NO Baby News Yet

I finally heard from Maestro Stern last night. We have been anxiously awaiting the birth of his first child. However, baby Stern (supposedly a she)is not cooperating as she should and is several weeks late.

(For newer readers, Michael Stern, the Music Director of the Kansas City Symphony, lives in my condo building, he is the son of Isaac Stern the renowned violinist.)

He called to tell me that he was not coming in this week and had canceled his performances with the symphony this week. Being a news hound, Pato already knew that. I may be the lowly duck, but little escapes me.

The official statement was: "Only my yet unborn child's stubborn refusal to adhere to our Kansas City Symphony's schedule could keep me from being with the orchestra to launch this 25th anniversary season."

Filling in for Stern will be David Robertson, the new conductor of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, who has made quite a splash of his own.

The program for this weekend's KCSO concerts has been changed slightly. We will not hear the KC premiere of Si Ji (Four Seasons) by Chen Yi (who lives and teaches in Kansas City). I have heard the piece and it will not be missed by a lot of the audience. It will be replaced by the Prelude to Wagner's Die Meistersinger. The rest of the concert Dvorák's Symphonic Variations and Jon Kimura Parker in Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 will go as planned.

Maestro sounded well but stressed and Shelly was in back as calm as ever. I noted that he had called during the torture session that is the Heartland Men's Chorus rehearsal and I called during break. I thought it was news but it was not the news I wanted.

Check in at Pato News for the latest updates.