Here’s how Kansas City’s Bach Aria Soloists will celebrate their 25th season

Time flies when you’re making great music.

The Bach Aria Soloists, one of Kansas City’s finest ensembles, will celebrate their 25th anniversary next season, and they’ve lined up a series that reflects the kind of music they do so well. Lots of music by Bach, of course, but also jazzy improvisations and a concert to celebrate a daft knight-errant.

The season begins with a “25th Anniversary Bash” Sept. 27 at the Guild KC in the Crossroads. The whole group, violinist and artistic director Elizabeth Suh Lane, keyboardist Elisa Williams Bickers and soprano Sarah Tannehill Anderson, will perform. Roger Wilder, jazz pianist and instructor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City’s Conservatory of Music, will provide smooth listening between sets, and there will be organic, locally sourced food to nosh on.

“Bach Unlocked” with Bach scholar Christoph Wolff and guest cellist Paula Kosower is Nov. 8 at Village Presbyterian Church.

“It’s at Village because we want to use their magnificent organ,” Lane, who founded Bach Aria Soloists, said. “It’ll be an all-Bach program, and we’ll have Elisa do two big organ works and we’ll also do a constructed suite that will feature each of our instruments. Sarah will perform three different arias.”

Wolff, a world-renowned Bach scholar and professor emeritus at Harvard University, will give commentary throughout the concert.

“He’s 82, and I feel really fortunate that he agreed very quickly to come to do this concert with us,” Lane said.

The annual holiday concert Dec. 14 at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church will feature baritone Cameron J. Rolling.

“He was here in Kansas City for a few years, and now he’s with Detroit Opera,” Lane said. “Of course, we’ll perform Bach, Mozart, Vivaldi and Handel, but I’ve asked Cameron if there are any gospel tunes that he would like to do. He’ll do a lot of duets with Sarah.”

On Feb. 15, the bumbling knight Don Quixote and his ungainly horse, Rocinante, amble back to Kansas City. “Adventures of Don Quixote” has been one of Bach Aria Soloists’ biggest hits, so it’s appropriate they’re bringing it back for the group’s 25th anniversary.

“We haven’t done it in several years,” Lane said. “We’re doing it at a new venue called the Zhou Brothers Arts Center. They’ve renovated this school which is in the Jazz District, just east of the Gem Theater. I thought it would be nice to do something in a new venue like that. It’s also a great opportunity for the community and our special patrons to come see this new space.”

Mark Robbins will narrate the Don’s various misadventures while the group plays Spanish baroque canciones and dances, as well as selections from the “Don Quixote Suite” by Telemann. Guitarist Beau Bledsoe is an important part of the show.

The season will conclude with “Helen Sung Meets Bach Aria Soloists” April 5 at the Folly Theater. Sung is a big deal in the jazz world. She won the Mary Lou Williams Jazz Piano Competition in 2007, has appeared at the Monterey Jazz Festival and has toured the world, playing with jazz greats like Clark Terry and Ron Carter and classical musicians like the Harlem Quartet.

She’s composing a piece for Bach Aria Soloists.

“I have no idea what it is yet,” Lane said. “It doesn’t even have a name. But I do know it’s a multi-movement work inspired by Bach. It will be for our entire ensemble, including Elisa on harpsichord and Helen on jazz piano. Sarah might not necessarily sing words, maybe just vocalizing as a jazz singer would. We still have a lot to flesh out because there are so many possibilities.”

For more information, bachariasoloists.com.

7 p.m. Sept. 27. 25th Anniversary Bash. The Guild KC, 1621 Locust St.

7:30 p.m. Nov. 8. “Bach Unlocked” with Bach scholar Christoph Wolff, Paula Kosower, cello. Village Presbyterian Church, 6641 Mission Road, Prairie Village.

7:30 p.m. Dec. 14. Annual Holiday Concert. Guest baritone, Cameron J. Rolling. St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 11 E. 40th St.

7:30 p.m. Feb. 15. “Adventures of Don Quixote.” Mark Robbins, actor, Beau Bledsoe, guitar, Sascha Groschang, cello. Zhou Brothers Art Center, 1801 E. 18th St.

7:30 p.m. April 5. “Helen Sung Meets Bach Aria Soloists.” Helen Sung, piano, Hannah Collins, cello. Folly Theater, 300 W. 12th St.

KC Symphony — Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony

Michael Stern has a special affinity for the music of Gustav Mahler. For his penultimate performance as music director of the Kansas City Symphony, he will lead the orchestra and the Kansas City Symphony Chorus in Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 “Resurrection” June 14 to 16 at Helzberg Hall.

In the midst of his many personal tragedies, Mahler was always looking heavenward. His “Resurrection” Symphony is one of his most hopeful and popular works. The third movement, a setting of one of the poems from “Des Knaben Wunderhorn” called “Urlicht” (“Primal Light”), will be sung by mezzo-soprano Kelley O’Connor.

The Kansas City Symphony Chorus, along with O’Connor and soprano Joelle Harvey, are featured in the fifth movement, which gives the symphony its name. It’s a setting of the poem “Die Auferstehung” (“Resurrection”) by Friedrich Klopstock.

“You are sown to bloom again! The lord of the harvest goes, And gathers sheaves, Us, who have died.”

Any time the “Resurrection” Symphony is performed, it’s an event. As will be this concert, coming near the end of Stern’s long and brilliant run with the Kansas City Symphony.

8 p.m. June 14 and 15, 2 p.m. June 16. Helzberg Hall, Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. $29-$115. 816-471-0400 or kcsymphony.org.

Heritage Philharmonic Pops Concert

Kansas City has some community orchestras that will blow you away. One of those is the Heritage Philharmonic conducted by Jim Murray. The ensemble will present a pops concert at the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library on June 13.

Founded in 1944 as the Independence Symphony Orchestra, the Heritage Philharmonic is made up of more than 60 professional and volunteer musicians. Murray is a crack conductor whom you can always count on for inspired and inspiring programs.

7 p.m. June 13. Harry S. Truman Presidential Library. Free. tinyurl.com/3we85ede

Musica Vocale

Anne Frank, whose full first name was Annelies, is one of the most tragic figures of World War II. “Annelies” is also the name of a 75-minute work for soprano, choir and instrumentalists, which will be performed by Musica Vocale conducted by Ryan Olsen June 2 at Central Presbyterian Church.

The text for the work is taken from “The Diary of a Young Girl,” Frank’s compelling journal of her and her family’s persecution by the Nazis. Melanie Challenger compiled the libretto, and the music is by James Whitbourn. The work had its premiere in London in 2005 with Leonard Slatkin conducting, and has received several subsequent performances. Thanks to Musica Vocale for introducing this work to Kansas City.

3 p.m. June 2. Central Presbyterian Church, 3501 Campbell St. Free. musicavocale.org.

You can reach Patrick Neas at patrickneas@kcartsbeat.com and follow his Facebook page, KC Arts Beat, at www.facebook.com/kcartsbeat.