Review: Demirjian and the KSO Present Gems from the Past: Mozart, Farrenc, and Still

BY ALAN SHERROD   Browsing the obituaries of notable citizens in the New York Times in September 1875, readers may have come across an obit for “Mme. Jean Louise Farrenc…a musician and composer of considerable distinction in the generation immediately…

Review: KSO’s “William Shaub and Friends” Visits Bartok and Schubert

BY ALAN SHERROD   “In a limpid brook the capricious trout in joyous haste darted by like an arrow.” There is probably no more successful translation of words into musical flavor than in Franz Schubert’s lied, “Die Forelle” (“The Trout”)…

Review: William Shaub and KSO Warm a Cold Evening in Barber’s Violin Concerto

BY ALAN SHERROD   There is something of a notable history to the January Masterworks concerts by the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra—a history that seems a bit contradictory on its face. In our coldest month, when inclement weather is likely to…

Tuesday Arts Miscellany: January Events Continue

Knoxville Museum of Art: “Empty Columns Are A Place to Dream” Curated by Ric Kasini Kadour, this exhibition features the work of 18 collage artists from eleven countries. Each artist used an image by Robert French (1841-1917), The Square, Parsonstown…

KSO This Week: ‘Pines of Rome’, William Shaub in Samuel Barber’s Violin Concerto

Knoxville Symphony Orchestra Masterworks Series: William Shaub and the Pines of Rome Maurice Ravel: La Valse Samuel Barber: Violin Concerto Carlos Simon: The Block Ottorino Respighi: Pines Of Rome Tennessee Theatre, 604 S. Gay Street Thursday and Friday, January 20,…

The Most Popular Arts Knoxville Stories of 2021

As we keep repeating as if it wasn’t obvious, 2021 has been a year like no other. Arts organization have had to reexamine their priorities and deal with new issues, like performer and audience safety, ticketing, and live-streaming. Those of…

Most Memorable Music Performances of 2021

BY ALAN SHERROD   Last year—2020—will forever bear an asterisk in the history books to indicate that we had foregone normal life for reasons of safety and recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic. Arts Knoxville’s own yearly “Most Memorable” list of…

Tuesday Arts Miscellany: December Happenings

Big Ears — Julian Lage Squint, we are told, is Julian Lage‘s debut album for Blue Note Records, “…a striking new album that weds incisive, expressive songwriting with the profound interplay Lage has honed over the past few years…” Presented…

Thanksgiving Week Arts Miscellany: KSO’s ‘Classical Christmas’ and More

Knoxville Symphony Orchestra – “A Classical Christmas” For the last six years—with the exception of the 2020 Covid-19 performance hiatus—the Knoxville Symphony has offered a late November/early December of winter solstice-period music that is generally classic, if not always classical.…

Review: KSO Journeys Through Color and Emotions in Tchaikovsky, Scriabin, and McKay

BY ALAN SHERROD   The fall Masterworks season for the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra has been an exploration of the colors of emotion in its various forms. Elgar’s Enigma Variations from the September concert described characters and toyed with our heartstrings,…

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