MCC-Penn Valley Music Faculty Member Featured as Guest Conductor at Performing Arts Institute

MCC faculty member Clarence Smith was a guest conductor at the Performing Arts Institute, a summer camp held at Wyoming Seminary, a college prep school in Northeastern Pennsylvania.  During the week of July 11-15, 2011, Mr. Smith conducted the Jazz Ensemble and Jazz Combo at the camp.  He also lectured each day on the history of Kansas City jazz for the music topics series.

Mr. Smith currently serves as the coordinator of music at the Penn Valley campus while also teaching jazz at the Lonview and Blue River campuses.  Congratulations on your magnificent accomlishment, Mr. Smith!

MCC-Longview presents: Songs of a New World

MCC-Longview is proud to present Songs for a New World, a critically acclaimed musical written and composed by Jason Robert Brown, who has been praised by the Philadelphia Inquirer as “one of Broadway’s smartest and most sophisticated songwriters since Steven Sondheim.

Since its off-Broadway debut in 1995, Songs for a New World has delighted audiences around world.

Songs for a New World
8 p.m.  July 28, 29 & 30
At the MCC-Longview Cultural Arts Center
Tickets: $10 at the door

For information, or to buy advance tickets, call 816.604.2030.

Metropolitan Chorale aids Habitat for Humanity with “edgy” Mark Twain barbershop concert

Habitat for Humanity will get a boost from the Metropolitan Chorale of Kansas City’s “Hardhats for Habitat” show for the fifth year in a row at the choir’s April 30, 2011 performance. Last year’s event raised nearly $4,000.00 for Habitat for Humanity, and over the past four years the Metropolitan Chorale has donated over $15,000.00 to the charity. This year the choir will be teaming up with the MCC-Blue River Student Ambassadors to undertake the construction of a Habitat for Humanity home as well.

The benefit concert will feature the barbershop stylings of the vocal group Central Standard, and the narrator will be an irascible Mark Twain, played by Kansas City radio personality Dick Wilson from 94.9 KCMO. Each year

MCC-Blue River hosts African Awareness Celebration

African dancing and drumming riveted the attention of students and staff at the African Awareness Celebration at Metropolitan Community College-Blue River on March 9. The hours long cultural event also featured a tasty selection of Ethiopian foods provided by Blue Nile Café. Many students tried sambusa, a tasty fried pastry filled with vegetables or beef, and other traditional Ethiopian foods for the first time.

Sounds of Africa supplied musical entertainment for the event. The performers explained the traditional roots of their ethnic style of percussion and the cultural significance of various drum beats and dances which they performed. The dancers even invited MCC-Blue River students to join them on stage to learn traditional African dances.

The event, which was free and open to all MCC-Blue River students, staff and faculty, was well attended and left quite an impression on participants and spectators.

The MCC-Longview Choir presents: 'The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber'

The MCC-Longview choir presents a stunning look into the work and talent of songwriter Andrew Lloyd Webber.

You are invited to come see the music performed live by the MCC-Longview students as they belt out the highlights of Webber's 40 years of success.

Some of the musicals the students will be performing songs from include: Aspects of Love, Cats, Evita, Jesus Christ Superstar, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, The Phantom of the Opera, Starlight Express, Song and Dance, Sunset Boulevard, and more.

The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber

Nov. 12 & 13, 19 & 20

7:30 pm in the MCC-Longview Cultural Arts Center

Tickets are $7 at the door, $3.50 for kids under 10

MCC-Maple Woods Homecoming - The Music Files

MCC-Maple Woods featured all kinds of student talent, including choir music, karaoke and local high school garage band rock.

The Evening of the Arts & Coffeehouse III featured the MCC-Maple Woods choir, conducted by Nicole Murray.

Meanwhile, Indie rock was the flavor of the evening at the 3rd Annual Northland High School Battle of the Bands. Eight local high school bands performed in the Campus Center for year-long bragging rights - the winners were decided via fan votes.

First Place: Tastemaker

Second Place: The Tempest

Third Place: Hero for a Day

And last, but certainly not least, students opted for a more off-the-cuff performance style on karaoke day in the Student Center.

There you have it - today's musical talent at Maple Woods!

KC Star profiles scholarship in memory of Tony Singh

The entire community mourned the senseless murder of Tony Singh, a convenience store clerk who was shot in March during a robbery. The murder was especially tough for the MCC-Penn Valley family because Tony was the brother of Gurbhushan Singh, the campus' beloved financial manager.

The Singh family is determined to keep Tony's memory alive and has established a scholarship in his honor. So far, $15,000 has been collected. Each semester $250 will be awarded to a music student at Penn Valley.

To read more about the scholarship in The Kansas City Star, click here.

El Mambo World heats up MCC-Longview

El Mambo world heated up the MCC-Longview Campus with three performances planned throughout the day on Wednesday, Sept. 29.

Playing an eclectic mix of Mambo, Salsa and jazz, El Mambo World had students dancing in their seats during the lunch rush in the Campus Center Cafe.

The group has two more performances planed for later in the evening where they will be playing two sold out shows in the MCC-Longview Cultural Arts Center. As part of the shows, MCC-Longview will also be offering lessons to anyone who cannot resist the sound of the music and feel the need to dance.

For more photos from El Mambo's visit to campus, click through to the full gallery.

Strap on your dancing shoes: It's time to salsa at MCC-Longview

Experience the energy that only Latin music can generate. MCC-Longview's Discover the World music series invites you to a show for ages 1 to 100.


Listen (and, of course dance along with) The Miguel "El Mambo" Orchestra from 7-9 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 29 at the MCC-Longview Cultural Arts Center.
 
It’s impossible to just listen — you will FEEL the music and it will brighten your inner soul. "El Mambo" will present salsa music from its rarest form to the current Salsa/Mambo fever heights it has reached today.

Dancing Salsa/Mambo is not only beautiful to watch, but it’s also great exercise. We invite you to get moving with our dancers!

This event is free, but you need to call 816.604.2130 for reservations. Space is limited.

Miguel "El Mambo" Orchestra

7-9 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 29

MCC-Longview Cultural Arts Center

Call: 816.604.2130 for reservations