The Kohlenberg Lyceum Series will resume this month with a musical production from the Kansas City Symphony.

The concert will be at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 28 in Baldwin Auditorium.

Doug Daubert, Lyceum Series Committee co-chairman, said all students will be able to enjoy the performance even if they lack musical experience.

"This is something you don't get to see every day," Daubert said.

The symphony performs more than 50 concerts during a 42-week season under the direction of Musical Director and Principal Conductor Anne Manson and Associate Conductor Timothy Hankewich, according to the Kansas City Symphony Web site. Hankewich will conduct the Lyceum performance.

A typical symphony season includes a wide variety of subscription, educational, touring and outreach concerts. Also, the ensemble serves as the pit orchestra for the Lyric Opera of Kansas City and the Kansas City Ballet.

Three University professors and one undergraduate student have previously played with the symphony.

Greg Jones, associate professor of music, played the trumpet with the group along with Jay Bulen, associate professor of music. Steve Seward is a full-time tubist for the symphony and teaches the tuba one day a week on campus. Senior music major Kevin Harrison also has played tuba with the group.

The performance will include Antonin Dvorak's "New World" Symphony. Jones described it as  a romantic-style piece with lovely melodies.

"It's not too contemporary," Jones said. "People will really like it."

Dvorak is a Czech composer who spent a long time living in the United States. Jones said the piece was written as an honor to America. 

Daubert said both the Kansas City Symphony and the St. Louis Symphony have performed on campus in previous years.

"We like to have a symphony at least once a year," Daubert said. "That's one of the things we've tried to do in the past."

Daubert said the Kansas City Symphony is touring in Northeast and Northcentral Missouri, and that is why it worked out well to schedule the concert at the University.

"Because of the budget cuts and because of where we are financially with the Lyceum budget, what really drives us is the prices we can get," Daubert said.

The orchestra performs a variety of programs, ranging from its Classical Series to its NightLights Pops series, according to its Web site.  

"I think [the concert] will be a variety," Daubert said. "I think there will be a lot of different things out there, and I think they are bringing the full symphony."

Along with performing, many symphony members will be participating in a series of master's classes. Jones said students will break into instrument groups to play while the symphony members offer advice and guidance.

Also, the Kansas City Symphony's brass quintet will perform at 3:30 p.m. Jan. 28 in the Ophelia Parrish Performance Hall.  The performance is open to the public.

The orchestra includes 77 full-time musicians. Daubert said the size of the group itself will be impressive.

"It's going to be the big group," he said. "It's not going to be the chamber orchestra. The symphonies and the musicals are some of the most well-attended events that the Lyceum puts on."

The Kansas City Symphony was founded in 1982 after the dissolution of the Kansas City Philharmonic. The symphony released its debut CD, American Voices, during its 1994-1995 season.  The symphony also has filmed two nationally broadcast PBS TV specials, along with playing on National Public Radio.

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