Argentina fans got a special musical gift from a pillar of the KC Symphony
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- Susan Goldenberg, 73, gave weekly porch concerts each Sunday in July.
- Goldenberg played national anthems this July and played Argentina’s for passing fans.
- A fan recorded her playing Argentina’s anthem and the video was shared on social media.
A day after Argentina’s pulsating 3-1 win over Switzerland in a World Cup quarterfinal match in Kansas City, a couple of the victorious team’s fans needed to wind down.
So they went for a walk on The Country Club Plaza. That decision resulted in one of the sweetest, most spontaneous Kansas City moments to happen during the World Cup.
Those Argentina fans strolled past the Monterey apartments on Wornall Road at the perfect time, because Susan Goldenberg was doing one of her weekly porch concerts.
Goldenberg, 73, has been a member of the first violin section of the Kansas City Symphony for 46 years. Previously, she was with the National Symphony of Costa Rica and the Charlotte Symphony in North Carolina.
Music is her life, and Goldenberg’s concerts have been a summer staple for years.
“Once when we had the pandemic, I and the symphony couldn’t play for a number of months, we were doing porch concerts,” Goldenberg said. “So where I live on the Plaza, it’s pretty well traversed. A lot of people could see my apartment. So I started doing porch concerts, and then every summer I kept it up because it was a lot of fun. Every Sunday in July.
“Usually I just play fun classical music, and then this year I decided to do all the national anthems. And where I live, near the Cascade Hotel, the Netherlands stayed there for the first couple weeks (of the World Cup). So I was playing their national anthem, too.”
Goldenberg said she went to the library and made Xerox copies of the national anthems of teams playing or staying in Kansas City. This past Sunday, she carried her music stand and multiple music books down three flights of stairs, as she does for each performance.
Soon after, the fans walked by in Argentina’s iconic sky-blue-and-white jerseys. That caught the eye of others enjoying her music.
“Some of my other friends that were listening to me shouted at them, ‘Where are you from?’” Goldenberg said. “And they said, ‘Oh, we’re from Argentina.’ And they were, of course, wearing shirts and everything. So I said, ‘Well, I have a special song for you.’”
Goldenberg then played Argentina’s national anthem. Fortunately, one of the fans took video that has been shared on social media.
It was such a quick encounter that Goldenberg didn’t get their names, but she did pose for a photo with one of the fans. One of the people to comment was Manuel Arias, who is from Buenos Aires and is currently living in Miami.
He apparently was the man enjoying Goldenberg’s music.
“In a second you find a lady so polite and nice playing the violin, and suddenly the Argentinian anthem is heard!” Arias wrote in a translated message. “Then I found out from the networks that she played the Violin on @kcsymphony 40 years ago! What a genius!!!”
Those Argentina fans were the first international visitors to stop at Goldenberg’s porch concert, she said, but her first performance this month drew others who were in Kansas City for the World Cup.
“It’s been a real plus for our town,” Goldenberg said of the World Cup. “People have been really polite and open-minded, especially around the Plaza. And I’ve lived there my whole life in an apartment.
“People are pretty responsive and upbeat about it, and they can take the streetcar, and so it’s it’s been a fun time. I think Kansas City’s really shown as a great, warm, open-minded city, very friendly.”
Between the matches at Kansas City (Arrowhead) Stadium and watch parties at Fan Fest, the Power & Light District and elsewhere, Kansas Citians thrived. Big crowds of visitors were entertained at events all around town during the World Cup.
Goldenberg’s impromptu concert for two Argentina fans showed that even smaller moments left an impact — not only on visitors, but Kansas Citians, too. The past month has been about much more than soccer.
“It was just lovely to have someone, and you brought their national anthem, and I felt like after he took a picture of me, I thought they’ll always remember this,” Goldenberg said. “You know that even if they won the World Cup, they’ll remember there was someone that brought their music to them also. So I think that’s really important. Music is a great way of bringing people together.”
