writing by Libby Hanssen
Fail better. The arts in Kansas City had a pretty phenomenal year, some huge achievements, some huge, disastrously phenomenal events, but a big impact and plenty of challenges to meet in 2018. We can't overcome the deaths of people important to us, like Michelle Boisseau, but how fortunate for those who knew them and how... Continue Reading →
Specifically, cartoon cats. Every time Sting creepily intones "I'll be watching you," I have manic flashbacks to zany wisecracking felines on roller skates. But why? I would ask people, hey, do you remember a cartoon about a band that gets sucked inexplicably through a mirror into a fuchsia-delic alternate universe and the music sounds like... Continue Reading →
Fresh off a successful UK tour, the Fountain City Brass Band performs holiday favorites around the region. Read about it in my first contribution to KCUR, Kansas City's NPR affiliate.
KC Chorale has a full December. Read about the many opportunities to celebrate the season in song in KC Studio's Holiday Edition (page 20).
On Wed Nov 22, Sam Wisman and I guest co-hosted The Classical Challenge, the classical music show on KKFI 90.1 FM Kansas City Community Radio. Sam is a veteran of the radio biz, having hosted the Monday edition of Jazz Afternoon for over a decade, but it was a learning experience for me. Making the... Continue Reading →
The Pitch is the alternative newspaper in KC, published monthly. I've got a piece (pg 42) on the Kansas City Symphony's Classics Uncorked "Future Favorites" - all 21st century music. Get it.
Another dynamite issue of KC Studio is out. I wrote about newEar Contemporary Chamber Ensemble's 25th anniversary celebration and The Wires Alternative Strings Duo Solstice Concert.
I joined KCUR's Central Standard program with host Gina Kaufmann and composer Ingrid Stölzel in conversation about the Kansas City Symphony's lack of women composer programming within the broader topic of the gender gap in classical music. Listen to the conversation at 25:00 (or listen to the whole thing and learn about modern American farm... Continue Reading →
Panels I made for a display at the Music/Media Library.
Proust Eats a Sandwich 