Composer bridges Indian and classical worlds. Kansas City choir to perform her work

“The Lamps may be different, but the Light is the same

“All religions, all this singing, one song.”

Those lines by the Sufi poet and mystic Rumi are just part of the texts taken from the world’s religions and set by Indian American composer Reena Esmail in her choral work “This Love Between Us.” The work celebrates what unites the world’s various faiths, especially the concept of the Golden Rule, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

Recognizing the universality of Bach’s music, Esmail wrote “This Love Between Us” to be performed on the same program as the Lutheran composer’s Magnificat. The Spire Chamber Ensemble conducted by Ben Spalding will perform both works on Nov. 20 at Country Club Christian Christian Church. The concert will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the church.

The concert will also mark the first time the Spire Chamber Ensemble has presented a live indoor concert since its performance of Bach’s Mass in B minor on March 7, 2020. For this important event, Spalding thought Esmail and Bach would fit the bill perfectly.

“It just didn’t feel right to not address what we’ve all been through the last 18 or 20 months,” Spalding said. “The pandemic, the loss of life, as well as the political discord, the social unrest. We wanted a piece that would comment on the world around us and to use the power of text to promote better things, to promote unity and how we are more alike than we are different.”

Esmail’s text draws on everything from various Buddhist sutras to one of the Upanishads and St. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans.

“She incorporates all these major religions, Buddhism, Sikhism, Christianity, Zoroastrianism, Hinduism, Jainism and Islam,” Spalding said. “We have to sing in seven Hindustani languages, which are completely different from anything we’ve ever done before. The composer is coaching us. She’s made a wonderful audio guide and has done separate coaching with the various soloists.”

Spalding says that Bach’s setting of Mary’s hymn of praise is an ideal complement to Esmail’s work.

“A lot of scholars look at the Magnificat as a social justice piece because the text is about the lowly being lifted up and the proud being brought down,” he said. “That would have been quite the political statement. Especially the way Bach sets it. Reena sees the connection between her work and how the Magnificat focuses on social justice issues.”

Bach composed the Magnificat as a celebratory work after he got the job as music director at St.Thomas Church in Leipzig. And he pulled out all the stops, using a full baroque orchestra including trumpets and timpani. The Spire Chamber Ensemble will perform the work on authentic period instruments.

Esmail was drawn to not only the message of Bach’s Magnificat, but also its instrumentation. “This Love Between Us” is one of the very few contemporary works written for authentic period instruments of the 18th century. There will, however, be the intriguing addition of sitar and tabla.

“Rajib Karmakar is coming from L.A. to play the sitar,” Spalding said. “It’s a very demanding, virtuosic sitar part. And Amit Choudhury will play the tabla, the classical Indian percussion instrument.”

Spalding says the concert is a fitting way to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Country Club Christian Church, a congregation noted for its commitment to social justice.

“‘This Love Between Us’ is powerful and asks questions,” Spalding said. “That’s the goal of art, to ask questions and to consider other people’s stories. And then that teaches us empathy. I think it will be a beautiful gift to our Kansas City community.”

7:30 p.m. Nov. 20. Country Club Christian Church, 6101 Ward Parkway. Free but reservations required. spirechamberensemble.org.

Park ICM Piano Studio in Recital

Six of Stanislav Ioudenitch’s piano students at the Park University International Center for Music will perform incredibly virtuosic piano music on Nov. 19 at the 1900 Building. And check out the price. Such a deal for this level of musicianship.

“Student” might give the wrong impression. Ioudenitch, a Van Cliburn International Piano Competition gold medalist, only picks the cream of the crop to study with him in Parkville. He takes these young performers and shapes them into world-class artists who can hold their own on the concert stages of the world.

The concert will showcase Ilya Shmukler, Sihao Qin, Kyoshiro Hirama, Anastasia Vorotnaya, Sergey Belyavsky and Kuok-Wai Lio. They play music by Liszt, Chopin, Saint-Saëns and Mozart. Qin will play “Le Gibet” from Gaspard de la Nuit by Maurice Ravel, generally considered one of the most devilishly difficult works for keyboard.

And, to top it all off, Kenny Broberg, who recently won the 2021 American Pianists Award, will conclude the concert with the Sonata No. 2 in E minor “Night Wind” by Nikolai Medtner.

Medtner was good friends with Rachmaninoff, who considered Medtner the greatest composer of his time. Medtner shares with Rachmaninoff an over-the-top romanticism that requires almost superhuman pianism. It should be a powerhouse conclusion to a memorable concert.

7:30 p.m. Nov. 19. 1900 Building, 1900 Shawnee Mission Parkway, Mission Woods. $10-$30. icm.park.edu.

Schubert’s ‘Die Schöne Müllerin’

I can’t think of a more refined way to spend your lunch hour than listening to the songs of Franz Schubert performed live. The Westport Center for the Arts will present tenor Aaron Barksdale-Burns, accompanied by pianist John Mueter, in a performance of Schubert’s “Die Schöne Müllerin,” (The Fair Maid of the Mill) at noon Nov. 19 at Westport Presbyterian Church.

The song cycle, based on poems by Wilhelm Müller, tells of a humble young journeyman whose unrequited love leads to obsession, morbid fantasy and (spoiler alert) suicide. Along with “Winterreise,” it is considered one of Schubert’s masterpieces and a supreme achievement in German art song.

Noon Nov. 19., Westport Presbyterian Church, 201 Westport Road. Free. wcakc.org.

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