Setting the stage for our Fiftieth Anniversary Season, Artistic Directors Dmitri Atapine and Hyeyeon Park will present a marathon performance of Beethoven’s complete Sonatas for Piano and Cello. The duo sonata lies at the heart of chamber music — a deeply personal dialogue between two musicians, rich with nuance, trust, and expression. These five sonatas trace the full arc of Beethoven’s life and, at the same time, mirror our own journey: five decades of sharing the joy of chamber music with Kansas City.

Hailed as “one of the reliably mesmerising musicians of the day,” pianist Angela Hewitt offers a program spanning centuries of contrapuntal invention. From the radiant depths of Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier to the bold modernism of Shostakovich and Barber, she explores the evolution of the prelude-and-fugue form across time and style. The journey culminates in Brahms’s monumental Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel — a towering tribute to the past, reimagined through Romantic brilliance.

The Friends presents an exceptional evening celebrating the piano trio, featuring three of today’s most esteemed artists. Joining forces in Kansas City are pianist Wu Han, honored as Musical America’s Musician of the Year; violinist Daniel Hope, internationally acclaimed soloist and former member of the legendary Beaux Arts Trio; and cellist David Finckel, former member of the Grammy Award-winning Emerson String Quartet. The program opens with a sparkling trio by Joseph Haydn, the father of the form, followed by Beethoven’s bold and groundbreaking Op. 1 no. 1 — his first published work. The evening concludes with Dvořák’s beloved Dumky Trio, rich and emotional. Together, these masterpieces chart the piano trio’s evolution from Classical elegance to its late Romantic pinnacle.

Acclaimed French pianist Alexandre Kantorow makes his debut with The Friends in a program that blends profound Romanticism with visionary modernism. Hailed as a “fire-breathing virtuoso with a poetic charm,” Kantorow offers a fascinating journey through some of the piano repertoire’s most expressive works. The recital opens with Liszt’s majestic Variations on a Motive by Bach, followed by Medtner’s expansive early Sonata Op. 5. The journey continues through the lyricism of Chopin and the mysticism of Scriabin, culminating in the autumnal transcendence of Beethoven’s Op. 111.

The Friends crowns its landmark Fiftieth Anniversary Season with a joyous celebration, assembling a 12-member all-star ensemble in Kansas City. At the heart of the program is Saint-Saëns’s enchanting Carnival of the Animals—a witty, whimsical, and dazzling showcase. Complementing it is the premiere of Michael Stephen Brown’s A Magical Carnival: A Zoological Fantasy, an ingenious and refreshing companion piece. We open this “carnival procession” with three gems for cello and piano by Gabriel Fauré, performed by our Artistic Directors, followed by his graceful and nostalgic Pavane, Op. 50 — a fitting farewell to our Golden Jubilee. This festive finale not only caps a remarkable season—it joyfully reaffirms the vibrant future of chamber music for the next fifty years and beyond.