BY ALAN SHERROD To say there was an air of excitement at the past weekend’s Knoxville Symphony Orchestra concerts at the Tennessee Theatre would be an understatement. The occasion was the world premiere performances of Michael Schachter’s Violin Concerto:…
Big Week on Stage: World Premiere from KSO, ‘Patsy Cline’ at Clarence Brown, Puccini from Knoxville Opera
Knoxville Symphony Orchestra For Knoxville Symphony Orchestra fans, every concert has some compelling component—a hugely popular work performed with passion or perhaps an unknown gem lurking just out of sight, at last finding the listeners it deserves. This week’s concert…
Knoxville Opera Makes April a Month of Puccini
“Puccini is Coming To Knoxville” — well, obviously, that’s not completely accurate. Although Knoxville Opera’s Rossini Festival takes to downtown streets on Saturday, April 30, another Italian opera composer is getting a lot of attention this month. Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924),…
Review: UT Opera Theatre’s ‘Die Fledermaus’ Turns Adversity To Its Advantage
BY ALAN SHERROD Although the old saying—“…the show must go on…”— has lost a bit of its imperative bite as a result of the pandemic shutdown, it was certainly the driving force behind the University of Tennessee Opera Theatre’s…
UT Opera Theatre Update: Weather Forces ‘Die Fledermaus’ Inside This Weekend
If—as they say—”necessity is the mother of invention”, the term could have been created for UT Opera Theatre. First, a scheduling conflict preventing them from performing in their usual venue, the Bijou Theatre downtown, had them planning instead on the…
Review in Brief: KSO’s 2022 Concertmaster Series Wraps with Splendid Schumann Quintet
BY ALAN SHERROD Since its inception, the joy of the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra’s Concertmaster Series has actually been its crescendo of dual attractions—shorter, intriguing works, often virtuosic, that may be new to the audience or works you probably won’t…
Wednesday Arts Miscellany: Life After Big Ears
There is an ineffable effect of Big Ears that sneaks into one’s cultural soul and changes how the world is viewed. Suddenly, new angles appear, colors are more saturated and grays more varied. Geometric patterns appear in building facades and…
Review: CBT’s ‘She Kills Monsters’ – An Enchanting Finale for Carousel Theatre
BY ALAN SHERROD Theatre-goers have probably all heard the news—the University of Tennessee Department of Theatre and the Clarence Brown Theatre will be saying goodbye to the current incarnation of the Carousel Theatre following its current production of She…
Review: ‘Loot’ at Flying Anvil Theatre
BY ALAN SHERROD For the first two decades of its existence since its initial production in 1965, Joe Orton’s Loot continued to shock audiences with its satiric irreverence toward civic authority, middle-class propriety, the church, the police, and the…
Review: KSO Honors Ukraine’s Struggle; Brilliant in Tchaikovsky and Brahms
BY ALAN SHERROD Orchestra programming and guest artist booking by symphony orchestras are done a year or more in advance, so it hardly seems fair to dwell on unfortunate coincidences that somehow manage to sneak their way onto an…
