An Evening Inspired by Amelia

Name: An Evening Inspired by Amelia
Start: 2024-07-18T18:00:00-05:00
End: 2024-07-18T20:00:00-05:00
Location: Amelia Earhart Hangar Museum

The Amelia Earhart Hangar Museum is pleased to present the first public performance of “Inspired by Amelia,” an original musical composition.

Composed by Kansas City violinist, Dana Mengel, and performed by the Amazing Strings Ensemble, “Inspired by Amelia” beautifully captures the dramatic arc of Amelia’s life — from her adventurous childhood, triumphant aviation career and fateful disappearance to her enduring legacy to encourage others to pursue their dreams.

Tickets are $25 and include a reception where guests will have the opportunity to meet Deep Sea Vision explorers, Tony Romeo and Lloyd Romeo, ahead of their participation in the July 19 program, “Adventure Amelia” and the July 19 program, “Deep Dive with Deep Sea Vision.”

This special benefit concert supports educational programming at The Amelia Earhart Hangar Museum, a nonprofit organization. A portion of each ticket is tax deductible.

Order of Events

6:00 to 7:00 p.m. – Patrons Reception in the Museum Foyer
7:00 to 8:00 p.m. – Ensemble Performance inside the Museum

PURCHASE TICKETS

Additional Information

Inspired by Amelia’s Extraordinary Courage

It was a casual day in the public library when Kansas City composer and violinist, Dana Mengel, read a National Geographic article about Amelia Earhart. Her fascinating life story ignited Mengel’s imagination and musical mind.

While Mengel enjoys flying in his dreams, he became mesmerized with Amelia’s courage to soar the sky. “I’ve always been fascinated with not being bound by earth, by birds in flight and the sheer magic of defying gravity,” Mengel said.

“Though flying in our modern life is now commonplace, Amelia’s passion in the early years of aviation to bravely fly, alone, across the ocean, is deeply extraordinary to me.”

-Dana Mengel, Composer of “Inspired by Amelia”

Mengel is proud to premiere his new composition, “Inspired by Amelia,” inside the state-of-the-art Amelia Earhart Hangar Museum in Amelia’s Atchison, Kansas, hometown.

Performed by the Amazing Strings Ensemble, the beautiful five-movement arrangement captures the dramatic arc of Amelia’s life. The performance invites the audience to join a lyrical journey from Amelia’s adventurous childhood and triumphant success as a world-renowned aviator to her fateful disappearance and enduring legacy to encourage others to pursue their dreams.

The Amazing Strings Ensemble is a recently formed group of talented musicians from the Kansas City metropolitan area. Managed by violist Tammy Mengel, spouse of composer Dana Mengel, the ensemble is comprised of violin, viola, cello, flute and percussion.

Ensemble musicians include Alexander Alejandre – Flute; Dennis Bogart – 2nd Violin; Abigail Foehrkolb – Percussion; Jodie Fuentes – Cello; Tammy Mengel – Viola; and Adam Sheffield – 1st Violin.

About the Composer

Dana Mengel, Composer and Professional Violinist

Dana Mengel is an award-winning Kansas City composer and violinist.

As the youngest child in a prodigious musical family, Mengel began performing and composing at an early age. Growing up with an endless parade of piano students instructed by his mother, his home was joyfully filled with the music of Chopin, Bach, Brahms, Beethoven and artists that influenced his lifelong passion for music.

Mengel’s compositions have been performed around the world. Most recently, his work was featured in “The American Artist,” an Emmy Award-winning biographical docu-drama about the life of Missouri artist George Caleb Bingham. Selections from Mengel’s “Oregon Trail Suite” were performed by the Heritage Philharmonic during Missouri’s bicentennial celebration.

With an early focus on composing sacred music and an ASCAP award-winning recipient since 1992, Mengel has had over 1,000 choral anthems published internationally.

Mengel mentors future generations as a composition teacher at the Music Arts Institute, a nonprofit providing young artists access to musical training in the Englewood Arts District in Independence, Mo. Mengel has also delighted audiences for nearly 20 years with violin performances, along with his brother on cello, at the Chaz Lounge in the Raphael Hotel on Kansas City’s Country Club Plaza.