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…
Review: An Afternoon of ‘Mediterranean Masters’ with Guest Conductor Noam Aviel and Harpist Cindy Emory
For the second season in a row, March was guest conductor month for the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra’s Chamber Classics Series. This past Sunday’s concert at the Bijou found conductor Noam Aviel on the podium for a program that seemed to follow its “Mediterranean Masters” theme on paper, but, in reality, had a delightful textural eclecticism that defied time period. Ms. Aviel’s direction through the afternoon was crisp, accurate, and entertaining, with tempos that bubbled energetically against the richness of the well-balanced chamber orchestra.
Review: KSO Joins with Appalachian Ballet for a Superb ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’
Knowing what we know about Felix Mendelssohn and his artistic attractions and interests, it is exceedingly likely that he would have been superbly delighted with the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra’s adventure into A Midsummer Night’s Dream on this past weekend’s Masterworks concerts. Not only did the evening include Mendelssohn’s amazingly mature A Midsummer Night’s Dream concert overture, Op. 21, written when he was 17 years old, but also his Op. 61 incidental music for the play composed 16 years later that includes parts for two sopranos and choirs. Maestro Aram Demirjian didn’t stop there, though, adding excerpted Shakespearean text delivered as a clever narration plus the visual feast of ballet storytelling. The KSO’s partners in all this were Laura Beth Wells as the Narrator, sopranos Jacqueline Brecheen and Tori Franklin, the Webb School of Knoxville Chamber Singers, Pellissippi State Community College Variations, and 27 members of the Appalachian Ballet Company choreographed by Amy Morton Vaughn.
Knoxville Symphony Orchestra Announces 2025-26 Season
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.
