By Alan Sherrod If there was ever a concerto that could send its audience into ecstasy with the conclusion of the first movement, it is certainly the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto. Its extended rousing coda works its familiar magic on…
Preview: Knoxville Opera’s Comedy Double Bill — Mozart’s ‘The Impresario’ and Puccini’s ‘Gianni Schicchi’
By Alan Sherrod There are a lot of myths surrounding the life of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, but one thing that we know for certain is that he absolutely loved a good joke—particularly if it ridiculed or parodied those in…
Review: ‘Becky Shaw’ – A Tidal Pool of Shifting Relationships
By Alan Sherrod A good piece of theatre always keeps its audience guessing, a bit off balance as it were, exploring a narrative hallway of doors left there by the playwright. Becky Shaw, a 2008 comedy by Gina Gionfriddo…
New Faces in the KSO – 2018 Edition
Symphony orchestras, by their very definition, work as an ensemble, sometimes making it easy to forget that the ensemble is a collection of individuals. And, those are individuals who have devoted years to honing their talents through training and education.
The Knoxville Symphony Orchestra has seen some changes in it’s individuals for the 2018–19 season. Here are the new faces in the orchestra.
Review: A Search for Identities in Flying Anvil Theatre’s ‘Hir’
By Alan Sherrod As the lights come up on Taylor Mac’s Hir, which opened last Friday at Flying Anvil Theatre, the audience may believe for an instant that it has stumbled onto a contemporary update of the typical dysfunctional…
Review: KSO Chamber Orchestra Goes for a French Connection
By Alan Sherrod You didn’t have to be a music history nerd to enjoy yesterday’s Knoxville Symphony Orchestra Chamber Classics concert “A Touch of France”. But if you did self-identify that way, you were probably in a state of…
Review: CBT’s ‘Alias Grace’ – A Compelling and Timely Mix of Answers and Questions
By Alan Sherrod It is a bit unfortunate that it takes TV adaptations of literary works to drive mainstream cultural recognition, but apparently that’s the world we live in. As a result, one would be hard pressed to be…
Review: KSO’s Q Series Finds A New Home At The Emporium Center
The KSO’s Q-Series, built around its Principal Quartet and the Woodwind Quintet, has seen a major venue change this season, leaving the Square Room and its presentational arrangement for the long rectangular gallery of Gay Street’s Emporium Center.
Review: Symphony of Voices Make Their Debut on Knoxville’s Choral Music Scene
By Alan Sherrod When it began almost 20 years ago, the revitalization of downtown Knoxville was simply about restoring classic older architecture for contemporary use—and uses. At some point—at some moment of realization— people began to discover that much…
Review: KSO’s Season Opener Finds Warmth and Sparkle in Brahms and Rachmaninoff
The arriving audience for the weekend’s concerts by the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra in the Tennessee Theatre were greeted with glasses of champagne, no doubt to add a bit sparkle and lightness to the usual anxious expectations of season-opening concerts. For those who had missed the real season-opener for the orchestra, the production of Leonard Bernstein’s Candide with the Clarence Brown Theatre, the bubbly reinforcement may have been necessary. However, those who had already been dazzled by Candide arrived warmed up and ready for the season.
After a performance of Jonathan Leshnoff’s Starburst, the pianist Joyce Yang joined the orchestra for Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2, with the second half taken up by Johannes Brahms’ Symphony No. 1.
