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As reported by Classical KC’s sister station KCUR, four national teams will make Kansas City their home base during the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The English Men’s National Team will train at Swope Soccer Village, Argentina’s players will practice at Sporting KC’s Compass Minerals National Performance Center in Kansas City, Kansas, the Dutch National Team will use the Kansas City Current’s Riverside, MO training facility, and Algeria’s national team will be based in Lawrence, KS at KU’s Rock Chalk park.
Classical KC is celebrating the arrival of our World Cup guests the best way we know how- through their music. Former Kansas City Symphony Music Director and Exploring Music Host Bill McGlaughlin shares beautiful music for the beautiful game.
Bill grew up a basketball and football fan in Philadelphia, but he caught World Cup fever during a stay in Paris when the tournament was held there 1998. “I accompanied (my wife) Karrin Allyson to Paris for her extended gig at the Lionel Hampton Room at the Meridien Hotel,” recalls Bill, “and Paris was crawling with soccer fans.”
With all the energy and drama in the city, Bill was hooked. “The whole world seemed on display,” Bill remembers.
Below, Bill shares some of his favorite composers and performers from England, Argentina and the Netherlands.
England
Students across the world receive their diplomas to the strains of Edward Elgar’s “Pomp and Circumstance,” but Elgar also gave us two wonderful Symphonies, the endearing “Enigma Variations,” and his heartbreaking Cello and Violin Concertos.
Ralph Vaughan Williams gave us nine symphonies, and I love Benjamin Britten’s sensational “Four Sea Interludes” from his opera Peter Grimes.
When we add in George Frideric Handel’s “Messiah,” and Gustav Holst’s ever-popular “The Planets,” we have to admit that the British have acquitted themselves brilliantly.
Argentina
Argentina’s composers wrote wonderfully vivid music.
Start your musical tour with the early masters of the marvelously seductive Tango, like Vicente Greco and Angel Villoldo, and then treat yourself to the modern master, Astor Piazzolla.
With his music, Alberto Ginastera brings the broad fields of the Argentinian Pampas together with the intense world of the Buenos Aires waterfront.
And I encourage you to listen to the wonders of modern composer Osvaldo Golijov, who is creating a wonderful body of remarkably varied music which sounds to my ear, very much like Argentina.
Netherlands
Classical music in the Netherlands has a distinguished history, including the music of late Renaissance composer and organist Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck, and continuing to modern composers like Henk Badings and Louis Andriessen.
The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam, established in 1888, is one of the greatest orchestras in the world with conductors including Dutchmen Willem Mengelberg and Bernard Haitink.
I was fortunate enough to hear a number of concerts conducted by Haitink with the Chicago Symphony and the London Symphony Orchestra and can attest to his marvelous performances, especially the symphonies of Gustav Mahler.
In the period following World War II, a cohort of magisterial Dutch musicians such as Gustav Leonhardt, Ton Koopman and cellist Anner Bylsma led a revolution in resurrecting stylish renditions of the great 18th century repertoire, especially the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. To this day, the baroque music scene in Amsterdam is a singular delight.
Algeria
The North African country of Algeria has a lyrical and emotional music all its own. Algerian musician Khaled Abdelli, who recently performed with Kansas City’s Ensemble Ibérica, shares his expertise about his country's unique musical style.
“A big part of Algerian music is poetry and emotion,” says Abdelli. “There is always a sense of nostalgia, love, dignity, exile, spirituality or celebration behind the melodies.”
Unique instruments such as the lute-like mandol, the darbouka drum, banjo and the oboe-like ney, help define traditional Algerian music, and each region in the country has a distinct sound, according to Abdelli.
To start exploring Algerian music, Abdelli recommends listening to northern artists El Hadj M'Hamed El Anka and Lounès Matoub, refined Malouf singers from Constantine such as El Hadj Mohamed Tahar Fergani, and groups like Tinariwen from the southern desert region of the country.
Classical KC’s sister station KCUR has continued FIFA World Cup coverage at kcur.org/soccer.
