The Knoxville Symphony Orchestra, led by Music Director Aram Demirjian, has announced the program lineups and dates for the 2023-24 season for each of its five main series.
• The eight Masterworks concert pairs at the Tennessee Theatre feature the full orchestra and are heard monthly on Thursday and Friday evenings from September to May, with the exception of December. The season opening September concert will feature Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition.
• The five Sunday afternoon Chamber Classics concerts feature the Knoxville Symphony Chamber Orchestra in the more intimate confines of the Bijou Theatre in September, November, January, March, and April.
• The six Pops Series concerts, most often performed at the Civic Auditorium, feature music of today’s popular artists and movies.
• Concertmaster and violinist William Shaub is host for the Concertmaster Series of chamber music at the Knoxville Museum of Art in October, February, and April.
• The Q-Series, featuring the KSO’s String Quartets and the Woodwind Quintet, is scheduled for six Noon performances (lunch included) at the Elks Lodge in West Knoxville.
In the big picture, the KSO is continuing its past practice of featuring important and familiar works from the vast orchestral repertoire from music history, side-by-side with a diversity of important contemporary works—some highlighting recent women composers, as well as some commissioned works by the KSO.
A new connection for the orchestra will be the Cosmos Festival, the combination of a Chamber Classics Series concert on Sunday, April 14, with the Masterworks concert pair that week on April 18-19. The Sunday concert will be based on three works placed on NASA’s Golden Record that is aboard the Voyager spacecrafts: movements from Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony and String Quartet No. 13, and Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 2. Appropriately, Mozart’s “Jupiter” Symphony ties the program together.
The Masterworks half of the Cosmos Festival will feature four pieces inspired by different aspects of the celestial—Mozart’s Overture to The Magic Flute; Nokuthula Ngwenyama’s Primal Message; the KSO co-commissioned work, Jonathan Leshnoff’s Piano Concerto with pianist Joyce Yang; and, of course, Gustav Holst’s The Planets.
Although one can easily say that there is something for everyone in the 2023-24 programming, that is literally true. Familiar stalwarts of the repertoire can be found on every concert, but are accompanied by rarely-played gems and discoveries, as well as by intriguing contemporary newbies. While there may be challenges lurking in the lists, they seem to be challenges that have one heading off into the night enlightened and refreshed.
A few choice highlights from the Masterworks and Chamber Classics Series—
• Mussorgsky’s popular Pictures at an Exhibition (Sept. ’23)
• Beethoven’s “Pastoral Symphony” (Oct. ’23)
• Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3 with pianist Alessio Bax (Nov. ’23)
• Sleigh bells anyone? — Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 (Jan. ’24)
• Beethoven’s Violin Concerto with Geneva Lewis, violin (Feb. ’24)
• Dvořák’s Symphony No. 8 (Mar. ’24)
• Verdi’s Requiem (May ’24)
• Handel’s Messiah (Nov ‘23)
• William Shaub performing Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 5 (Sept. ’23)
• KSO Principal flute Devan Jaquez – Malcolm Arnold’s Flute Concerto No. 1 (Jan ’24)
• Mendelssohn’s “Italian” Symphony (March ’24)
• Arutiunian’s Trumpet Concerto with William Leathers, trumpet (Sep ‘23)
• Charles Ives Symphony No. 2 (Nov. ’23)
For a complete month-by-month list of the 2023-24 season, visit the KSO’s website here
Season Ticket Information
2023-24 Pops Series
• Frank and the Great Ladies of Song – Oct. 6, 2023 (at Tennessee Theatre)
• Star Wars: A New Hope – Jan. 13, 2024 (Civic Aud.)
• Go Now! Music of the Moody Blues – February 10, 2024 (Civic Aud.)
• Chicago Nights with Jason Scheff – March 9, 2024 (Civic Aud.)
• A Rodgers & Hammerstein Celebration – April 6, 2024 (Civic Aud.)
• The Music of Elton John with Michael Cavanaugh – May 11, 2024 (Civic Aud.)
2023-24 Concertmaster & Friends Series (Virtuosic solos and major ensemble works)
• Somewhere In Time – Oct. 4-5, 2023: Johannes Brahms: Piano Quintet In F Minor
• Heifetz And The Golden Era Of Hollywood – Jan. 31-Feb. 1, 2024: César Franck’s Piano Quintet
• Bach’s Concerto For Violin And Oboe – April 3-4, 2024: Johann Sebastian Bach’s Violin Concerto In A Minor and Concerto For Violin And Oboe
