The hypnotic music of late summer cicadas will soon give way to autumn’s music—just as hypnotic—from the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra. Although one can still purchase a 2022-23 season subscription to any of their series, single tickets to individual concerts are now on sale through their website that has detailed information on all the concert programs. The KSO’s season continues from September through May, 2023, with eight Masterworks concerts, five Chamber Classics concerts, and three chamber music concerts hosted by KSO concertmaster William Shaub. The orchestra also offers a six-concert Pops Series. The KSO’s music director and conductor is Aram Demirjian.
The KSO season opens in September with concerts in both the Masterworks Series at the Tennessee Theatre and the Chamber Classics on Sunday afternoons at the Bijou Theatre. The September Masterworks concert pair on September 15 & 16 will feature the Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 4 plus an intriguing newcomer to the piano concerto repertoire by the contemporary composer Jonathan Leshnoff. Leshnoff’s Piano Concerto from 2019 was co-commissioned by the KSO, along with the Harrisburg and Tucson Symphony Orchestras. The concerto was premiered by and dedicated to pianist Joyce Yang who will perform the work with the KSO.
On September 25, the KSO Chamber Orchestra returns to the Bijou Theatre for a concert of works by Mozart, Pulitzer winner Caroline Shaw, and Alberto Ginastera. The Mozart work will be the Haffner Symphony (Symphony No. 35) followed by Ginastera’s Variaciones concertantes. Laura Beth Wells will serve as narrator for Caroline Shaw’s musical adaptation of The Mountain that Loved a Bird by Alice McLerran.
For those listeners who simply can’t wait, the KSO will perform a free concert on Downtown Knoxville’s Market Square on Thursday, September 8 at 7:30.
