I had to stop keeping track—it was just too depressing. Cancellations of events in Knoxville’s art and music scene have run the gamut from concerts to opera and recitals, to exhibitions, openings, and shows. Understanding the absolute need for this life-changing disruption as a result of the COVID-19 virus makes it feel a bit more tolerable, but one cannot avoid wistful thoughts of what the spring season could have been.
Adding to that list of disappointments has been the postponed appreciation for the installation of a major musical instrument in Downtown Knoxville, the new seventy-rank Goulding & Wood Opus 52 pipe organ at St. John’s Cathedral at Cumberland and Walnut. By this point in the spring, appreciative listeners should have included not only the St. John’s congregation, but also recital and Big Ears audiences. The acclaimed concert organist, Scott Dettra, was to have given a dedicatory recital on April 21.
Since that can’t happen at this time, St. John’s is opting for the next best thing—a live-streamed recital. St. John’s organists Eunjin Choi and Jason Overall will present a recital on the new organ via YouTube Live on that date, Tuesday, April 21, 2020, at 7 PM. Find their channel at www.youtube.com/user/SJCKnox
