These Kansas City musicians were just nominated for Grammy Awards
Some Kansas City classical musicians are becoming quite the regulars at Grammy Awards time.
On the nominations list announced Wednesday: Kansas City organist Jan Kraybill’s album “The Orchestral Organ,” recorded at Helzberg Hall on its Casavant organ, is up for three awards. In addition: Kansas City’s hometown diva Joyce DiDonato is nominated for best classical solo vocal album, and the latest album from Charles Bruffy and the Kansas City Chorale is up for producer of the year.
The Star’s classical music columnist Patrick Neas called Kraybill’s album “a stunner. Kraybill, who is also the conservator of the Casavant organ, is a one-woman orchestra whose renditions of Wagner, Tchaikovsky, Verdi and Sibelius will leave you slack-jawed.”
“The Orchestral Organ” is up for best classical instrumental solo, best immersive audio album and producer of the year (for Marina A. Ledin and Victor Ledin).
Kraybill performed with the Kansas City Symphony on 2015’s Grammy-nominated “Saint-Saëns: Symphony No. 3, ‘Organ.’”
You can hear Kraybill live this weekend when she accompanies the Kansas City Symphony on Strauss’ “Also Sprach Zarathustra” — the theme from “2001: A Space Odyssey.” Performances are Friday through Sunday in Helzberg Hall at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts.
DiDonato, the world-class mezzo-soprano who grew up in Prairie Village, was previously nominated for eight Grammys and won two. Now she’s up for her album “Songplay,” a mashup of Italian arias and the styles of jazz and the American Songbook. She collaborated with jazz musicians Craig Terry (piano), Charlie Porter (trumpet), Chuck Israels (bass) and Jimmy Madison (drums).
She’ll return to Kansas City May 29 with the early music band Il Pomo D’Oro for a concert in the Harriman-Jewell Series at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts.
Bruffy and the Chorale got a Grammy nod for exploring the little-known Celtic choral tradition in “Artifacts: The Music of Michael McGlynn.” Neas said of McGlynn’s music: “You can hear Ireland’s slate gray sky and emerald landscape in his lush but airy harmonies.”
The nomination is actually for multi-Grammy-winning producer Blanton Alspaugh, who won for the chorale’s 2012 album “Life and Breath.” (They’ll be competing against Kraybill’s album in the producer of the year category.) Most recently, Bruffy and the chorale won in 2016 for best choral recording for “Rachmaninoff: All-Night Vigil.”
The Kansas City Chorale has several concerts scheduled for the holiday season. See kcchorale.org.
In addition, Bill Brownlee, The Star’s freelance concert reviewer, points out some Kansas Citians who had a hand in albums nominated in other categories.
Saxophonist Logan Richardson, a KC native, plays on one track of Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah’ “Ancestral Recall,” nominated for best contemporary instrumental album.
And Justus West of Overland Park co-produced “Ballin’” by Mustard Featuring Roddy Ricch, which is up for best rap/sung performance.
The awards will be presented Jan. 26 on CBS.
This story was originally published November 20, 2019 at 1:05 PM.
