The Knoxville Symphony Orchestra and Music Director Aram Demirjian have announced the programs for the orchestra’s 2025 -26 season. With the announcement, 2025-26 series subscriptions are on sale now. Single tickets go on sale in August 2025. • The Masterworks…
Review: Freedom of Thought at Stake in CBT’s ‘Inherit the Wind’
One might think that coming to grips with the Clarence Brown Theatre’s latest production, an intensely provocative staging of Inherit the Wind, would be an easy task. In truth, as theatre-goers in 2025, we often struggle with the image that a dramatic mirror reflects for us. The 1955 play by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee is a fictionalized take on the 1925 “Scopes Monkey Trial” in Dayton, Tennessee, and as such, cannot avoid the obvious plot debate of science vs. religion that shamefully defined the original trial. The playwrights, though, were anxious to broaden their premise so that it encompass more dramatic territory—in this case, the freedom to think without fear. Current day issues were also a factor.
Review: Kander & Ebb’s ‘Chicago’ Dazzles at the Tennessee Theatre –
There are a few musicals that simply cry out “BROADWAY” at their very mention and, inarguably, Chicago is one of them. The original production of the John Kander, Fred Ebb, and Bob Fosse musical goes back 50 years to 1975, enjoying a New York run of 936 performances. A 1996 revival production of Chicago is still running on Broadway with more than 11,000 performances under its belt. That revival production with direction by Walter Bobbie and choreography by Ann Reinking (after Bob Fosse’s original choreography) has also spawned a number of National Tours, including the current one that is making a stop in Knoxville this week at the Tennessee Theatre for eight performances through Sunday, February 16.
On Saturday: UT Symphony Rolls Out German Symphonic Masterpieces
Departing from its usual Sunday afternoon time slot, the University of Tennessee Symphony Orchestra is ready for prime time this week. The UTSO, under conductor James Fellenbaum, will be showing its orchestral muscles on Saturday evening, February 15, in the…
This Sunday: Amadeus Concert Ensemble – “The Lighter Side of Beethoven”
The Amadeus Concert Ensemble, known for its adventurous musical journeys into the rarely heard side of well-known composers, turns to Ludwig van Beethoven as its latest subject this Sunday, February 16, as part of the continuing Cathedral Concert Series. The…
Q&A with CBT’s ‘Inherit the Wind’ Director Katie Lupica
Upcoming at Clarence Brown Theatre is a production of Inherit the Wind, the 1955 Jerome Lawrence/Robert E. Lee drama that was inspired by the most important trial of the 20th Century, the Scopes Monkey Trial. The play opens for two…
Review: Knoxville Opera Offers a Deliciously Romantic ‘La Boheme’
According to those that count such things, Giacomo Puccini’s La Boheme is perennially in the top five of the “most produced” operas worldwide. Closer to home, Knoxville Opera’s own history suggests a similar calculation, the company having performed the work six times since 1982, with a seventh coming this past weekend at the Tennessee Theatre.
Review: KSO Offers a Chamber Classics Concert of Mozart, Cellos, and Brass
The Knoxville Symphony Orchestra’s Chamber Classics Series on Sunday afternoons has become quite popular, with audiences gravitating to music that really benefits from the intimate acoustic environment of the Bijou Theatre. Perhaps a more important asset, though, is that the series is an enticing showcase for the orchestra musicians who are featured as soloists or ensemble members. This past Sunday’s concert, “Mozart & More”, took that idea even further than usual, featuring the KSO’s Principal Second Violin Edward Pulgar as soloist and conductor in an after intermission performance of Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 3 in G Major, K. 216. The first half of the concert featured delightfully different programming with two ensembles drawn from members of the orchestra: a cello quartet and a brass quintet.
Review: KSO Offers A Mahler Symphony No. 5 of Mythical Proportions
The Knoxville Symphony Orchestra has at last given Knoxville audiences something Mahler to talk about—Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 5 was the sole work on the weekend’s Masterworks concerts. Judging by the impressive attendance, anticipatory buzz, and post-concert ebullience, the KSO audience was ready for an event—and they got one, thanks to an epic performance by Maestro Aram Demirjian and the orchestra that was sprawling and ultimately triumphant, yet carefully detailed in all the appropriate places.
The KSO This Week: Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 5
Knoxville Symphony Orchestra — Conductor Aram Demirjian “Mahler Symphony No. 5” Tennessee Theatre, 604 S. Gay Street, Downtown Knoxville Thursday and Friday evenings, January 16-17, 7:30 PM Tickets and Information It was just one year ago that the Knoxville Symphony…
