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Symphony residency includes free shows
By Bill Blankenship
The Capital-Journal
Published Friday, March 23, 2007
Musicians of the National Symphony Orchestra will play for the young and the old Saturday as part of a weeklong residency in Kansas.
Topeka is the first stop for the Washington, D.C.-based ensemble, which will perform five full orchestral programs to which admission will be charged.
The National Symphony Orchestra will perform five full orchestral concerts as part of its weeklong Kansas residency:
• 8 p.m. today, White Concert Hall, Washburn University, Leonard Slatkin, conducting. Tickets: $30 or $25 (half price for students). 232-2032. www.topekasymphony.org.
• 7 p.m. Sunday, Century II Concert Hall, Wichita, Leonard Slatkin, conducting. Tickets: $36, $28, $18 and $15. (316) 267-7658. www.wso.org.
• 7:30 p.m. Monday, Beach/Schmidt Performing Arts Center, Fort Hays State University, Leonard Slatkin, conducting. Tickets: $15 and $11 ($13 and $9 seniors 65 and older and youths 17 and younger; $11 and $7 FHSU students). (785) 628-5306. www.fhsu.ed/perf_arts/.
• 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Lied Center of Kansas, University of Kansas, Emil de Cou, conducting. Tickets: $30 and $25 ($10 KU and Haskell Indian Nations University students and youths to age 18). (785) 864-2787. www.lied.ku.edu.
• 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Memorial Auditorium, Pittsburg, Emil de Cou, conducting. Tickets: $15 and $12. (620) 231-7827. www.pittks.org.
However, NSO musicians also will present a number of free chamber ensemble programs Saturday in Topeka.
The public programs in Topeka include:
• From 10 to 10:45 a.m., violinist Marissa Regni and harpist Dotian Levalier will present “Tunes and Tales,” a concert for 3- to 6-year-olds, in Marvin Auditorium of the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library, 1515 S.W. 10th. The library is billing the program as a “Teddy Bear Concert” and is encouraging youngsters to bring along their teddy bears.
• At 1 p.m., shoppers at Barnes & Noble Booksellers, 6130 S.W. 17th, can hear a trombone trio, comprised of Matthew Guilford, Barry Hearn and Craig Mulcahy.
• From 2 to 3 p.m., the library’s Marvin Auditorium will be the venue for “Fiddle Sessions: A Family Concert,” performed by violinists Elisabeth Adkins, Paula Sisson Akbar, Holly Hamilton and Linda Schroeder.
• From 3:30 to 4:45 p.m., Four in Correspondence, a cello quartet, will play at Temple Beth Sholom, 4200 S.W. Munson. Steven A. Honigberg, who was director of the chamber music series at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, leads the quartet, which includes James Lee, David Teie and Rachel Young.
In addition to those concerts, NSO musicians also will play Saturday for residents of Topeka retirement centers: at 10:30 a.m. at Lexington Park, Aldersgate Village and Presbyterian Manor; at 2 p.m. at McCrite Plaza; and at 4 p.m. at Brewster Place.
NSO musicians also will play at 10:30 a.m. today at TARC, noon today at Security Benefit and at 11 a.m. Saturday at the Ronald McDonald House.
Master classes will be conducted Saturday at Shawnee Heights High School and Washburn University. Two NSO musicians will return Wednesday to Topeka to perform and teach at Shawnee Heights and Topeka West high schools.
The National Symphony Orchestra will conduct similar outreach and education programs in 15 other Kansas communities during its Kansas residency, which ends Thursday in Pittsburg.
Bill Blankenship can be reached at (785) 295-1284 or bill.blankenship@cjonline.com.