It was probably four or five years ago when I began mentioning in my columns what seemed to be a strange scarcity of professional classical music performances in Knoxville during the month of December, a month I believed should be…
Monday: Tenor Gerhard Siegel in Recital
German tenor Gerhard Siegel makes an appearance in Knoxville on Monday evening, November 23, courtesy of the University of Tennessee School of Music and their ongoing series of guest artist recitals. American audiences saw him as Mime in the Metropolitan…
KSO This Week: Guest Conductor “Z” Kuwahara and Pianist Stewart Goodyear
This week’s Knoxville Symphony Orchestra Masterworks concerts will feature the second of six guest conductors auditioning for the vacant music director position—Shizuo “Z” Kuwahara. I continue to suggest that every Knoxville classical music listener catch all of the candidate concerts…
Review: UT Opera Theatre’s ‘The Consul’
At the time Gian Carlo Menotti created his opera The Consul in 1950, American notions of bureaucracy and its practitioners were defined by deep suspicion and the fear of insidious dehumanization. By today’s standards, those attitudes were almost laughably simplistic. Our…
This Weekend–UT Opera Theatre–Menotti’s ‘The Consul’
The University of Tennessee Opera Theatre brings a production of Gian Carlo Menotti’s opera The Consul to the Bijou Theatre for four performances, Friday thru Sunday. For details, see my preview in this week’s Knoxville Mercury. Stage director: James Marvel…
Friday Night: String Quartet Inner Voices at the Hive
The debut of string quartet Inner Voices comes to the Hive on Friday, November 13, at 7:00 p.m. For information on the program, see my preview in this week’s Knoxville Mercury. The Hive 854 N.Central, Knoxville
Review: KSO’s ‘Mozart and More’ at the Bijou
If you’ve never been to a classical music concert at Knoxville’s Bijou Theatre, then any mention of the hall’s acoustic subtlety is virtually meaningless—and you probably aren’t reading this anyway. However, audiences that frequent the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra’s Sunday afternoon…
Review: Marble City Opera’s ‘Ghosts of Crosstown’
Already in its short existence, Knoxville’s chamber opera company, Marble City Opera, has sought to transport us to western barrooms, garden parties, Parisian garrets, and New York City apartments. Last evening, though, the destination was the old vacant, art deco…
UT Premieres Ellen Reid/Royce Vavrek, ‘Knoxville: Summer of 2015’
In this week’s Knoxville Mercury, I preview the new work by Ellen Reid and Royce Vavrek, Knoxville: Summer of 2015. On the concert at the Tennessee Theatre on Friday evening, that work follows a performance of the Samuel Barber work,…
Sunday at the Bijou: Mozart and More
“Mozart and More” — Knoxville Symphony Orchestra’s Chamber Classics Series Knoxville Symphony Chamber Orchestra Sunday, November 1, 2:30 p.m. Bijou Theatre, 803 S. Gay Street, downtown Knoxville Info/tickets I had the opportunity recently to reflect on the idea of a…
