Today
The Kansas City Symphony currently has 80 full-time musicians, all area residents. Each year, it plays a 42-week season, which includes subscription concerts, educational concerts, regional and national tours, and public outreach concerts. The Symphony also performs music for the Lyric Opera of Kansas City and the Kansas City Ballet.
In addition to ordinary donations and concert proceeds, the Symphony is supported by seven specialized auxiliary groups. Together, these raise approximately $900,000 each year. Fund-raising events include Kansas City's main debutante ball, the Jewel Ball (which also benefits the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art), the Symphony Ball, the Designers' Showhouse (a home renovation expo in Kansas City's Country Club District which chooses one historic home to renovate each year), a Friends of the Symphony Gift Shop, and a docent program for educational concerts. Today, the symphony's annual budget is more than $11 million.
The Symphony released its first compact disc, American Voices, conducted by William McGlaughlin, in 1995. Other CDs include The Sound of Kansas City in 2004. Recently, the Symphony released Gordon Chin's Formosa Seasons on the Naxos label, and two settings for Shakespeare's Tempest (by Arthur Sullivan and Jean Sibelius) with Reference Recordings in July 2008. Most recently the Symphony released Britten's Orchestra, also with Reference Recordings, in 2009. Additionally, the Symphony has performed on National Public Radio and has participated in two nationally broadcast PBS television specials, the latest being Homecoming: The Kansas City Symphony presents Joyce DiDonato, recorded in Helzberg Hall at Kansas City's magnificent new Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. Every week during the Symphony's season, KCUR-FM 89.3, Kansas City's NPR affiliate, broadcasts highlights of Symphony performances.
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