South by Northwest

Need a south-of-the-border vacation but don’t have time or money to get very far? Spend a couple of hours with the Philharmonia of Greater Kansas City. For its “Spring Break in Latin America” concert, the community orchestra taps the music of Peru, Brazil and Mexico. Conductor Andrés Franco will strike up tangos, sambas and other alluring sounds, including Santos Cifuentes’ “Scherzo Sinfónico sobre Aires Tropicales,” Enrique Soro’s “Danza  Fantástica,” Daniel Alomia Robles’ “El Condor Pasa,” A. Villoldo and G. Matos’ “El Choclo” and “La Cumparsita,” Ary Barroso’s “Aquarela Brasil” and Arturo Marquez’s “Danzon No. 2.” There’s a little Europe, too: Mendelssohn’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in G. Minor, with pianist Ga Hee-Lee, winner of the 2009 Kansas City Music Teachers Association Concerto Competition. Get your passport stamped at 3 p.m. today in the Graham Tyler Memorial Chapel (8700 Northwest River Park Drive) on the Park University campus in Parkville. Call 816-584-6888 or see kcphilharmonia.org for details.

Sun., March 29, 3 p.m., 2009