The University of Tennessee Opera Theatre is presenting Francis Poulenc’s Dialogues of the Carmelites at the Bijou Theatre in a double-cast run of four performances—evening performances on Friday and Saturday evenings at 7:30 PM, April 25 and 26, and afternoon…
Review: River & Rail Theatre Company – ‘Lady Day At Emerson’s Bar and Grill
BY ALAN SHERROD It’s 1959 and the legendary jazz singer Billie Holiday is performing at a small, seedy bar in South Philadelphia called Emerson’s Bar and Grill. That is the basis for Lanie Robertson’s Lady Day At Emerson’s Bar…
Review: Clarence Brown Theatre’s ‘The Play That Goes Wrong’ Roars With Laughter
BY ALAN SHERROD In the Clarence Brown Theatre’s production of The Play That Goes Wrong, the question confronting audiences is not whether they will laugh at the breathlessly farcical goings-on in this parody of British murder mysteries, but whether…
This Weekend: Knoxville Opera’s Rossini Festival in Downtown Knoxville
For many, spring time and Knoxville Opera’s Rossini Festival are synonymous. This year’s festival takes place on Saturday, April 12, 10:00 AM to 10:00 PM, and Sunday, April 13, Noon to 7:00 PM, on streets and squares in Downtown Knoxville.…
Review: KSO Wraps Chamber Classics Series with Vivaldi’s ‘Four Seasons’ & Baroque Inspirations
The Knoxville Symphony Orchestra wrapped up its 2024-25 Chamber Classics season at the Bijou Theatre on Sunday in rather spectacular fashion. The concert was sold out, proving not only that Antonio Vivaldi’s Four Seasons is intensely popular with audiences, but also that the series itself is attractive to those who gravitate to a Sunday afternoon performance in the intimate acoustic environment of the Bijou. Gratifying, too, is the fact that the series uses its own orchestra members as soloists, something that often leads to truly compelling performances from musicians getting a turn in the spotlight.
Review: Knoxville Opera and Oak Ridge Symphony Collaborate on Beethoven’s Ninth
Artistic collaborations come in different shapes and sizes, but none have been more visibly impactful recently in the Knoxville area music community than one this past weekend that offered a performance of Ludwig van Beethoven’s sublime Ninth Symphony—not in Knoxville, but in Maryville at the Clayton Center for the Arts on the Maryville College campus. Featured was a collaboration between Knoxville Opera and the Oak Ridge Civic Music Association with the involvement of four notable soloists, the Knoxville Opera Chorus, the Oak Ridge Chorus, and the Pellissippi State Variations Choir, with ORCMA conductor Régulo Stabilito on the podium.
Review: Marble City Opera Returns To Westwood for Poulenc’s ‘The Human Voice’
BY ALAN SHERROD When Marble City Opera last offered Francis Poulenc’s one-act opera The Human Voice (La voix humaine) in 2017, it did so on a double bill with Menotti’s The Telephone. Just such a pairing, performed with only the…
Review: KSO Concertmaster Wraps Season With Schumann Piano Quartet
Knoxville Symphony Orchestra Concertmaster William Shaub, host and performer of orchestra’s Concertmaster Series, wrapped up the 2024-25 season of three concerts this week with an eclectic program of works that once again featured showcase pieces for violin and piano followed by a notable ensemble work chosen from the gems of chamber music history.
Review: Guest Conductor Conner Gray Covington Leads KSO in Clyne, Schumann, and Rimsky-Korsakov
The Knoxville Symphony Orchestra turned to Maestro Conner Gray Covington to helm last Thursday and Friday’s Masterworks concert pair. The concert included Anna Clyne’s ‘This Midnight Hour’, Schumann’s Piano Concerto in A minor, and Rimsky-Korsakov’s ‘Scheherazade.’ Janice Carissa was the pianist in the Schumann concerto.
Review: CBT’s ‘Failure: A Love Story’ — Whimsical and Wise
BY ALAN SHERROD Equal parts existentialism and comically whimsical narrative, Philip Dawkins’ Failure: A Love Story, which opened last week in the Clarence Brown Theatre’s Lab Theatre, is a feast of storytelling that barely hides its comically abstract premise…
