Next Gen: Opus 76 + Youth Symphony of Kansas City Series 'Merriment and Madness'

Opus 76 Quartet and students of the Youth Symphony of Kansas City invite you to experience the emotional spectrum of classical music. From the levity and charm of Mozart’s Quartet K 499 and Grieg’s Holberg Suite to Beethoven’s Op.95 and Shostakovich’s haunting 8th Quartet, this concert promises to be full of thrills and excitement.

Program

• String Quartet No. 20 in D major, K. 499 by W.A. Mozart
• Holberg Suite, Op. 40 by Edvard Grieg
• String Quartet No. 11 Op.95 “Serioso” by Ludwig van Beethoven
• String Quartet No. 8 in C minor, Op. 110 by Dmitri Shostakovich

The Opus 76 Quartet

The quartet’s residency, which began as digital artists-in-residence in 2021, saw the group embark on a number of critically acclaimed recording projects in partnership with MTC as part of its innovative digital concert series, “Eat, Drink, Play!”

Adding to its previous recordings of “The Complete Works for String Quartet by Ludwig van Beethoven,” (broadcast live on Kansas Public Radio KPR in 2020), Opus 76 recorded Mendelssohn’s Op. 44 No. 1, Schubert’s Quintet in C, Brahms’s F minor Piano Quintet, Mozart’s Quintet No. 3 in C Major, Bartok’s Quartet No. 1, and Mozart’s The Six Quartets Dedicated to Haydn, a project also supported by KPR.

In addition to a national touring schedule, as part of its residency, the Quartet runs The Sunrise Programme, which provides a year of free lessons and performance opportunities to selected students in the Kansas City metro area.

Youth Symphony of Kansas City

The Youth Symphony of Kansas City (YSKC) was founded as “The Youth Symphony of the Heart of America” by conductor Leo Scheer in 1958. The organization initially consisted of one orchestra of 80 musicians. Incorporated on July 31, 1958, the organization has endured a long and interesting history as the musical home to young musicians in the Kansas City metro area.

Today, YSKC is comprised of four full orchestras. More than 450 young musicians participate annually. In summer 2015, a Summer String Camp was added. In June 2016, YSKC toured Ireland — its first international tour in a decade. A new young strings program — the Overture Program — launched in the 2016-17 season. June 2018 brought the Youth Symphony’s second recent international tour, this time to Austria. Performances took place in Salzburg and Vienna.

Following 20 years of musical contributions as conductor of our junior orchestra in Kansas City, Russell E. Berlin retired in 2018. The YSKC Academy was introduced for the 2021-2022 season, providing chamber music instruction, soon followed by elective course opportunities for students, featuring teaching, conducting, music theory, performance psychology, and other classes.