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J.S. Bach Concerto for Violin and Oboe in C Minor
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Antonio Vivaldi 'Winter' from the Four Seasons
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Antonio Vivaldi Gloria​
with Cardinalis choral ensemble
Cardinalis choral ensemble
Bruce Sorrell, conductor
Mad About Mozart!
Wednesday, October 9, 2024
7:30 p.m.
Grace & Holy Trinity Cathedral
415 W 13th St, Kansas City, MO​​​​​​​
Conducted by Music Director Bruce Sorrell, this concert opens the season with a fabulous feast of great Mozart favorites! Starting the 38th KCCO season with a countdown to our 40th season with Mozart's 38th Symphony -- and featuring incredible young pianist Yangrui Cai - one of Park International Center for Music's most exciting and award winning pianists.
Program​
W.A. Mozart Impresario Overture
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W.A. Mozart Piano Concerto No. 24 in C minor, K. 491
Yangrui Cai, piano soloist
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W.A. Mozart Symphony No. 38 in D Major, “Prague”​
Bruce Sorrell, conductor
Yangrui Cai, piano
Music in the Garden
Sunday, September 22, 2024
5 p.m. – Picnic Fare, Beer and Wine
from local KC Food Trucks!
6:00 p.m. – Concert
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John Wornall House Museum
6115 Wornall Road, Kansas City
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Carolyn Watson, conductor
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We appreciate registration through Eventbrite to give us an idea of how many to prepare for, but plenty of room for walk-ins too!
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Come early with chairs, blankets and an appetite! The program will include a selection of gorgeous string orchestra tunes, a symphony based on the Don Juan stories, and an exciting horn concerto by Mozart! Join the KCCO musicians and guest conductor Carolyn Watson as they bring you the
adventure of live music in the open air!
Season Ticket holders – we have reserved seats for you! Please register on Eventbrite or call the office to let us know you will be coming to the concert. You may bring friends to join you. You can reach the office to reserve your seats by calling (816) 960-1324.
Program
Benjamin Britten Simple Symphony
Antonio Vivaldi Concerto for 4 Violins in B Minor
Stacy Garrop Repair the World
W.A. Mozart Symphony No. 27 in G
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Britten’s Simple Symphony is a delightful work. Part of its charm lies in the basis of the thematic material – Britten used melodies he himself had written as a child. The piece offers descriptive titles for all its movements. Opening with a ‘Boisterous Bourrée, it segues into a Playful Pizzicato which gives way to a Sentimental Sarabande before ending with a Frolicsome Finale. As the orchestra can attest, the title belies the technical challenges of the work in that it is not at all simple to play!
With such an array of fantastic soloists within our ranks, it made sense to select something which featured more than one soloist and hence the selection of Vivaldi’s well-known Concerto for Four Violins in B Minor. Using the standard three movement format of fast-slow-fast, this energetic piece will feature KCCO violinists (insert name of soloists here).
And now in a change of pace, we have a work by Stacey Garrop who hails from Chicago. This piece – Repair the World – was written very recently in 2022 in response to the July 4 parade shooting in Highland Park. As such it is a beautifully contemplative work for string orchestra.
Performed only once previously by the KCCO, is our final work on the program, Mozart’s Symphony No. 27. To our string forces we have added two flutes and two horns, a somewhat interesting combination. The piece is in three movements, Allegro, Andantino and Presto. Both the first and last movements are in triple time in a reminder of the original Italian Overture format from which the symphony evolved.