Two-time Tony Award-winning composer Maury Yeston performs at the piano and discusses his latest work, Tom Sawyer – A Ballet in Three Acts, commissioned by Kansas City Ballet. Serving as the inspiration for this Big Read, the ballet is based on the classic Mark Twain novel and is making its world premiere in October 2011 as part of the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts’ grand opening.

Yeston composed the Broadway productions of Titanic and Nine, which both earned Tony Awards for Best Musical. He also wrote the score for Phantom and contributed to the score for the Broadway stage version of Grand Hotel. Well-versed in a variety of styles, he has written cello concertos for Yo Yo Ma, a choral symphony for the National Symphony Orchestra, and songs for Gloria Estefan and Barbara Streisand.

Yeston holds a Ph.D. from Yale University and is author of The Stratification of Musical Rhythm, a seminal music theory text.

KC Ballet Artistic Director William Whitener, who has choreographed the production, will join Yeston onstage.

Presented in partnership with Kansas City Ballet.