Northwest instrumental, vocal ensembles to perform at Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts

Northwest Missouri State University’s Jazz Ensemble, Tower Choir and Wind Symphony will perform for a metropolitan audience next month at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts in Kansas City.

The concert is 7 p.m. Thursday, March 16, and tickets are free on a first-come, first-served basis. To reserve tickets, the general public may call the Kauffman Center, beginning Tuesday, March 7, at 816.994.7222, or visit www.kauffmancenter.org.

“The Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts is an unbelievably unique setting, acoustically and architecturally, attracting ensembles and touring companies from around the globe,” John Bell, the conductor of the Northwest Wind Symphony and artist-in-residence at the University, said. “Additionally, Helzberg Hall ranks among the top concert performance halls in the world, all of which will provide Northwest musicians with a truly unique experience.”

The concert provides a profession-based experience for Northwest musicians in a world-class performance hall as well as an opportunity to showcase the University’s top-tier ensembles. The program will feature Northwest ensembles performing jazz, choral and wind band music, offering the audience an opportunity to hear diverse music from the distinctly different genres.

Northwest music faculty members will join the ensembles, and the Jazz Ensemble will feature Northwest alumnus Nicholas Foster, a Kansas City native who is a teaching assistant at the University of Kentucky and the lead alto player in its top jazz ensemble. Other concert highlights will include the Wind Symphony’s performance of Julie Giroux’s “Voices in Green” with an audio-visual display and a combined performance of the Tower Choir and Wind Symphony on Ola Gjeilo’s “Meridian.”  

The Northwest Wind Symphony performed in 2018 inside Helzberg Hall at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts in Kansas City. (Photos by Todd Weddle/Northwest Missouri State University)

John Bell conducts the Wind Symphony and serves as an artist-in-residence at Northwest.

The Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, a major not-for-profit center for music, opera, theater and dance, opened in 2011 and serves as a cultural cornerstone for Kansas City and the region. Honored as one of the “World’s 15 Most Beautiful Concert Halls,” the Kauffman Center attracts some of the world’s most renowned performers and entertainers in addition to serving as the home of the Kansas City Ballet, Lyric Opera, Kansas City Symphony and other innovative programming.

The Kauffman Center’s 1,600-seat, oval-shaped Helzberg Hall is an intimate and immersive experience for performers as well as audiences. The distance from the stage to Helzberg Hall’s farthest seat is about 100 feet.

The concert marks the second appearance at the Kauffman Center for the Northwest Wind Symphony, which previously performed in Helzberg Hall in 2018 with two Kansas City area high schools. The Jazz Ensemble and Tower Choir are performing at Kauffman Center for the first time.

The Kauffman Center’s oval-shaped Helzberg Hall is an intimate and immersive experience for performers as well as audiences.

“Singing in Helzberg Hall at the Kauffman Center is like playing in the Super Bowl or driving a Bentley,” Dr. Adam Zrust, a Northwest assistant professor of music and conductor of the Tower Choir, said. “Acoustically, it is one of the finest performance venues in the country. For Northwest students, this will be an opportunity of a lifetime; they will remember this for the rest of their lives.”

The Northwest Jazz Ensemble, conducted by Professor of Music Dr. William Richardson, features a select group of musicians performing a variety of jazz and commercial music. In addition to performing multiple concerts on the Northwest campus each year, the ensemble regularly tours Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas and Missouri. It also has performed at the Missouri Music Educators Association (MMEA), the Nebraska Music Educators Association (NMEA) and the Glenn Miller Festival in Clarinda, Iowa. The ensemble annually sponsors a Northwest District Jazz Band performance and the Northwest Jazz Festival.

Tower Choir is an award-winning choral ensemble that performs for audiences at venues throughout the region. It is consistently invited to state conferences, including the MMEA and the NMEA, and it has performed at venues throughout the country, including Washington National Cathedral, as well as for the National Collegiate Choral Organization.

The Wind Symphony is the premiere wind band at Northwest, performing the best standard selections from a variety of styles and periods, including recent repertoire for wind band. The ensemble premieres new works and regularly performs with guest soloists and conductors. In addition to its performances for the MMEA and NMEA, the Wind Symphony, in 2017, was selected by a College Band Directors National Association peer review committee as one of 10 exemplary collegiate small band programs in the United States.

The Kauffman Center concert is made possible in part by an Academic Initiative Grant through Northwest’s College of Arts and Sciences and its dean, Dr. Michael Steiner.