Tuesday Arts Miscellany: Live Performances Return for KSO, UT Symphony, As Fall Heats Up

Knoxville Symphony Orchestra

Although the KSO offered some performances last spring in front of limited-capacity audiences, the fall season is now here, and with it, an excitement for hearing live music again—albeit with some necessary safety restrictions in place instituted by the venues. However, it was the open air and familiar ground of Downtown’s Market Square last week that hosted the orchestra in a Symphony on the Square concert that was the orchestra’s unofficial season debut.

Conducted by KSO Resident Conductor James Fellenbaum, the free concert included some previews of the orchestra’s classical and pops 2021-22 season, including Rossini’s Overture to The Barber of Seville and a refreshing reminder of the brilliance of Joseph Bologne, aka the Chevalier de Saint-Georges, a contemporary of Mozart and Haydn. Also intriguing the audience was Jennifer Higdon’s Reel Time and William Grant Still’s Can’t You Line ‘Em.

Although the KSO’s Masterworks Series opener in the Tennessee Theatre is still 10 days away—a concert featuring Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons and Edward Elgar’s Enigma Variations—they can be found outdoors again this Thursday evening at the Knoxville Botanical Gardens in a program called Bach at the Botanicals that features works of J.S. Bach and contemporary composers, including Dosia McKay, Jennifer Higdon, Rhiannon Giddens, and Mark O’Connor. The evening begins at 7:00 PM and features music in several locations on the grounds. For more information on this intriguing event, check out the KSO’s webpage.

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University of Tennessee Symphony Orchestra

Some of the more painful absences from the live music scene due to the Covid-19 pandemic have been the performers and ensemble performances of the UT School of Music. While the ensembles are still staggered by absences due to Covid-19 issues, it appears as if the UT Symphony Orchestra will be inviting a live audience back for a season-opener concert this Sunday, September 19, in the James R. Cox Auditorium, at 4:00 PM.

UTSO music director and conductor James Fellenbaum has indicated that the concert will feature a work that will be new to listeners, the Symphony No. 4 in B Minor, by the German composer, Emilie Mayer (1812-1883). Although Mayer was a prolific composer, little of her music was ever published, and almost none of her works have been performed anywhere since her death. This performance by the UTSO will be the American premiere of that symphony.

University of Tennessee Symphony Orchestra – Unfinished Business
James R. Cox Auditorium on the UT Campus
Sunday, September 19, 4:00 PM
FREE

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Flying Anvil Theatre – Neil Simon’s The Sunshine Boys

It is certainly not hyperbole to state that Steven Dupree and David Dwyer are “two local legends.” And, the pair is teaming up in a production of Neil Simon’s The Sunshine Boys at the Flying Anvil Theatre.

“Dwyer and Dupree play “Lewis and Clark,” top-billed vaudevillians for over 40 years. Now they aren’t even speaking. When CBS requests them for a “History of Comedy” retrospective, a grudging reunion brings the two back together, along with a flood of memories, miseries and laughs. The show was a hit on Broadway and revived several times with actors such as Dick Van Dyke, Walter Matthau and Danny DeVito.”

The Sunshine Boys opens on Friday, September 17, preceded by a “Pay What You Can” preview on Thursday, September 16. The show runs through Sunday, October 10. Evening performances are at 7:30 PM; Sunday matinees are at 2:00PM

Information and tickets for The Sunshine Boys are available at flyinganviltheatre.com

Flying Anvil Theatre, 1300 Rocky Hill Rd. 

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The Ewing Gallery – “Professional Practices”

The Ewing Gallery of Art + Architecture is presenting an exhibition of the studio art faculty of the University of Tennessee School of Art – Professional Practices. The show runs September 13 – 24.

Exhibiting faculty members are: Joshua Bienko, Emily Ward Bivens, Sally Brogden, Jason Brown, Rubens Ghenov, Paul Harrill, John Kelley, Mary Laube, Paul Lee, Beauvais Lyons, Frank Martin, Christopher McNulty, Althea Murphy-Price, John Powers, Elaine McMillion Sheldon, Jered Sprecher, and Koichi Yamamoto.

The Ewing Gallery is on the first floor of the Art + Architecture Building
Gallery Hours: Monday – Friday, 10am – 5pm.
Thursday evenings until 7:30pm.
Sundays from 1-4pm.

Gallery capacity limited to 25 visitors.
Masks are required in University of Tennessee buildings.

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The McClung Museum – Between the Hand and Sky: The Art of Elizabeth Gould

A new temporary exhibition, Between the Hand and Sky: The Art of Elizabeth Gould, that opened on August 20 and runs through December 4, addresses the under-representation of Elizabeth Gould as a natural history illustrator as well as an ornithologist.

Curated by Erin Wohletz, a 2019 MFA alum of University of Tennessee’s Printmaking department, the exhibition grew out of Erin’s research into the McClung Museum’s collections, and their own interests in the history of women artists, particularly in printmaking and natural history. The exhibition is being presented by Ardath and Joel Rynning (posthumously), Ileen and Jimmy Cheek, Nancy and Charlie Wagner, and the Tennessee Ornithological Society, and features 30 lithographic prints and objects from the museum’s permanent collections.

The McClung Museum, 1327 Circle Park Drive.
Museum admission and parking are free
Current hours are Tuesday–Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. with advance registration. Visitors should register at tiny.utk.edu/visitmcclung and review the visitor guidelines.

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Knoxville Children’s Theatre: Disney’s The Aristocats

The play runs September 17 – October 3, 2021; performances are Thursdays at 7 PM, Fridays at 7 PM, Saturdays at 1 PM and 5 PM, and Sundays at 3 PM.

Jazz on the Square