At this KC-area concert: Classical music for ‘people who don’t like classical music’
The Requiem by French composer Maurice Duruflé is considered one of the great sacred masterpieces of the 20th century. Composed in 1947, the work has an impressionistic, ethereal quality that requires a highly skilled choir to fully convey its glories.
Luckily, the Grammy Award-winning Kansas City Chorale conducted by Charles Bruffy is more than up to the task. The group will perform the Duruflé Requiem on March 8 at Village Presbyterian Church.
Duruflé was devoted to Gregorian chant, and his Requiem is based on plainchant themes taken from the traditional Catholic Mass of the Dead. The work also has a distinctive Gallic quality, which it shares with Fauré’s Requiem, written 60 years earlier in 1887.
“Melodically, they’re both very French,” Bruffy said. “Especially with the Duruflé. It’s based completely on plainchant, and so the melodic material is quite lean, but very genuine, sincere, meaningful and heartfelt. It’s written with organ, and that’s also in some ways French. The way the organ shimmers and undulates is a real French tickle.”
The organist will be Kurt Knecht, the organist for St. Paul’s Episcopal Church.
Duruflé was not a prolific composer, which is attributed to his perfectionism, a quality that Bruffy shares.
“Perfection is never easy, but that’s always our goal,” he said. “The quality of the sound is just so supreme, and then varying the colors of vocal production through the harmonies, it really makes it tactile and magical.”
Helping Bruffy and his 25-voice choir achieve that magical sound will be two soloists, mezzo-soprano Julia Scozzafava and baritone Patrick Graham.
“Patrick is relatively new to the chorale,” Bruffy said. “Julia actually sang the ‘Pie Jesu’ section when we did it in 2012, so she’s been with us for a long time, which is great. A good number of our singers have been with us for a long time, so they know how we do things.”
Bruffy says that one of the ways the chorale does things is by paying special attention to text pronunciation and enunciation, so the words are inflected in a speech-like way.
“Another way we do things is an insistence on a rarefied blend of voice and intent,” Bruffy said. “When the sopranos sing ‘In Paradisum,’ they sound like one, perfect voice. The blend of voices and the unified commitment is one of the hallmarks of the chorale. Another way we do things is that the softs, they are soft, and the louds are compellingly fortissimo.”
The Kansas City Chorale is obviously doing things right. The group has won three Grammy Awards, including best choral performance for their 2015 recording of Rachmaninoff’s “All-night Vigil.”
Their all-Duruflé program will include two other works, his “Notre Père” (“Our Father”) and Four Motets on Gregorian Themes.
“You’ll be out the door in an hour and 15 minutes,” Bruffy said. “My next-door neighbor was raised on Johnny Cash, and she loves what we do. That’s a huge compliment, I think. Those who are familiar with the art form appreciate what we do. For those who are not familiar with what we do, or are maybe less informed about the intricacies of our performances, it’s still very enjoyable, so people who don’t like classical music will still love this.”
7:30 p.m. March 8. Village Presbyterian Church, 6641 Mission Road, Prairie Village. $20-$25. 816-444-7150 kcchorale.org.
Harriman-Jewell Series — Ema Nikolovska
The Harriman-Jewell Series continues its illustrious history of American recital debuts when it presents Macedonian-Canadian mezzo-soprano Ema Nikolovska on March 6 at the Folly Theater.
Even though this is her American recital debut, Nikolovska has already been making a splash, winning awards left and right and appearing in prestigious concert halls around the world. Her program will include songs by Richard Strauss, Schubert and Debussy.
7 p.m. March 6. Folly Theater, 300 W. 12th St. $12.50-$80. 816-415-5025 or hjseries.org.
Park ICM — Stanislav and Friends
The annual star-studded extravaganza “Stanislav and Friends” will take place March 8 at Helzberg Hall, presented by Park University’s International Center for Music.
Van Cliburn International Piano Competition gold medalist and ICM artistic director Stanislav Ioudenitch will get a workout on the second half of the program. He’ll perform Mozart’s Concerto for Two Pianos with the esteemed 90-year-old Russian pianist Mikhail Voskresensky, who recently fled Russia to protest its invasion of Ukraine.
And then he’ll be joined by his superstar protégé, Behzhod Abduraimov, for Poulenc’s Concerto for Two Pianos. Bruce Sorrell will conduct the Kansas City Chamber Orchestra.
7 p.m. March 8. Helzberg Hall, Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. $23-$58. icm.park.edu.
You can reach Patrick Neas at patrickneas@kcartsbeat.com and follow his Facebook page, KC Arts Beat, at www.facebook.com/kcartsbeat.
This story was originally published March 1, 2024 at 5:30 AM.