Monday, December 2 and Friday, December 6, 2019
Tickets available beginning October 1, 2019
I remember seeing a picture of my friend Liz and her beautifully dressed children at Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts at Christmastime 2014 and I was so envious of the fact that she got them all together to do something so cool and expensive. We had never been to Kauffman Center, let alone for anything CULTURAL and cool. I was afraid it would all cost too much money anyway.
Tickets available beginning October 1, 2019
I remember seeing a picture of my friend Liz and her beautifully dressed children at Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts at Christmastime 2014 and I was so envious of the fact that she got them all together to do something so cool and expensive. We had never been to Kauffman Center, let alone for anything CULTURAL and cool. I was afraid it would all cost too much money anyway.
Well, she told me it was called Tuba Christmas. And it's FREE. She got 10 tickets (general admission) and I was able to secure enough for my family for one of the Friday noon performances for 2015. Here are some pics from the under-an-hour performance (which counts toward homeschool fine arts, by the way)! Here is the link to get your free tickets, but note the venue change.
About TubaChristmas
The first TubaChristmas was presented on December 22, 1974 at Rockefeller Plaza in New York City, making this the 40th anniversary year of MERRY TUBACHRISTMAS. The first Kansas City TubaChristmas was in 1979 when the group performed for the lighting of the Crown Center Christmas tree. TubaChristmas in Kansas City has happened annually since 1979, often bringing together over 500 tuba and euphonium players from all walks of life, and sometimes multiple generations of the same family who have made TubaChristmas an annual tradition. For more information see www.tubachristmas.com
TubaChristmas concerts are presented with permission from the Harvey Phillips Foundation, Inc., founded by Harvey Phillips in memory of his teacher, William J. Bell. Harvey Phillips is a distinguished professor emeritus of the Department of Music, Indiana University, and one of the most acclaimed tuba players in the world. He has commissioned more than 200 solo works for tuba and in 2008 was inducted into the American Classical Music Hall of Fame. Phillips is a native of Aurora, Missouri and attended the University of Missouri prior to being accepted to the Juilliard School of Music in New York. Harvey Phillips received an honorary doctorate from the University of Missouri in 1987, in part for his national efforts to establish TubaChristmas as an annual tradition.
UPDATE FROM 2017
DO NOT BE LATE, because in 2017 we were late and even though we had tickets, they would not let us in. There were a bunch of others who were also late and they herded us into some stuffy room to watch the whole thing on a tiny television. We did not stay because there were not enough places to sit, it was hot, there were crying babies, and nobody could see or hear what was going on. Although with the 2018 venue change, I wonder how this might change.
2018 pictures from when they achieved the World Record for number of tuba players and duration of playing a specific song.
DO NOT BE LATE, because in 2017 we were late and even though we had tickets, they would not let us in. There were a bunch of others who were also late and they herded us into some stuffy room to watch the whole thing on a tiny television. We did not stay because there were not enough places to sit, it was hot, there were crying babies, and nobody could see or hear what was going on. Although with the 2018 venue change, I wonder how this might change.
2018 pictures from when they achieved the World Record for number of tuba players and duration of playing a specific song.
