Brian Wilson returning to the Kauffman Center for Greatest Hits Live!
The Beach Boys co-founder to perform November 13, 2018 in Muriel Kauffman Theatre
Kansas City, MO – Returning to the Kauffman Center after his sold-out performance in 2016, Beach Boys co-founder Brian Wilson will perform his Greatest Hits Live, with special guests Al Jardine and Blondie Chaplin, November 13.
Brian Wilson is one of popular music’s most deeply revered figures, the main creative force behind some of the most cherished recordings in rock history. Indeed, it is no exaggeration to call him one of the most influential composers of the last century.
ABOUT BRIAN WILSON
Wilson’s remarkable journey began in a modest Hawthorne, California home that was filled with music. Barely out of his teens, Wilson began to create some of the most beloved records ever with nine consecutive “gold” albums that featured such classics as “Surfer Girl,” “In My Room,” “I Get Around,” “Don’t Worry Baby,” “Fun, Fun, Fun,” “Help Me Rhonda” and “California Girls,” just to name a handful of the more than two dozen Top 40 hits he co-wrote, arranged, produced, and performed on with his family band, the Beach Boys.
Wilson’s ground-breaking work on the album Pet Sounds and the single “Good Vibrations” re-wrote the rules of what a pop album or single could be. His solo record SMiLE, released in 2004, had been anticipated by music fans since the late 1960s. Wilson is a Kennedy Center Honors recipient, a Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee and a multiple-GRAMMY Award-winner. With The Beach Boys, he was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1988 and honored with The Recording Academy’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2001. Wilson continues to dazzle audiences with his lyrical and harmonic masterpieces, old and new.
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FUTURE STAGES FESTIVAL 2018
On Sunday June 10th, 2018 the Kauffman Center for Performing Arts held its 5th Annual Future Stages Festival as part of the Kauffman Center’s Open Doors Spotlight on Youth program designed to share the Kauffman Center’s stages with a wide range of local artists and youth performers. Future Stages Festival provided area youth with the chance to exhibit and celebrate a variety of performing arts disciplines.
Future Stages Festival has been inviting all ages to experience the arts while showcasing diverse performance styles on the Kauffman Center’s stages for the past five years. Since 2014, the festival has:
Planet Play at Future Stages Festival
– Featured 3,500+ youth performers
– Highlighted 60+ community arts performance groups
– Welcome 25,000+ guests
– And presented dozens of arts activities for guests of all ages
Kansas City and its surrounding region are home to thousands of talented youth artists, each with dreams of performing on the big stage. Sharing the stage and spotlight with national and international performers, the Kauffman Center is committed to recognizing local youth performers’ talents at this annual event. Future Stages Festival provided young people from all performing art disciplines and styles the opportunity to perform at Kansas City’s most recognized performing arts venue. This free event also gave families a chance to come celebrate and have fun supporting local organizations, and youth performers.
This year the festival welcomed more than 5000 attendees, featured more than 30 community arts organizations, and showcased nearly 700 youth artists performing on four Kauffman Center stages, including the Saint Luke’s Outdoor Stage, Muriel Kauffman Theatre, Helzberg Hall, and new this year, to celebrate the festival’s fifth year, a new Community Stage . This new space showcased small performance groups and engaged audience members with a stage combat training session and dance workshops.
FUTURE STAGES FESTIVAL 2019
Groups that would like to perform at next year’s Future Stages Festival, are invited to apply at the end of 2018.
Applications will be available here: https://www.kauffmancenter.org/open-doors/future-stages-festival/
ABOUT THE OPEN DOORS PROGRAM
The Kauffman Center’s Open Doors program offers transportation subsidies for schools to attend matinee programs, provides free community tickets to non-profit agencies, and designs opportunities for students to engage with Kauffman Center staff through workshops and internships. Through its various initiatives, the Open Doors program is vital to the Kauffman Center’s efforts to promote and invest in arts advocacy.
The Kauffman Center Open Doors program connects young people to the arts through three major components:
– The Open Doors Spotlight on Youth initiative contains several programs that inspire and nurture the next generation of artists, arts patrons, and arts professionals with access to the Kauffman Center’s staff, stages, and resources.
– The Open Doors Community Tickets program offers access to programming at the Kauffman Center for youth and families through reduced-price or free tickets.
– The Open Doors Transportation Fund offers funding to schools in the metropolitan area so that bringing students to the Kauffman Center for school matinee performances is more affordable.
Photo by Cody Boston
More information is available at kauffmancenter.org/open-doors.
Anoushka Shankar coming to the Kauffman Center
Renowned sitar player and composer will perform March 13 in Helzberg Hall
Kansas City, MO – Renowned sitar player and composer Anoushka Shankar will perform a blend of classical Indian and experimental music on March 13 in Helzberg Hall at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts.
A singular figure in the Indian classical and progressive world music scenes, Anoushka Shankar’s dynamic and spiritual musicality has garnered numerous prestigious accolades, including six GRAMMY Award nominations, a Songlines Best Artist Award, and recognition as the youngest – and first female – recipient of a British House of Commons Shield. She was credited as an “Asian Hero” by TIME Magazine, and she recently became one of the first five female composers to have been added to the UK A-level music syllabus.
ABOUT ANOUSHKA SHANKAR
Deeply rooted in the Indian Classical music tradition, Anoushka Shankar studied exclusively from the age of nine under her father and guru, the late Ravi Shankar, and made her professional debut as a classical sitarist at the age of 13. By the age of 20, Anoushka had made three classical recordings for EMI/Angel, which earned her first GRAMMY nomination as the first Indian female and youngest ever nominee in the World Music category. She received her second GRAMMY nomination with the release of her self-produced breakthrough album Rise. Following this nomination, Anoushka became the first Indian artist to perform at the GRAMMY Awards.
In addition to her work as a solo artist, Shankar’s compositional work has led to cross-cultural collaborations with artists such as Sting, M.I.A, Herbie Hancock, Pepe Habichuela, Karsh Kale, Rodrigo y Gabriela and Joshua Bell.
In her Kauffman Center performance, Shankar will reflect on her journey so far, drawing on classical ragas, referencing her experiences and experimenting with new ideas in a dialogue that showcases the versatility of the sitar across musical genres. The program features Shankar on sitar, with musicians Ojas Adhiya (tabla), Pirashanna Thevarajah (mridangam), Ravichandra Kulur (flute), Danny Keane (cello and piano), and Kenji Ota (tanpura).
Shankar’s artistic output increasingly seeks to reflect her impassioned support of women’s rights and social justice. Shethrew her weight behind the One Billion Rising campaign on Change.org to end worldwide violence against women. Following this, she took part in a special panel on violence against women at the annual Hindustan Times Leadership Summit in New Delhi (2013). She has also coordinated a call-to-action to the UK government in response to the current European refugee crisis, which resulted in getting more than 100 signatures from leading British cultural figures and publishing a full-page advert in The Guardian newspaper in September 2015.
Learn more about Anoushka Shankar on her website.
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The Manhattan Transfer and Take 6 coming to the Kauffman Center
Vocal groups The Manhattan Transfer and Take 6 will perform March 30 in Muriel Kauffman Theatre
Kansas City, MO – Vocal groups The Manhattan Transfer and Take 6 take the stage as part Kauffman Center Presents series in a double-headliner concert on March 30 in Muriel Kauffman Theatre.
The Manhattan Transfer and Take 6 join forces in The Summit to create one of the most unique and thrilling musical collaborations ever assembled. With 20 GRAMMY Awards between them, these two musically iconic groups have joined forces to perform together.
Unlike other music co-bills or meetings, The Manhattan Transfer and Take 6 were not content to sing a set and simply join each other for a finale. They have created musical moments on-stage – singing and performing nearly a dozen songs together – during this show. You will experience the creativity, excitement, and renowned performances that only two phenomenal groups can bring to one stage.
Tickets are available now and can be purchased at the link above, or through the Kauffman Center Box Office at (816) 994-7222, via the Kauffman Center mobile app, or online at www.kauffmancenter.org.
ABOUT THE MANHATTAN TRANSFER
After celebrating their 45th anniversary in 2017, The Manhattan Transfer continues to set the standard as one of the world’s most innovative vocal groups with their blend of pop, jazz, R&B, rock ‘n’ roll, swing and a cappella music. Founded by Tim Hauser in 1972, the current group features Janis Siegel (alto), Alan Paul (tenor), Cheryl Bentyne (soprano), and newcomer Trist Cureless (bass), who replaced Hauser following his passing on October 16, 2014. The group is proud to extend Hauser’s vision more than four decades later. As The Manhattan Transfer endures with their new lineup, they’re returning to the road for a very special collaboration, joining Take 6 on The Summit tour across the United States.
Learn more about The Manhattan Transfer on their website.
ABOUT TAKE 6
Take 6 showcases six voices united in crystal clear harmony, placed against a backdrop of syncopated rhythms, innovative arrangements, and funky grooves that bubble into an intoxicating brew of gospel, jazz, R&B and pop. Members Claude McKnight, Mark Kibble, Joel Kibble, Dave Thomas, Alvin Chea and Khristian Dentley have been heralded by Quincy Jones as “the baddest vocal cats on the planet.” With praise from such luminaries as Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder, Brian Wilson, Ella Fitzgerald and Whitney Houston, Take 6 is recognized as the pre-eminent a cappella group in the world. The group credits its success to faith, friendship, respect, and love of music. From their exceptional Christmas Show, to their innovative symphony shows, to their new album Believe, these qualities are at the heart of the Take 6 phenomenon.
Learn more about Take 6 on their website.
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Here are a few updates for attendees of upcoming events at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts.
- Road Closures: Please be aware there will be construction occurring on the day of the 5th Annual Future Stages Festival (6/10) that will require parts of I-70 to be closed. Find more information about upcoming road closures on MoDOT’s website here.
- Please be advised that the Kansas City Missouri Police Department has begun more strictly enforcing parking regulations in the Kauffman Center area.
- Construction-related street closures are in effect at 16th and Wyandotte streets near the Kauffman Center. 16th Street is closed to traffic in both directions between Wyandotte and Baltimore streets. Please allow additional driving time to access the Arts District Garage and the Center.
- The Buck O’Neil/Broadway bridge will have lane closures from mid-May through early December. This construction may cause delays for patrons coming into downtown to visit the Kauffman Center.
- Portions of the Arts District Garage central stairs will be closed for improvements through September 2018. Elevators will be open on each parking level to provide access to the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. Please do not enter closed construction areas and follow directions on posted signs.
For more information on directions and parking visit kauffmancenter.org/parking or click the Directions & Parking link below.
Directions & Parking Parking Map
Photo by Jillian Shoptaw
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