This October 9th marks the beginning of the Harriman-Jewell Series’s 62nd Season. Founded in 1965 by William Jewell College professors Richard Harriman and Dean Dunham, the series brought the world’s finest performing arts to the Kansas City community. Now, over 6 decades after its founding, the Harriman Jewell Series continues the legacy of Richard Harriman with this year’s world-renowned lineup; Patrick Page, Les Arts Florissants, Wynton Marsalis, Lang Lang, Audra McDonald, and more. From the Baroque era to Broadway, piano to pirouettes, there’s something for everyone at one of this year’s twelve performances. Shows will be held in the historic Folly Theater and also Helzberg Hall at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. 

One of the benefits of being a student at William Jewell College is access to free tickets for Harriman-Jewell Series events. To pick up tickets for these performances, stop by the Series Box Office in the Yates-Gill College Union, room 107B (right across from the cafeteria). Don’t miss out on the opportunity to see world-renowned performers in Kansas City’s most iconic venues for FREE! 

The Harriman-Series has a variety of acclaimed performances scheduled for the spring 2022 season. In the months of February and March, there are three scheduled performances, two of which are being held at the college in Gano Hall, making it even easier for students and those in the William Jewell community to attend. 

Martin James Bartlett will be performing in Gano Hall on Feb. 26 at 7 p.m. Bartlett is an acclaimed pianist from England whose growing fame has been achieved at the young age of 24. He won many prestigious awards in England as well as won the 2019 Harriman-Jewell Series Prize. As one of the Free Discovery Concerts in the Series, tickets are free to everyone who wishes to attend.

The Brandon Goldberg Trio is scheduled to perform at 7:30 p.m. on March 12 at White Theater in Overland Park, KS. Goldberg began playing the piano at a young age and became a respected jazz performer at only 15 years old. The Trio also includes Ben Wolfe playing the bass and Donald Edwards playing the drums.

Empire Wild is another trio scheduled to perform at 7 p.m. on March 26 at Jewell in Gano Hall as one of the Free Discovery Concerts. Empire Wild uses their artistic ability to combine genres of pop, folk, Broadway, jazz and more into their performances with the use of the cello, guitar, piano, voice, and other percussion. Their unique style puts a fun contemporary spin on familiar classics.

Free tickets available for William Jewell students can be reserved by visiting the Harriman-Jewell Series office located in Marston 220 anytime from Monday to Friday at 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tickets can also be purchased by visiting the Harriman-Jewell Series website or calling the office at 816-415-5025.

Soon after the announcement of their 56th season, the Harriman-Jewell Series announced their decision to cancel many of the remaining performances of the 55^th season due to the widespread outbreak of COVID-19. 

Despite the last-minute challenges of reevaluating the status of remaining performances in the 55^th season, Harriman Jewell employees acted quickly to resolve confusion around upcoming performances given these unexpected circumstances. Since Mayor Quinton Lucas issued a state of emergency for the Kansas City area, Harriman Jewell has issued an updated schedule for the remaining performances of the season: Performances by Daniil Trifonov, SooBeen Lee and the Boston Pops have been postponed; Angela Gheorghiu and Mitsuko Uchida have made the decision to cancel their tours; and Joyce DiDonato is anticipated to perform as originally scheduled. 

Though the global pandemic has altered the outcome of Harriman Jewell’s 55^th season, the upcoming 56^th season presents even more opportunities to view world-class artists from September 2020 to May 2021. Not only does the 56^th season bring new artists to Kansas City, the season has also expanded to accommodate more performances, which will still be free to all full-time William Jewell College students.

“We have been working on a self-study of the Harriman-Jewell Series in development of our strategic plan,” Executive and Artistic Director Clark Morris said. “One of the outcomes of that study is that we needed to expand our artistic offerings so that we could engage a wider audience.” 

The 56^th season also features a new package for subscribers of the series,  the Inspire Series, allowing for a greater variety of new performances.

“The new package includes: Anthony Roth Constanzo, countertenor; the Brandon Goldberg Trio; the Dhamaal Dancers and Musicians of India; The Stuttgart Bach Akadamie performing Bach’s St. Matthew Passion; the King’s Singers; and Orquestra Sinfonica Nacional de Mexico with pianist Gabriela Montero,” said Morris. “ We think this is the most interesting, culturally rich and exciting arts series anyone in our region will be able to buy.”

The improvement and expansion of the series did not come without difficulty for employees at Harriman-Jewell. Morris detailed that the main struggles with expansion came in the form of trying to find the necessary resources and the ability to push themselves beyond typical practices. However, there have been many supporters that were able to help Harriman-Jewell in their efforts to expand.

“One of the blessings in this process was receiving a capacity building grant from the Muriel McBrien Kauffman Foundation which encouraged us that we could build a greater series that would have a more engaging impact on our community,” Morris said.

While the 56^th season has a lot in store for both subscribers and students, the expansion of the series does not change its traditional set up – it only brings more quality performances to the Kansas City arts scene.

“This season is very similar in quality to what we typically present and still has our well-loved packages of Music and Dance at the Kauffman Center and Masters, which is mostly at the Folly Theater,” Morris said.  “It expands on that base with a new Inspire package which [will] add a variety of events that reach more broadly into the community and, we think, engage new audiences to attend H-JS performances. Our current audience members will likely enjoy a number of these performances as well, but we hope to attract new individuals who aren’t our current subscribers to be loyal audience members.”

Planning a season of this size and trying to appease both more traditional series goers and younger ones is a challenge.  Morris states that expanding the season also brought complications in regard to scheduling.

“This has been an invigorating challenge artistically, but the biggest hurdle is scheduling, which is always a big puzzle,” Morris said.  “Adding six additional performances to next season’s mix added a couple of degrees of difficulty in trying to solve that puzzle.”

With the promise of new selections for Jewell students, Morris encourages every student to take advantage of free tickets to performances brought to Kansas City by the 56^th season of the Harriman Jewell Series.

“Every concert you can go to, so try and go to as many as possible,” Morris said.  “I don’t pick favorites as a practice, and I would suggest that while you may not like every moment of every one of these offerings, you will be very happy that you got to experience it all, or as much as you can, for free.”

More information on performance updates for the 55th and 56th Harriman Jewell Seasons can be found at their website and at their Facebook page.

This year will mark the 53rd season of the Harriman-Jewell Series. Along with the five free Discovery Concerts interspersed throughout the year, the Series is divided into two portions: “Great Music and Dance” and “Great Masters: The Ingram Events.” Each portion will have six events showcasing a wide variety of talents, ranging from orchestras and recitals to ballet and spiritual choirs.

“We try to be an arbiter of culture to shape the cultural experience,” says Clark Morris, William Jewell College’s Vice President for Advancement and Executive Director and Artistic Director of the Harriman-Jewell Series.

Morris, alongside other members of the Harriman-Jewell Office, has a hand in picking performances every season. The process is very much in-house for the College.  Harriman-Jewell employees study potential new acts and travel to cultural centers, such as New York City, to see their performances live. In addition, the Series’ founder, Richard L. Harriman, was an English professor at Jewell, and his quest to bring a wide variety of acts to young and old alike lives on at WJC.

“We absolutely want students to go,” Morris says.

WJC provides both complimentary tickets for current students for every performance and a special alumni night is set aside every year that allows former students to attend performances at greatly reduced prices. This serves not only to continue the original spirit of the Series, but also as a part of its renewed initiative to bring in younger guests. Another part of this initiative are the Discovery Concerts Series, which were created to cater to a new generation of performing arts aficionados by removing price barriers and giving up-and-coming acts a chance to perform on stages like the Kauffman Center.

With both new and returning acts, this year’s Harriman-Jewell Series promises the same diversity of talent shown throughout previous seasons. Performers come from all across the globe in a unique opportunity for both students and the metropolitan community to witness great works of art right in Kansas City’s backyard.