Kauffman Center Announces Their Inaugural Season, Opens 9/16

By: Jul. 13, 2011
Enter Your Email to Unlock This Article

Plus, get the best of BroadwayWorld delivered to your inbox, and unlimited access to our editorial content across the globe.




Existing user? Just click login.

The Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, opening in downtown Kansas City, Missouri on September 16, 2011, announced today its 2011-2012 season, featuring a diverse array of classical, jazz, and pop music, opera, ballet and contemporary dance, Broadway, comedy, lectures, and more. The inaugural season features legendary performing artists, including Aretha Franklin, Mavis Staples, Philip Glass, and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, among others. The Kauffman Center's three resident companies-the Kansas City Ballet, the Kansas City Symphony, and the Lyric Opera of Kansas City-will also present seasons filled with world premieres, acclaimed guest artists, and a new production.

"The Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts will play a dynamic role in our community, not only by inviting the greatest artists from around the world to perform in our spectacular new halls, but also by providing opportunities for local, regional, and student performing arts organizations to perform at the Center," said Jane Chu, CEO of the Kauffman Center. "In our first season, there is something for everyone at the Kauffman Center, and audiences will be able to experience the performing arts in Kansas City in an entirely new way."

Five world premiere performances will take place at the Kauffman Center in its first year, with the debut of three new works performed by the Kansas City Symphony, including one written by Chen Yi, a professor at the University of Missouri Kansas City; the Kansas City Ballet's performance of Tom Sawyer, composed by Maury Yeston and choreographed by the Ballet's artistic director William Whitener; and a multi-media chamber music piece based on the life of Charles Darwin. Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, which has made Kansas City its second home outside of New York, will perform at the Kauffman Center in its first tour under artistic director Robert Battle. Other highlights of the inaugural season include nine performances in the Harriman-Jewell Series, Kansas City's venerable performing arts presenter, including the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra and Parsons Dance, and two performances from the city's ten-day Bach Festival, featuring pianist Konstantin Lifschitz.

The Kauffman Center's inaugural season also features performances by local performing arts organizations, including the Kansas City Chamber Orchestra and the Heartland Men's Chorus, and student performances by the Youth Symphony of Kansas City and the University of Missouri Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Dance.

In addition to providing performance venues for many of Kansas City's performing arts organizations, the Kauffman Center has created four new series that will appeal to a wide variety of audiences: the American Legends Series, showcasing artists who are masters of their genres and have been instrumental in defining American culture; the Destinations Series, a series to introduce audiences to high quality experiences offered by performing artists and groups from around the world; the Vanguard Series, presenting artists who have pushed the boundaries and redefined their art forms and a National Geographic Speaker Series, featuring dynamic National Geographic explorers, scientists, photographers, and filmmakers. Tickets for these series, as well as single tickets for all performances at the Kauffman Center, will go on sale August 30 and can be purchased through the Center's box office at 816-994-7222 or online at www.kauffmancenter.org.



Videos