KPR’s Live Day brings live classical music to the public all day Wednesday

This Wednesday, October 25, Kansas Public Radio brings back their popular annual event, KPR Live Day, which sees the station broadcasting live performances from both their in-house performance studio and from the Lied Center Pavilion.

The latter half of that equation means that at 10 a.m., noon, and 2 p.m., listeners can attend free performances in person at the Lied from the likes of violinist Joseph Genauldi and pianist Jihyun Oh, pianist Koji Attwood, and The Beaufort Winds, along with a capstone concert from violinist and KPR Evening Classical host Destiny Ann Mermagen featuring “a collection of spooky sounds” for “a creepy, crawly night of Halloween-themed classical music.”

While that latter concert is a ticketed event, it will be broadcast live at 7 p.m. on Kansas Public Radio’s stations, along with their website. It’s a big deal, but “Listeners love the electricity of live performance/broadcast,” says KPR program director, Darrell Brogdon.

“As you might expect, there are a lot of moving parts-two broadcast locations, two production crews, performers coming and going all day.” Brogdon explains. “However, we have a very experienced team so things usually go pretty smoothly.”

While space limitations mean that the KPR Performance Studio can’t host a live audience, the Lied Center Pavilion will be free for the first three remote performances of the day, and the opportunity to catch some of the best classical performers from the area is what makes folks tune in and attend, continues Brogdon.

“Listeners love the electricity of live performance/broadcast,” he says, and because of that, KPR wants to make sure as many people as possible can attend. To that end, they look for spaces where there’s “plenty of room, decent acoustics and – for the off-site location anyway – plenty of parking and accessibility for listeners who want to come and experience Live Day in person.”

Last year’s performances were also part of KPR’s 70th anniversary, but there’s a bit of a theme to the finale, in that Destiny Ann Mermagen has chosen material specifically around Halloween.

“The daytime stuff is all pretty straightforward,” however, Brogdon offers. “We talked about maybe devoting the entire day to Halloween-themed music but in the end we decided that would be pretty limiting.”

Destiny Ann Mermagen’s closing performance at the Lied with special guests percussionist John Currey and pianist Karen Savage means that the night gets to end on a classically creepy note, and one that’s sure to be fun and entertaining, something Mermagen says is paramount to her when it comes to choosing repertory music.

“My passion is to make classical music accessible to anyone and everyone,” enthuses violinist Mermagen. “Picking music that fits a Halloween theme made this a piece of cake for this KPR show. It will be guaranteed fun, and this concert promises to leave you smiling–and slightly spooked!”

Kansas Public Radio’s Live Day begins at 9 a.m. with a live broadcast performance by Opus 76 Quartet and continues throughout the day, concluding with a 7 p.m. capstone concert at the Lied Center Pavilion from Destiny Ann Mermagen. Details and tickets are available at the KPR website.