Michael Stern conducts Mendelssohn, Barber, and Sibelius

After two decades at the helm of the Kansas City Symphony, maestro Michael Stern brings his tenure to a memorable close in this eclectic and satisfying program. After opening with the sprightly Overture to A Midsummer Night's Dream by a 17-year-old Felix Mendelssohn, Stern and his KCS move on to Samuel Barber's intensely dramatic and finely orchestrated Symphony No. 1 in One Movement. Their fittingly grand finale is Sibelius's Symphony No. 2, which the composer called a "confession of the soul," and which traverses a wide array of tempi, moods, and colors before arriving at a soul-stirringly triumphant conclusion.