Kansas City Chamber Choir to Perform with Turtle Island Quartet

Members of the Te Deum Chamber Choir who’ll perform Saturday night with the Turtle Island Quartet at Johnson County Community College won’t even meet the quartet until four hours before the performance.

They’ll only have two hours to prepare with the quartet for “Solstice Celebration: A Festival of Lights,” but the choir’s artistic director, Matthew Christopher Shepard, isn’t worried.

“I am really excited to put this together,” Shepard said. “It’s always a great experience to work with such talented musicians.”

Eight members of Te Deum will sing four pieces, accompanied by the quartet and arranged by the violist:

• Charlie Brown Christmas, “Christmas Time is Here”
• “Bringing in the Sheaves”
• “Silent Night/All Blues”
• Arrangement of “O Tannenbaum,” or “O Christmas Tree”

Shepard won’t know many more details about Te Deum’s role until the choir members meet the quartet.

“The choir is working hard and making sure we come in fully prepared and with our own ideas,” Shepard said. “We have to have our own ideas and then be flexible as we see what the quartet has in mind.”

Te Deum performs with the Turtle Island Quartet at 8 p.m. Saturday in Polsky Theatre in the Carlsen Center at JCCC.

Only a few tickets are still available online or through the box office, 913-469-4445.

If you see Te Deum at JCCC and want to hear more from the choir, they’ll be performing a concert entitled “Lenten Meditations” in March at two nearby locations:

• Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception
  7:30 p.m.
  Saturday, March 24, 2012
  416 W. 12th St.
  Kansas City, MO 64105
  (816) 842-0416
• Southminster Presbyterian Church
  3 p.m.
  Sunday, March 25, 2012
  6306 Roe Ave.
  Prairie Village, KS
  (913) 432-3505

Both performances are free.

“That concert is going to be all a cappella choral music, a mix of traditional choral anthems and some less traditional, music from the baroque all the way to 21^st century,” Shepard said.

The concert consists of five sections, each focusing on elements of Lent.

“We have a set of pieces that reflect on the recognition of our sin, a section of the pieces that reflects on the feast or the Holy Supper, then a section that reflects on Mary, the mother of Jesus, and her role in this Lenten time, and then a section of pieces that reflects on theimportance of the cross, and finally, a section I titled “The Promise,” which reflects on what this crucifixion, means to our lives.”

The concert ends with “Beautiful Savior.”

More than 400 people attended the choir’s last two performances.

Shepard said, “We’re thrilled tott5 share our music with as many people as possible.”

Ukulele Music Reinventor Coming to JCCC

KC Star: Young People Leading Ukulele Renaissance

Jake Shimabukuro has redefined the ukulele, and he’s bringing his “utterly unique” sound to JCCC in March.

It’s a performance local ukulele fans won’t want to miss – and it seems – there are a lot of them.

Repopularized by recently by rock stars Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam, Train and Jason Mraz, young people are starting ukulele clubs at high schools and playing them on college campuses, according to a recent article in the Kansas City Star Magazine.

Emily Behrmann, general manager of the Performing Arts Series at JCCC, told the Star magazine’s James Fussell she’s seeing a lot of interest in ukuleles.

“I met with our student senate (last month) and they wanted me to give them an overview of what’s coming up,” Behrmann told Fussell. “I asked for suggestions. After they mentioned Adele and Lady Gaga, which we obviously can’t afford, one of them said, ‘How about Jake Shimabukuro? He plays the ukulele.’ And I said, ‘I’m glad you mentioned him, because he’s already coming.’ A few of them then broke into applause.”

Shimabukuro, a 34-year old Hawaiian, has been compared to Jimi Hendrix and Miles Davis for entirely redefining the ukulele, according to his website.

“In the hands of Shimabukuro, the traditional Hawaiian instrument of four strings and two octaves is stretched and molded into a complex and bold new musical force,” his bio on this website reads. “On his most recent album ‘Peace Love Ukulele’ (which debuted at #1 on the Billboard World Album Chart), Jake and his “uke” effortlessly (it seems) mix jazz, rock, classical, traditional Hawaiian music, and folk, creating a sound that’s both technically masterful and emotionally powerful…and utterly unique in the music world.”

Shimabukuro will perform at 7 p.m. Sunday, March 11, 2012, in Yardley Hall of the Carlsen Center at Johnson County Community College.

Tickets are $25 and $35 in advance.

Tickets are available now online or through the JCCC box office. The box office – located in the Carlsen Center lobby – is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and one hour before curtain.

To purchase tickets by phone, call 913-469-4445 (913-469-4485 deaf and hard of hearing TDD/TTY).

Read the Kansas City Star Magazine article, and watch the video below to learn more about Shimabukuro.

Puppet Theater Company Performs Tonight at JCCC

Photo: Egbert Euser

Co-artistic directors for the puppet theater company Phantom Limb, Jessica Grindstaff and Erik Sanko, recently showed children at the Lawrence Arts Center how to operate marionettes.

The puppet theater company performs “69° South – The Shackleton Project” tonight at 8 in Yardley Hall of the Carlsen Center at Johnson County Community College.

Sanko created the marionettes the company will use to re-create the events of 1914 when Ernest Shackleton and 27 others set out to be the first team of explorers to cross Antarctica.

In a video clip posted Thursday on LJWorld.com, Sanko explained why he enjoys making marionettes.

“It’s something to do aesthetically, and there’s also a lot of engineering involved in it, so it’s like making a beautiful machine that somehow makes art,” Sanko told LJWorld.com.

Read about “69° South – The Shackleton Project” on the Performing Arts Series website.

Tickets are still available for tonight’s show. Purchase yours online now or stop by the JCCC box office before 5 p.m. or between 7 and 8 p.m. to buy tickets.