From the highway it looks like a crown rising over the Crossroads: two sweeping glass-and-steel shells that have become Kansas City’s modern emblem. The Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, opened in 2011 and designed by Moshe Safdie, houses two of the finest performance halls in America.
Inside the Muriel Kauffman Theatre, the Kansas City Ballet and Lyric Opera of Kansas City stage their seasons beneath a ceiling of falling “fig leaves” and one of the largest murals in the region. Next door, Helzberg Hall wraps audiences around the Kansas City Symphony in warm wood, with a magnificent pipe organ anchoring the stage.
The building itself is an attraction: the glass Brandmeyer Great Hall offers skyline views, the exterior glows at night, and the 180,000-square-foot complex welcomes everyone from gala crowds to families at their first ballet.
Whether you attend a performance or simply admire it from outside at sunset, the Kauffman Center is proof that Kansas City builds beautiful things — and fills them with music.
