One of ballet’s greatest works has never been performed in KC. That changes now

Emeralds, rubies and diamonds. Glittering gems made of stardust forged in the furnace of the earth have fired humanity’s imagination for millennia.

In 1966, they inspired George Balanchine to create one of the greatest ballet masterpieces of the 20th century.

The Kansas City Ballet will present Balanchine’s “Jewels” for six performances beginning May 10 at the Muriel Kauffman Theatre.

In 1939, violinist Nathan Milstein introduced Balanchine to the jeweler Claude Arpels, planting the seed for the ballet, but it was 27 years later when Balanchine visited the Van Cleef and Arpels jewelry store on Fifth Avenue in 1966 and was bedazzled by what he saw that the idea for a full-length ballet was born.

The New York City Ballet gave “Jewels” its premiere on April 13,1967. The program simply named the work “World Premiere.” It wasn’t until November of that year when the ballet was brought back due to popular demand that it was given the title “Jewels.”

“Jewels” is considered by many to be Balanchine’s magnum opus, but the Kansas City Ballet has never before performed it in its entirety.

“A company has to get to a certain point in their evolution to be able to handle doing all three of these works on one program,” Devon Carney, artistic director of the Kansas City Ballet, said. The company did ‘Rubies’ quite a while ago prior to me during Bill Whitener’s time. Then I thought, if we’re going to do the whole work some day, the biggest, most important thing to put out there to see if we can handle it is ‘Diamonds’ because ‘Diamonds’ is gigantic in every respect.”

And, indeed, Carney did mount “Diamonds” in 2018 for the Kansas City Ballet’s 60th anniversary season, its diamond anniversary.

“That was the indication for me that we now had the chops to be able to do all of them in the same program,” Carney said.

Each movement of “Jewels” represents a different era and aspect of ballet. “Emeralds” conjures the romanticism and ethereal quality of 19th century French ballet. “Rubies” captures the energy of contemporary ballet, and “Diamonds” is a tribute to the Russian classicism out of which Balanchine’s neoclassicism was born.

“You can smell perfume in the air the whole time during ‘Emeralds,’” Carney said. “It’s a gentle introduction to the evening with the soft, flowing dresses, what are called ‘romantic tutus.’ Then you’ve got ‘Rubies,’ which is, holy moly, the United Nations, with France, America and Russia. I picture New York City with big towering skyscrapers and bustling, busy streets. Fascinating rhythm.”

Diamonds, which concludes the ballet, is a spectacular show-stopper. It’s a nostalgic memory of the Imperial Russian Ballet of Balanchine’s youth.

“There’s just such an elegance to it,” Carney said. “’Emeralds’ is softer, and ‘Rubies’ is bold, and then ‘Diamonds’ is purity. ‘Diamonds’ is the largest work on the program. There are 17 couples on stage, so it’s a lot of people out there. That exaggerates the fullness of the evening by having so many people on stage dancing in unison or in counterpoint to each other.”

Balanchine always had a knack for choosing the perfect music for his ballets, and with “Jewels” he outdid himself. “Emeralds” is set to the lush Proto-Impressionism of Gabriel Fauré. Stravinsky’s spiky, jazzy, syncopated rhythms stoke the red-hot energy of “Rubies.” And nothing better captures the Russian classical ballet of “Diamonds” than the music of Tchaikovsky. As always, Ramona Pansegrau, the company’s music director, will lead the Kansas City Symphony.

The costumes are based on the original designs by Barbara Karinska, who designed the costumes for over 70 of Balanchine’s ballets. Carney is striving for authenticity right down to the program.

“I had some time on my hands when I was in New York recently, and I went to the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, and got access to the original program notes for the ‘Jewels.’ I wanted to see the way the program was laid out. Probably nobody cares, but I’m having our program with the same formatting, so our program will look the same way the original program did in 1967.”

Carney is also bringing in stagers from the George Balanchine Trust to ensure that Mr. B’s choreography is followed to a T.

“These stagers have had extensive experience doing Balanchine’s works and have an understanding of the flavor and the style that he wanted in his choreography,” Carney said. “The stagers each have two weeks, and then they’re all coming back to join us for production week when we go into the theater.”

With “Jewels,” the Kansas City Ballet under Carney is taking another great leap forward. It’s a ballet that is considered one of the most beautiful and important in the repertoire, but this is the first it’s being presented in Kansas City. It will be a rare delight for audiences and a milestone moment for the dancers.

“It’s non-narrative, but there’s definitely a story, and the story is the music, the story is the mood that is created with these three very different works,” Carney said. “And the nice thing about ‘Jewels’ is that if you don’t like one, guess what, there are two others. Not only does ‘Jewels’ entertain and lift up the spirits of the audience, but it also gives us the opportunity to retain our better talent because they want to do works like this.”

7:30 p.m. May 10, 11, 17 and 18, 1:30 p.m. May 12 and 19. $34-$149. 816-931-8993 or kcballet.org.

William Baker Festival Singers

The William Baker Festival Singers is the chorus-in-residence at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, and they’ll be celebrating their home parish with a concert May 5 at the church. The program will include music by Sean Sweeden, Eric Whitacre and Ralph Vaughan Williams.

In what should be a moving tribute to the great English conductor Andrew Davis, who recently died at the age of 80, the Festival Singers will perform a work by his son, Edward Frazier Davis. Davis currently leads one of Baker’s Choral Foundation ensembles, Vox Venti, based in Chicago, and was formerly composer-in-residence for the Kansas City Festival Singers.

3 p.m. May 5. St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, 1307 Holmes St. $5-$25. festivalsingers.org.

Mandolin Orchestra of Kansas City

Get plucky May 11 when the Mandolin Orchestra of Kansas City performs at St. John’s United Methodist Church. The golden age of mandolin orchestras was from the late 1800s to the 1920s, when radio and records started to take off. That history will be honored with the “Kansas City Star March,” which was the official theme of the Kansas City Star until the late 1800s. There will also be an arrangement of the “Peer Gynt” music by Grieg, “The Mooche” by Duke Ellington, and the “Blue River Jig,” which was written for the ensemble by Joel R. Hobbs.

7 p.m. May 11. St. John’s United Methodist Church, 6900 Ward Parkway. Free. https://tinyurl.com/56rr63p4.

Kansas City Chorale — Bach Cantatas

The Grammy-winning Kansas City Chorale conducted by Charles Bruffy will perform four of Bach’s most splendid sacred cantatas May 10 at 7:30 p.m. One of the cantatas, BWV 147 “Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben,” includes the beloved “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring,” one of the pieces that began my life-long love affair with classical music.

7:30 p.m. May 10. Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral, 415 W. 13th St. $20-$25. 816-444-7150 or kcchorale.org.

Jan Kraybill — Mother’s Day Organ Concert

Start off your Mother’s Day celebration a day early with a free Mother’s Day Organ Concert. Organ superstar Jan Kraybill will present “An Around-the-World Musical Adventure” with music that will take you from America to Africa to the Outer Hebrides and back again. Kraybill will perform works by Grayston Ives, Fela Sowande and Felix Mendelssohn on Helzberg Hall’s Casavant organ, of which she is the conservator.

3 p.m. May 11. Helzberg Hall, Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. Free. jankraybill.com.

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