COVID puts organist’s annual Super Bowl concert online this year. That took creativity
What a difference a year makes.
In 2020, organist Jan Kraybill performed her free annual Super Bowl concert before an audience of 700 people at the Community of Christ Auditorium in Independence. That memorable recital, of course, preceded the Chiefs’ Super Bowl win.
This year, Kraybill will once again present a rousing pre-game concert before what we hope will be another Super Bowl victory for the Kansas City Chiefs. But in this year of COVID, the concert will not be held in front of a live audience, but pre-recorded and presented online at 2:30 p.m. Feb. 7.
Besides the Chiefs’ spectacular win, last year’s Super Bowl concert was memorable for Kraybill for another reason. She had just returned from a Grammy Awards ceremony where she was nominated for best classical instrument solo for “The Orchestral Organ,” her first solo CD.
“I was wearing my Grammy nominee medal and we were celebrating all sorts of things,” Kraybill said. “I had recently been in a building with 30,000 people and every seat was filled and there were parties. Wow, how much has changed in a year.”
After that high, 2020 soon took a turn for the worse. The pandemic struck, and Kraybill faced a wave of concert cancellations, making for a tough financial situation. To cap it all off, a big trip and party she planned for her 60th birthday in December had to be scrapped.
“It’s been rough, but also a good lesson in what you really need,” Kraybill said. “For my birthday I wasn’t on a trip and I didn’t have a party, but I was with my husband at home. Yeah, it was quiet, but it also reminded me that I have a lovely home, I have a comfortable place to be and I have a person that I love. I have grown to value what’s really important, and that’s not travel and possessions and the car you drive. There are more important things.”
Even though Kraybill’s usual lively concert schedule totally disappeared in 2020, she’s stayed incredibly busy. In addition to teaching online classes to others, she has been teaching herself new skills, as well.
“I have some video editing software now, so I’ve been learning how to edit videos for presenters to use as online offerings to replace my canceled concerts, or for me to share on Facebook. I now know what “frames per second” means, and I think of camera angles now. It makes me really appreciate those who are professionals in that field and the work that they do.”
Kraybill will be putting these skills to good use for her 22nd annual Super Bowl concert, which will utilize all three Community of Christ organ consoles, the Casavant organ at the Temple and the two consoles of the Aeolian-Skinner organ at the Community of Christ Auditorium. Through the miracle of multi-tracking, all three will be heard when Kraybill performs the Crown Imperial March by William Walton.
“The Auditorium irgan has two consoles, the main console that we always see and an antiphonal organ console you can play as a separate organ,” Kraybill said. “Along with the Temple organ, you’ll hear all three in that one piece. This video editing ability that I have now can make this happen.”
Kraybill is calling this year’s Super Bowl concert “Virtual Virtuosity.” She says she’s dedicating it to those who have responded to the challenges of the pandemic.
“In addition to the Chiefs, it’s about the virtuosos that really have been amazing during COVID,” Kraybill said. “I’m talking about first-responders and health care workers and teachers and students and parents. All of us who have had to reinvent ourselves. That’s who I want to honor with this concert.”
In addition to the music of Walton, Kraybill will also perform works by Herbert Howells, Paul Manz, Sigfrid Karg-Elert and, of course, Bach. One piece on the program, Variations on “The Star-Spangled Banner,” was written for and dedicated to Kraybill by Franklin Ashdown.
Kraybill, who is known for her love of Harley Davidson motorcycles, has a special affection for one of the composers on the program, Jehan Alain.
“Alain was killed in World War II,” Kraybill said. “He was in the French army and he encountered German troops he fought by himself. He fought with such bravery and courage and integrity, that after the war was over, both sides gave him awards. He was only 29 years old, and he was a motorcycle courier. So that makes him near and dear to my heart because he was a biker, too.”
2:30 p.m. Feb. 7. Free. Online only at cofchrist.org. For more about Jan Kraybill, jankraybill.com.
You can reach Patrick Neas at patrickneas@kcartsbeat.com and follow his Facebook page, KC Arts Beat, at www.facebook.com/kcartsbeat.