This week we'll hear the Kansas City Symphony perform a delightful early symphony by Franz Joseph Haydn known as "The Philosopher" and Ludwig van Beethoven's groundbreaking third symphony: "Eroica." We'll also hear two crowd pleasing tone poems: Richard Strauss' "Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks" and Ottorino Respighi's majestic "Pines of Rome."

This week we'll hear Kansas City Symphony perform Giuseppi Verdi's Overture to his opera "Nabucco" and Leoš Janáček's haunting work "The Fiddler's Child." The program closes with Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 9, the last symphony that he completed.

Ralph Vaughan Williams wrote the score for the 1948 film “Scott of the Antarctic” – a dramatization of the ill-fated expedition led by Capt. Robert Falcon Scott to be the first humans to the South Pole. Vaughan Williams’ inspiration was such that he expanded the film score into a five-movement symphony that is both compelling and moving.

Some composers have the gift to paint with sound, to create musical pictures in our minds. We’ll hear cinematic music by Ferde Grofé and Ottorino Respighi in spectacular recordings that more than demonstrate music’s power to communicate.

Summerfest is the annual series of concerts that brings some of the best chamber musicians in the region to Kansas City to perform together each July. Brooke Knoll speaks with Summerfest musicians and artistic advisors Jane Carl and Evan Halloin about the upcoming season. We'll hear music from Ludwig van Beethoven and Olivier Messiaen.

The team of Fritz Reiner and the Chicago Symphony set a standard that has rarely been equalled. We’ll hear this dream team in two of Mozart’s most beloved symphonies and a Mozart moment from Reiner’s time in the opera pit.

As Michael Stern's time as Kansas City Symphony music director comes to an end after 19 seasons, he and co-host Dan Margolies put together a very special program of music from two of Stern's favorite composers: Leonard Bernstein and Richard Strauss. We'll hear Bernstein's shore leave ballet "Fancy Free," and Strauss tone poems "Death and Transfiguration" and "A Hero's Life."

We might think of “pastoral” as being soft music with bird calls, but the word’s roots go back more to rural scenes and shepherds. This week we have two contrasting, self-described “pastoral” works by Emanuel Chabrier and Alexander Glazunov.

The French horn is expressive. it can be mellow, it can be heroic. It has some of the greatest parts in the orchestral literature, but is also a thrilling solo instrument. We’ll hear it in a chamber music setting and as a soloist partner with a tenor. The full resources of the instrument are on full display.

This week we'll celebrate the birth of Robert Schumann with performances of his Overture, Scherzo and Finale, and his A minor Cello Concerto featuring soloist Narek Hakhnazaryan. Also, bassist Xavier Foley is featured on his own composition "Soul Bass," and we'll hear a world premiere by Angel Lam. The program closes with Alberto Ginastera's "Variaciones concertantes," where everyone in the orchestra gets a moment to shine.