On Friday, September 16, 2011, the Grand Opening of the Muriel Kauffman Theatre featured The Kansas City Ballet, the Lyric Opera of Kansas City and world-renowned opera singer Placido Domingo, joined by Kansas City’s own Lyric Opera Chorus. The evening also featured a series of “Showstoppers” hosted by multiple Tony Award-winning performers, director and choreographer Tommy Tune, as well as a special guest performance by star of stage and screen Patti LuPone. The Conservatory of Music and Dance at UMKC delivered one of the greatest Broadway Showstoppers of all time: the "Tonight" quintet from West Side Story. The Kansas City Symphony accompanied the entire performance at the Muriel Kauffman Theatre.

 

The audience of 1,800 enjoyed a pre-concert reception in the lobby of the Kauffman Center and a post-performance dinner with a stunning view of the Kauffman Center's North facade through floor-to-ceiling windows at the Kansas City Convention Center's Bartle Hall.

 

To cap off the Friday evening event, Baruch/Gayton engaged and collaborated with Quixotic Fusion to create a post-concert outdoor multi-media extravaganza combining 3D Mapping, large-scale projections and live performers. They also reached out to Kansas City’sT2+BackAlley Films to create unique post-concert indoor visual projections for both Friday and Saturday evenings.

 

On Saturday, September 17, the Grand Opening of Helzberg Hall featured performances by world-renowned violinist Itzhak Perlman and Grammy Award-winning pianist/singer Diana Krall, both accompanied by the Kansas City Symphony. In addition, the 156-voice Kansas City Symphony Chorus performed both a capella and with the orchestra. And, in a stunning tribute to Kansas City’s jazz history, the symphony was joined by Kansas City's own internationally known jazz sax virtuoso Bobby Watson, who Baruch/Gayton commissioned to arrange an original work that was performed by a 17-piece American Jazz Museum jazz orchestra comprised of a diverse group of Kansas City musicians.

 

Patrons enjoyed a pre-concert reception in the lobby of the Kauffman Center and VIPs attended the post-concert dinner on stage in the Muriel Kauffman Theatre.

 

The Grand Opening weekend culminated with a Sunday free community open house with more than 40 of Kansas City’s finest performing arts groups comprised of approximately 450 individual artists. Performances ran from noon until 6 PM. on four outdoor stages, as well as in the Muriel Kauffman Theatre and Helzberg Hall. More than 50,000 people attended, far exceeding expectations.