Regular readers of Arts Knoxville will recall that we have been unabashed advocates for the resurgence of Downtown Knoxville as a focal point for the city, if for no other reason than the environmental vitality it has imparted to the art and music scene. Not surprising, though—the relationship between the city and its arts organizations flows in both directions. For example, the burgeoning Big Ears Festival has provided a significant bump to Knoxville’s relevance as a contemporary music performance destination. And, with a program that recognizes Knoxville’s rich artistic legacy, the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra will perform in March at the 2020 SHIFT Festival at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC. The KSO’s program for that occasion will feature two works inspired by texts from Pulitzer Prize-winning Knoxville native James Agee—Samuel Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 and Aaron Copland’s Suite from The Tender Land, inspired in part by Let Us Now Praise Famous Men.
However, if these reputation-boosters are the “forest” of our Knoxville music scene, let’s not forget the “trees”, those individual performances that have opened our eyes and ears—performances that have made us sit up in our seats, or rise joyously out of them.
Most Memorable Orchestral Performances
Although I have selected three splendid performances by the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra, it was the most recent Masterworks concert in November that truly stood apart, a concert that featured a performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7, led by conductor Aram Demirjian “…for what was one of the most dynamically sublime and nuanced performances that I have witnessed from the orchestra to date.”
(“Review: Virtuosic Percussion and a Sublime Beethoven Seventh Mark KSO’s “Beethoven and the Art of Rhythm”)
That same concert also featured Nief-Norf percussionists Andy Bliss and Mike Truesdell in a sparkling attitude adjustment, Avner Dorman’s Spices, Perfumes, Toxins!.
Despite being the coldest month, January’s concerts mysteriously seem to possess an uncanny excitement and energy. On this occasion, the KSO was joined by select players from the Knoxville Symphony Youth Orchestra for Antonín Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9 in E minor (“From the New World”). “Part of this popularity can be traced to the fact that the symphony carries itself with a sense of drama and theatricality, an underpinning that Demirjian quite consciously exploited with determination—and with help from the expanded numbers.”
(“Review: The Present and the Future Collide in KSO’s Majestic “New World”
Some concerts defy one’s expectations. That was the case with the 2018-19 season finale concert in May that had an inarguably broad appeal. Along with choreography from Go Contemporary Dance Works in Michael Schachter’s Five—Six—Seven—Eight, the concert featured Joaquín Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez with guitarist Jason Vieaux. However, the real enchantment came with the final two works—a pairing by Demirjian of Ravel’s landscape of Spain, Rapsodie espagnole, and George Gershwin’s rhythmic masterpiece take on Paris, An American in Paris.
(“Review: Guitarist Vieaux and KSO Offer a Fascinating and Entertaining 2018-19 Season Finale“)
Most Memorable Concerto Performances
An eagerly anticipated concert that rewarded the audience with exciting virtuosity was the KSO March Masterworks that featured Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto with Concertmaster William Shaub as soloist and guest conductor Mei-Ann Chen.
“As the orchestra’s audience has come to recognize in his two seasons with the KSO, Shaub is a violinist who not only possesses the virtuosity required for the piece, but who also brings an energetic musical expressiveness that sings with a vibrant string tone and beautifully articulated passagework in every opportunity that comes his way.”
Pianist Chih-Long Hu brightened a gloomy Sunday in March with a performance in the Chamber Classics Series of Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 9. Also notable was Hu’s performance of Beethoven’s “Emperor” Concerto with the University of Tennessee Symphony Orchestra in October.
Pianist Natasha Paremski gets a substantial nod for her performance in Edvard Grieg’s Piano Concerto on the KSO October Masterworks.
“Paremski brought a decisive freshness to her interpretation that was bold and demonstrative without being overwhelming, and beautifully Romantic without the dynamic fuzziness that comes with that territory.”
(“Review: Natasha Paremski and KSO Find a Show-Stopper in Grieg’s Piano Concerto“)
Most Memorable Chamber Music Performances
The KSO’s Concertmaster Series at the Knoxville Museum of Art under the leadership of William Shaub has taken the lead in offering chamber music that is both accessible and satisfying. In that series—and at risk of offending category purists—I’m placing the excellent October KSO Concertmaster Series performance of J.S. Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 here given the venue and the performing forces.
“The energy and razor sharp ensemble playing continued in the Brandenburg No. 5 with the solo violin and flute moving to the forefront of the balance. [Violinist William] Shaub and [flutist Hannah] Hammel worked well together, with the flute presence always just at the pinnacle of the ensemble focus.” (“Review: Baroque Excitement from KSO Concertmaster William Shaub and Friends“)
Last January found the KSO’s Chamber Classics Series at UT’s Powell Recital Hall in a captivating chamber music program that included Mozart’s Oboe Quartet in F Major, K. 370, and Franz Schubert’s Octet in F Major. Soloists and ensemble in the Mozart included oboist Claire Chenette, and violinist Edward Pulgar, violist Kathryn Gawne, and cellist Stacy Nickell. The Schubert Octet players were Gary Sperl, clarinet, violins Gordon Tsai and Pulgar, violist Gawne, cellist Nickell, double bassist Steve Benne, horn Jeffery Whaley, and bassoon Aaron Apaza.
In February, UT faculty members, pianist Chih-Long Hu and violinist Miroslav Hristov, created a beautiful three-recital series of the complete Beethoven violin sonatas.
September saw an excellent UT faculty and guest artist recital of a rarely heard Beethoven work, the Sextet in E-flat, op 81b — horns Katie Johnson-Webb and Jeffery Whaley with strings Rachel Loseke, Ruth Bacon, Hillary Herndon, and Jon Hamar.
Most Memorable Solo Performances
Among Knoxville’s music adventures is the Evelyn Miller Young Pianist Series, known simply as YPS. The three-recital series in UT’s Powell Recital Hall takes place each year in January, February, and March, and provides international pianists under the age of 35 who are on the verge of substantial solo careers with recital opportunities, while giving Knoxville audiences the opportunities to hear breakout artists in recital.
While audiences expect a high level of virtuosity from the selected pianists, 2019 saw performances that exceeded the high expectations of most. February’s recitalist, 17-year old Ray Ushikubo, offered a challenging program, masterfully performed, of works from Chopin to Liszt. He followed that with an encore, a Bach fugue, performed not on the piano, but on his “other” instrument, the violin.
The March recitalist, Elliot Wuu, wowed the audience with sensational musicality in a range of works: J.S. Bach’s Partita No. 1 in B-flat Major, Debussy’s Images 1série, and Beethoven’s “Pathetique” Sonata, before touching down on a Paderewski nocturne and Rachmaninoff.
Most Memorable Operatic Performances
Opera performances in 2019 ran the gamut from traditional 19th Century fare to contemporary works in non-traditional venues. Against this varied backdrop, I chose two productions that defined the word “memorable.”
Marble City Opera, Knoxville’s chamber opera company known for staging its productions in adventurous spaces, brought Giacomo Puccini’s familiar one-act, Suor Angelica, to a non-traditional venue, the courtyard of St. John’s Cathedral in downtown Knoxville. Featured in that atmospheric production directed by James Marvel were soprano Kathryn Frady as Angelica, Julie Belanger Roy as the Princess, and Jacquie Brecheen as Suor Genovieffa.
(“Review: Marble City Opera’s ‘Suor Angelica’ – A Magic Hour in Every Sense“)
Knoxville Opera‘s February production of Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor featured a splendid performance from the 26-year old soprano Meryl Dominguez in the title role.
“In the meantime, we can say that we heard a Lucia sung the way we always dream it—with gorgeous, crystalline highs and a powerful mid-range, yet painted with delicate coloratura vocal details that are spine-tingling, and all supported by a strong, credible interpretation.”
(“Review: Soprano Meryl Dominguez and Knoxville Opera Make for a Sensational ‘Lucia di Lammermoor’“
Most Memorable Choral Performances
Despite the apparent loss of last year’s favorite ensemble, Symphony of Voices, there was still reason for optimism. The Knoxville Chamber Chorale, a subset of the Knoxville Choral Society under director John Orr, offered an enchanting concert, “Alone in the Night.”
” …the superlatives did not end with the theme—the concert revealed a 29-member, well-matched and enthusiastic ensemble performing with a comforting timbre, seemingly effortless diction, and a beautiful tonal balance.”
(“Review: Knoxville Chamber Chorale Beguiles With ‘Alone In The Night’“)
In April, the larger KCS and the Webb School of Knoxville Chamber Singers joined the KSO for a solid performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. Soloists were soprano Kathryn Frady, mezzo-soprano Jan Wilson, tenor Andrew Skoog, and bass Griffen Tracy.
Most Memorable Contemporary Music Performances
It just feels wrong to have a category like this as music really is a continuum, despite our own efforts to pigeonhole. Nevertheless, it is impossible to say “contemporary music in Knoxville” without following it up with two organizations: the Big Ears Festival and Nief-Norf.
Read my review “Big Ears 2019: Making Everything Seem Possible”
• Happy Holidays! •
