Kansas City Symphony Reveals 2016-17 Classics Uncorked Series; Tickets on Sale Next Week!

No matter if you like rock or Bach, the Kansas City Symphony's packed 2016-17 season includes a wide array of concerts to satisfy a variety of tastes.

The Symphony will share the stage with big stars in the 2016-17 season, such as the R&B `90s icons Boyz II Men, legendary pianist Emanuel Ax, who will perform not one - but two Mozart piano concertos, and pops singer-songwriter Ben Folds, who returns for a special one-night-only concert. The 2016-17 season includes much more with highlights such as:

Classical Series

· Stern Conducts Mozart's Requiem

· Ax Plays Mozart and Strauss' Merry Pranks

· A Vivid Autumn: Beethoven and Brahms

· Geller Plays Bartók plus Dvo?ák's Fifth

· War and Remembrance with Britten

Pops Series

· Boyz II Men

· Simply Swingin' with the Sinatra and Friends - Starring Steve Lippia

· Screenland at the Symphony: E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

· Bond and Beyond: 50 Years of 007

Family Series

· Buckets N Boards

· Presto, Mambo!

· Around the World in 80 Days

Holiday Concerts

· Handel's Messiah

· Kansas City Symphony's Christmas Festival

· Jim Brickman with the Kansas City Symphony

· Screenland at the Symphony: Home Alone

Special Concerts

· The Music of Led Zeppelin with the Kansas City Symphony

· David Bowie: A Musical Odyssey with the Kansas City Symphony

· Screenland at the Symphony: The Phantom of the Opera

· Screenland at the Symphony: Raiders of the Lost Ark

· Ben Folds with the Kansas City Symphony

Single tickets for all of the Symphony's 2016-17 concerts go on sale Monday, July 25 at 10 a.m. Tickets are available for purchase through the Symphony Box Office at (816) 471-0400 or online at kcsymphony.org. View the single ticket brochure.

NEW SPECIAL ANNOUNCED: Ben Folds with the Kansas City Symphony
March 11 at 8 p.m. | Helzberg Hall | Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts

After his debut appearance with the Symphony in 2015, multi-platinum-selling singer-songwriter Ben Folds will return to the Helzberg Hall stage to appear with the Kansas City Symphony for one night only. Folds, who has collaborated with artists ranging from Sara Bareilles to William Shatner to Regina Spektor, will showcase his unique piano stylings alongside the Kansas City Symphony as they perform his hits arranged for orchestra. Tickets start at $50.

2016-17 Classics Uncorked Series

Four fun, themed concerts are in order for the 2016-17 Classics Uncorked Series held in Helzberg Hall at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. Returning for a sixth season, the series features one-hour, casual concerts with classical hits as well as hidden gems of the repertoire programmed and led by the newly appointed David T. Beals III Assistant Conductor Jason Seber. Most tickets are $25 and include a complimentary glass of wine or champagne in the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts' Brandmeyer Great Hall following the performance where guests have an opportunity to mingle with Kansas City Symphony musicians.

· Classics Uncorked: Vivaldi's Winter and Greensleeves | Dec. 7 at 7 p.m.
Featuring some of the best music ever written for string orchestra, including Mozart's elegant Divertimento in F Major, Vivaldi's "Winter," performed by the Symphony's Associate Principal Second Violin Stirling Trent, and bask in the warmth of Vaughan Williams' beloved Fantasia on Greensleeves.

· Classics Uncorked: Shakespeare in Music | April 4 at 7 p.m.
Produced in conjunction with the Heart of America Shakespeare Festival's 25th anniversary, the concert features timeless music inspired by the Bard's greatest plays.

· Classics Uncorked: Shall We Dance? | May 18 at 7 p.m.
Enjoy an evening of symphonic dance music. Hear Brahms' Hungarian Dance No. 5, Copland's "Hoe-down" and even some electronica with Mason Bates' "Warehouse Medicine" from The B-Sides.

· Classics Uncorked: The Architecture of Music | June 7 at 7 p.m.
Explore the blueprints of towering symphonies, concertos and more in this concert that includes movements from Beethoven's Seventh Symphony and Brahms' Fourth Symphony balanced with Ives' rowdy Variations on "America" and Mozart's colorful Rondeau from the "Turkish" Violin Concerto performed by the Symphony's Associate Concertmaster Justine Lamb-Budge.

"I am really looking forward to sharing this year's Classics Uncorked concerts with first time Symphony goers and seasoned veterans alike," Seber says. "Together, we will visit some of the very best string orchestra classics in December including Vivaldi's 'Winter' Concerto, join forces in April with our friends from Heart of America Shakespeare Festival to present music inspired by Shakespeare, tap toes along with the Symphony in a program of all dance music, - even techno - in May, and wrap up the series diving into the minds of the greats such as Beethoven, Mozart and Brahms as we discover what forms and blueprints they used in their masterpieces. Truly something for everyone!"

Free Happy Hour Series

Musicians of the Kansas City Symphony curate and present free, casual chamber music concerts throughout the season as part of the Happy Hour Series. The Symphony offers five free Happy Hour concerts in the 2016-17 season, allowing more people the chance to hear Symphony musicians and experience the sublime acoustics of Helzberg Hall. While these concerts are free, the Symphony asks concertgoers to reserve a seat. Tickets for these Happy Hour concerts become available online or by calling the Symphony Box Office roughly 90 days prior to the concert date.

· FREE Symphony Happy Hour: Steampunk!
Wednesday, Feb. 1 at 6 p.m. | Helzberg Hall | Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts

· FREE Symphony Happy Hour: Brandenburg and Beyond
Wednesday, Feb. 22 at 6 p.m. | Helzberg Hall | Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts

· FREE Symphony Happy Hour: You Had Me at Cello
Wednesday, March 29 at 6 p.m. | Helzberg Hall | Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts

Two additional Happy Hours concerts will be scheduled. One will occur in October and the other in April.

To learn more about all of the 2016-17 concert offerings, including classical, pops, family, holiday and special programs, visit kcsymphony.org or call the Symphony Box Office at (816) 471-0400.

All season ticket holders are able to purchase tickets to individual concerts ahead of the general public during the Symphony's subscriber courtesy week (July 18-22) at a discount of $5 per adult ticket. For the public, single tickets go on sale Monday, July 25 at 10 a.m. and may be purchased through the Symphony Box Office at (816) 471-0400 or online at kcsymphony.org. View the 2016-17 season brochure with all concerts here.

Founded in 1982, the Kansas City Symphony has established itself as a major force in the cultural life of the community. Praised for performances of uncompromising standard, the orchestra is the largest in the region and enjoys a national reputation under the artistic leadership of Music Director Michael Stern. The Kansas City Symphony Chorus is a volunteer, 160-member ensemble led by multi-Grammy Award-winning conductor, Charles Bruffy, that continues its long tradition of excellence as the choral voice of the Kansas City Symphony. The Kansas City Symphony performs more than 100 concerts each year, while also serving as the orchestra for the Kansas City Ballet and Lyric Opera of Kansas City, and it often welcomes guests of international acclaim as part of its Classical and Pops Series.

Complementing its full schedule of concerts, the Symphony enriches the lives of Kansas City residents by providing music education opportunities for children and adults, such as KinderKonzerts, Young People's Concerts, an instrument petting zoo and concert comments. Highlights each season include a range of free master classes, events and concerts reaching more than 200,000 community members, including the annual Bank of America Celebration at the Station concert each Memorial Day weekend and Symphony in the Flint Hills every summer.

The Symphony has released five CDs to date with Reference Recordings - "Shakespeare's Tempest," the Grammy Award-winning "Britten's Orchestra," an Elgar/Vaughan Williams project, "Miraculous Metamorphoses" that highlights composers Hindemith, Prokofiev and Bartók, and most recently, the Grammy Award-nominated "Saint-Saëns Symphony No. 3, 'Organ.'" Two additional projects have been recorded and slated for future release, including the music of contemporary composer Adam Schoenberg (recorded June 2014) and Holst's The Planets (recorded January 2015). The Symphony and Stern recorded three one-movement symphonies (Barber's Symphony No. 1, Sibelius' Symphony No. 7 and Scriabin's Poem of Ecstasy) in June on the Reference Recordings label.

The Symphony and Michael Stern also have recorded for the Naxos label. Kansas City Symphony performances can be heard locally each week on KCUR 89.3 FM, Kansas City's NPR affiliate. More information on the Kansas City Symphony is available at kcsymphony.org.