‘Powerhouse of talent.’ William Baker Festival musicians offer beloved composer’s work

It says something about the stature of Kansas City’s classical music reputation when the son of the great English conductor Andrew Davis makes his mark as a composer right here in river city.

The music of Ed Frazier Davis will be showcased in a gala concert featuring the William Baker Festival Singers and Symphony Orchestra, the Concert Choir of William Jewell College, conducted by Anthony Maglione, and soprano Sarah Tannehill Anderson March 6 at Helzberg Hall. None other than Andrew Davis will conduct the orchestra.

Obviously, being the son of the conductor laureate of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and the Chicago Lyric Opera meant Ed Davis grew up surrounded by music. But it was traditional Anglican choral music that captured his heart.

“Back when I was a wee lad, I went to a preparatory school which had a good amount of singing in it,” Davis said. “We would go to daily service and sing the Lord’s Prayer.”

After studying at Knox College and the Chicago College of Performing Arts, Davis looked for graduate schools to pursue an advanced degree in composition. He wanted to find a school in a city that had a great choral scene.

“I knew about Kansas City primarily because of the Kansas City Chorale,” Davis said. “I found UMKC and saw that Chen Yi and Zhou Long and Jim Mobberley were all there. How amazing.”

Davis eventually graduated from the University of Missouri-Kansas City’s Conservatory of Music and Dance and has since devoted himself to composing music, while also singing in local choirs and occasionally driving for Uber.

He has been embraced by Kansas City’s classical community and his gifts as a composer have been appreciated and nurtured. One of Davis’ great champions is William Baker, founder and conductor of the William Baker Festival Singers.

“Not a week goes by that our office fails to receive a submission from a composer,” Baker said. “Most of it is formulaic, cookie-cutter stuff. Ed’s music is different. Each piece is a new creation.

“The man does not write with tracing paper like so many modern composers. That is one of the things that makes performing an entire concert of his music challenging, but all the more thrilling.”

Andrew Davis also appreciates his son’s originality.

“Almost the first inkling of Ed’s serious talent came when, after the death of my father, he sent me an absolutely beautiful a cappella setting of the opening words of the Requiem Mass,” Andrew Davis said. “It was only the second piece he had written. Though it showed the influence of Russian Orthodox music — Rachmaninoff’s Vespers was an early favorite of his — it nevertheless spoke with an original voice.”

Davis’ varied and unique style will be on full display in a concert devoted entirely to his music. Davis composed one of the works for Anderson, whom he calls “the finest coloratura soprano I have ever heard.” There will also be a cappella works, like his “O Magnum Mysterium” and the concert will conclude with a large scale piece, “The Seven Last Words of Christ,” for chorus and orchestra.

“That piece uses the full force of the orchestra,” Davis said. “It has more grandiosity per square inch.”

Davis appreciates the respect KC area musicians have shown his music, and that love is requited.

“I think the William Baker Festival Singers have a passion and drive that I have not seen in an amateur chorus like them,” Davis said.

“They have such an impressive mastery of different choral styles and great enthusiasm. And there’s something interesting about college-age choirs like the William Jewell Choir.

“This concert will feature a real powerhouse of talent. And Sir Andrew’s Kansas City debut. I’m thrilled to be working with these people.”

8 p.m. March 6. Helzberg Hall, Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. $25-$100. www.festivalsingers.org.

Lyric Opera of Kansas City — Lucia di Lammermoor

Gaetano Donizetti’s opera “Lucia di Lammermoor” has a whiff of “Game of Thrones” and “Outlander” about it. Sir Walter Scott’s story of a feud between the Ashton and Ravenswood families and the title heroine caught in the middle should appeal to those who enjoy romantic intrigue and conflict set among the castles and brooding atmosphere of Scotland.

The Lyric Opera of Kansas City will present “Lucia di Lammermoor” for four performances at the Muriel Kauffman Theatre beginning March 7.

The Lyric’s production stars Sarah Coburn in the title role, famous for one of opera’s great mad scenes. Coburn, who has performed all over the world with companies like the Metropolitan Opera and the Vienna Opera, has made something of a specialty of bel canto roles. Lucia is one of the most challenging roles in the repertoire, requiring not only incredible vocal prowess but also a flair for dramatic acting.

7:30 p.m. March 7, 11 and 13 and 2 p.m. March 15. Muriel Kauffman Theatre, Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. $36-$205. 816-471-7344 or www.kcopera.org.

Friends of Chamber Music — Pavel Haas Quartet with pianist Boris Giltburg

The Friends of Chamber Music will present the Pavel Haas Quartet in a concert of two beloved chamber works and a quartet by a not-so-well-known composer March 6 at the Folly.

The concert will open with “The Midsummer Quartet” by the contemporary Slovak composer Ľubica Cekovská. According to the Estonian composer Arvo Pärt, “You can feel purity, austerity and dramatic feeling in her works….her music radiates with feelings of freshness and the joy of living… beauty and seriousness.”

The rest of the concert will be devoted to much more familiar, romantic repertoire. After the Pavel Haas Quartet performs Tchaikovsky’s richly melodic String Quartet in E-Flat Minor, the group will be joined by pianist Boris Giltburg for Dvorak’s Piano Quintet in A Major, Opus 81, which draws on Czech folk tunes and rhythms.

7:30 p.m. March 6. Folly Theater, 300 W. 12th. $35. 816-561-9999 or www.chambermusic.org.

Kansas City Jazz Orchestra — Havana to Ipanema

The Kansas City Jazz Orchestra, led by trumpeter Clint Ashlock, will present “Havana to Ipanema” March 7 at Helzberg Hall. The concert will feature jazz classics by Latin artists like Tito Puente, Poncho Sanchez and Antônio Carlos Jobim. There’s nothing like Latin music to lift the spirits, loosen the body and warm the soul, and nobody can heat up Helzberg Hall like the Kansas City Jazz Orchestra.

8 p.m. March 7. Helzberg Hall, Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. $42-$67. 816-994-7222 or www.kcjo.org.

Kansas City Chorale — Prairie Bluegrass

The Kansas City Chorale, conducted by Charles Bruffy, will be pickin’ and grinnin’ March 7 at the 1900 Building and March 8 at St. John’s United Methodist Church. “Prairie Bluegrass” will feature local bluegrass musicians joining the Grammy-winning chorale for a program of hymns, spirituals and toe-tapping Americana.

7:30 p.m. March 7 at the 1900 Building, 1900 Shawnee Mission Parkway, Mission Woods, Kansas, and 2 p.m. March 8 at St. John’s United Methodist Church, 6900 Ward Parkway. $25-$30. www.kcchorale.org.

You can reach Patrick Neas at patrickneas@kcartsbeat.com and follow his Facebook page, KC Arts Beat, at www.facebook.com/kcartsbeat.