DiDonato, Fleming, Bell and more: Powerhouse talent packs KC Harriman-Jewell Series

The Harriman-Jewell Series has done its best to keep the music flowing during the pandemic. Its state-of-the-art livestream concerts featuring everything from a holiday spectacular with Ben Bliss to recitals by guitarist Jiji and double bass player Edgar Meyer have certainly brightened a dark time.

While livestream concerts have helped us keep our sanity, they’re just not the same as hearing music live in Helzberg Hall, the Muriel Kauffman Theatre and the Folly. The Harriman-Jewell Series recently announced its 2021-2022 season of live, in-person concerts, and music and dance lovers will be filling up like camels at an oasis.

Everything you’ve come to expect from the series is here: international opera divas Renée Fleming and Joyce DiDonato, the Boston Pops conducted by Keith Lockhart, Russian piano genius Daniil Trifonov, Canadian Brass and The King’s Singers and lots of free Discovery Concerts along the way.

But what about the concert-going experience? Will it truly be back to pre-COVID normal?

“It’s hard to predict at this point,” said Clark Morris, executive and artistic director of the Harriman-Jewell Series. “We’re just prepared to take on as much or as little protocol as we need to, so we’re anticipating there will be some adjustment. We’ll be cautious because we take our patrons’ health and safety seriously.”

Violinist Joshua Bell will inaugurate this momentous season on Oct. 2 in Helzberg Hall at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. Bell, one of the biggest stars in classical music and a Harriman-Jewell Series regular, will be joined by pianist Alessio Bax for his seventh appearance on the series.

Superstar soprano Renée Fleming will give a mind-expanding recital on Nov. 18. Fleming has been doing research on music’s impact on the brain, so, in addition to her performance, she’ll also present an educational forum with neurologists from the University of Kansas Medical Center called “Music and the Mind.”

Joyce DiDonato, the world-renowned mezzo-soprano from Prairie Village, will present “Eden” on April 12. Co-commissioned by the Harriman-Jewell Series and the University of Michigan’s University Musical Society, “Eden” is inspired by earth and nature, DiDonato is currently developing the theatrical production with costumers and stage and lighting designers. The lively baroque orchestra Il Pomo d’Oro will also perform.

Dance is well represented, as always. Parsons Dance, longtime series favorites, will perform Jan. 21. On April 8, dancers of the Nashville Ballet will be joined by folk music icon Rhiannon Giddens for “Lucy Negro Redux.”

Based on the poetry of Caroline Randall Williams (who will also be on stage reading it), “Lucy Negro Redux” is a radical speculation on who exactly was the “Dark Lady” of Shakespeare’s sonnets, the woman he called “my female evil” and “my bad angel.”

Returning for her second recital on the series is Georgian pianist Khatia Buniatishvili on Jan. 29. A colossal talent, her Kansas City debut in 2019 set the house on fire. The audience was left gasping by her old-school, finger-busting virtuosity.

“We were stunned that there were people from Latin America who had traveled to the United States to come to that recital in Kansas City,” Morris said. “There were people from nine different states, as far away as Florida, who had flown in to hear her. Khatia’s career is mainly in Europe, so she doesn’t do a lot of recitals in the United States. Getting to have this second recital with her so quickly is very special.”

Another pianist to look forward to is Samantha Ege on Oct. 24. A musicologist on the faculty of Oxford University, Ege will perform a recital of Black female composers. While in Kansas City, she’ll also give lectures to bring long overdue attention to these immensely talented women who have been unjustly ignored.

Featuring diverse talents and music is not something new for the Harriman-Jewell Series. A commitment to diversity is baked into its history. For example, Richard Harriman, the series’ founder, insisted on presenting the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in the early ’70s in the face of racist bomb threats.

“I’m inspired by Richard every day,” Morris said. “We always try to emulate the character he taught us to live and work by. He set us up for success. And now, getting to roll out this new season is just tremendous. Oh, my goodness, it feels so good to get to this place.”

Here’s the lineup:

Oct. 2: Joshua Bell, violin, and Alessio Bax, piano. (Helzberg Hall, Kauffman Center)

Oct. 24: Samantha Ege, piano. Free Discovery Concert (Folly Theater, 300 W. 12th St.)

Oct. 29: Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops On Tour. (Muriel Kauffman Theatre, Kauffman Center)

Nov. 12: Martin James Bartlett, piano. Free Discovery Concert (Folly Theater)

Nov. 18: Renée Fleming, soprano. (Helzberg Hall)

Dec. 6: Canadian Brass Holiday Concert. (Helzberg Hall)

Dec. 18: Anthony Roth Costanzo, countertenor (Folly Theater)

Jan. 21: Parsons Dance. (Muriel Kauffman Theatre)

Jan. 29: Khatia Buniatishvili, piano. (Folly Theater)

Feb. 19: The King’s Singers (Folly Theater)

March 12: Brandon Goldberg Trio (White Theatre, 5801 W. 115th St., Overland Park)

March 26: Soobeen Lee, violin. Free Discovery Concert. (Gano Hall, William Jewell College)

April 3: Scottish Ensemble with Edgar Meyer, bass. (Folly Theater)

April 8: Lucy Negro Redux. (Muriel Kauffman Theatre)

April 12: Joyce DiDonato’s “Eden” (Folly Theater)

April 24: Daniil Trifonov, piano. (Folly Theater)

April 29: Sheku Kanneh-Mason, cello and Isata Kanneh-Mason, piano. (Folly Theater)

April 30: Sheku Kanneh-Mason, cello, and Isata Kanneh-Mason, piano. Free Discovery Concert (Folly Theater)

May 27: Dorrance Dance. (Muriel Kauffman Theatre)

For more information, 816-415-5025 or hjseries.org.

You can reach Patrick Neas at [email protected] and follow his Facebook page, KC Arts Beat, at www.facebook.com/kcartsbeat.