Diana Salesky
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With an impressive and diverse career in classical music, Diana Salesky writes about that subject for Arts Knoxville. She has been a regular contributor to violinist.com since 2017. A lifelong violinist, Salesky pursued both violin performance and vocal studies through graduate school at the University of Texas at Austin. Her professional career began with New York City Opera, singing in the regular chorus and performing small roles. For a decade, she served as vocal adjudicator for the LaGuardia High School of Performing Arts (“Fame”) in Manhattan and was a consultant to the New York State Board of Education’s arts program. She appears regularly as alto soloist with the Arkansas Choral Society and members of the Arkansas Symphony. She recently sang the alto solos in Messiah with the KSO. Diana and her siblings created a non-profit organization, Amadeus Chamber Ensemble (ACE), that produces classical music concerts in Arkansas, Colorado, and Tennessee

More on Charles Ives — “A Brass Band with Wings”

BY DIANA SALESKY   The Knoxville Symphony Orchestra under Aram Demirjian is performing Charles Ives’ Symphony No. 2 on Thursday and Friday, November 16 and 17, 7:30 PM, at the Tennessee Theatre.  [Tickets and Information] “I have so many fair…

KSO This Week: Beethoven’s “Pastoral Symphony” and Violinist Stefan Jackiw

BY DIANA SALESKY   Knoxville Symphony Orchestra — Masterworks Series — Beethoven’s “Pastoral” Aram Demirjian, conductor — Stefan Jackiw, violin Anna Clyne: Pivot Max Bruch: Scottish Fantasy Beethoven: Symphony No.6 (“Pastoral”) Thursday and Friday, October 19 and 20, 7:30 PM…

Can Concertmaster William Shaub Pass His Own Music Programming Test?

BY DIANA SALESKY   “Somewhere in Time”— Knoxville Symphony Orchestra – Concertmaster Series William Shaub, violin; Kevin Class, piano; Rachel Loseke, violin; Katy Gawne, viola; Andy Bryenton, cello Knoxville Museum of Art Wednesday and Thursday, October 4 and 5—7:00 PM…

NY Phil Concertmaster Huang to Perform in Knoxville With UT Symphony

BY DIANA SALESKY   The New York Philharmonic is, inarguably, one of the finest orchestras in the world. Therefore, it stands to reason that its Concertmaster position would be occupied by one of the finest violinists in the world. And…

One Great Reason to Get Your KSO Tickets: Violinist Stefan Jackiw

BY DIANA SALESKY   Single tickets for the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra (KSO) season went on sale yesterday. There are many great reasons to purchase tickets sooner rather than later – Mahler’s Symphony #4, Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, Handel’s Messiah,…

Shaub Shines in Strauss at the Cathedral Concert Series

BY DIANA SALESKY   Every once in a while, one hears a performance in which the connection between performers and composer is in perfect unity. Such was the case when violinist William Shaub and pianist Kevin Class took on the…

A Blossoming Chamber Music Festival in East Tennessee

BY DIANA SALESKY   Note: This article was originally published on Violinist.com and appears here courtesy of that site. The original article can be viewed here.   “It takes a village to create a great musician.” So says violinist William…

Preview: KSO This Week – Mozart’s Mystery and the Maestro’s Musings

BY DIANA SALESKY   Clouded in myth and speculation, Mozart’s Requiem remains a veritable mystery to this day. The work was incomplete when Mozart died in 1791 and thus begat the centuries of confusion and controversy that were to follow.…

Preview: KSO’s Concertmaster Series – Beethoven’s Final String Quartet: The Answered Question

BY DIANA SALESKY   Most of us who study the violin dream of one day playing the late Beethoven string quartets. Most of us never will. Why? They are excruciatingly difficult. Due to the incredible technical requirements, as well as…

Knoxville Symphony This Week: Jennifer Higdon, Aaron Copland, Jean Sibelius

BY DIANA SALESKY   Composer Jennifer Higdon: A Tennessee Treasure Comes Home Composer Jennifer Higdon once remarked that she grew up “a stone’s throw as the crow flies” from Cold Mountain, the setting of her twice Grammy-nominated opera based on…

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