December 28, 2017: Music Has Been a Strong and Rich Tradition at Park

Founder and Artistic Director of the International Center for Music at Park and the 2001 Van Cliburn gold medal award winner Stanislav Ioudenitch has directed the career of Park graduate student Kenneth (Kenny) Broberg, the 2017 Van Cliburn silver medal award winner. The website for the Park International Center for Music is entitled "Where Proteges Become Masters" and states: "Nestled in the riverbluffs overlooking Kansas City, MO, a musical enclave is quietly producing some of the best classical musicians in the world. Based on the Classical European Apprenticeship Model, the Park International Center for Music is transforming talented proteges in piano, violin, viola and cello into world-class performers."

In the 1960s there were many students majoring in music - a lot of them planning to become music teachers, mostly at the high school level. As an elementary education major, I enjoyed going to their  performances - both vocal and instrumental. The Park campus was located near Kansas City, MO and St. Joseph, MO, and both cities enhanced Park's offerings.

December lent itself to musical performances, but so did November, January and February and other months of the calendar years as well. Here are some selections from my years at Park in the 1960s:

Sunday, December 10, 1961 - I'm going to stay dressed to hear the Madrigal Singers carol at Hawley. The concert choir and chamber orchestra program were very good, especially the half hour long "Gloria."

Sunday, December 9, 1962 - "Christmas at  Park" was today. The choir concert was magnificent. We all stood up for the Hallelujah chorus from the Messiah. Then we had a lovely Christmas dinner with the brass quintet playing Christmas songs.

Saturday, February 2, 1963 - I heard the Park College choir perform Stravinsky's "Persephone" with the Kansas City Philharmonic, and heard the Philharmonic's American premier performance of Earle Brown's "Available Forms No. 1."

Saturday, November 16, 1963 - Nancy and I went with Evelyn, her mother and sister to the RLDS auditorium in Independence to hear the Messiah Choir. The admission was free, it was being recorded for radio, there was a capacity crowd. The performance was tremendous. The Hallelujah Chorus, and everything, were so wonderful.

Sunday, December 13, 1964 - I attended my fourth Park College Christmas choir concert with Judy and Margaret. It was very good. We also saw some of the choir members sing three songs in a special program of Christmas music from the Kansas City area in a taped TV show at 1:00.

Wednesday, January 27, 1965 - I went to the concert of music by Stravinsky in Alumni Hall tonight. Most of the performers were from the St. Joseph Symphony Orchestra. There were three numbers, one an instrumental octet, a vocal solo with piano accompaniment, and an instrumental number with narration.