It seems inevitable that we find ourselves talking about traditions this time of year. Our holiday traditions often defy logic, embraced simply because there is inescapable satisfaction in the memories of food and drink, festive music, once-a-year events, and the…
Review: Fire and Ice—KSO Takes A Journey Through Stravinsky, Debussy, and John Williams
In his opening remarks for the audience at the past weekend’s Knoxville Symphony Orchestra concerts, conductor Aram Demirjian offered that one would invariably find that the program would be a showcase of sorts for the orchestra’s players, one chock full of impressive moments for a host of individual musicians. That was certainly the case. But in the bigger picture, this was also a program of five very different works that meshed brilliantly with each other, rewarding the audience both musically and intellectually. Demirjian’s programming included two works by Igor Stravinsky, Firebird Suite and the Violin Concerto. Yet, Stravinsky style did not overwhelm. Somehow, John Williams’ “Hedwig’s Theme,” Debussy’s Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, and Lera Auerbach’s Icarus, were deliciously purposeful and appropriate as concern companions.
KSO This Week: Demirjian and Violinist William Shaub Prepare a Feast of Stravinsky
This week, the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra is offering a veritable feast of Stravinsky, including the Violin Concerto in D with KSO Concertmaster William Shaub as the soloist. Concluding the concert will be Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite, a suite of five movements taken from the composer’s score for Sergei Diaghilev’s ballet, The Firebird, for the Ballets Russes. Aram Demirjian conducts.
Review: Knoxville Opera Finds Treasure with ‘The Pirates of Penzance’
Although the American musical theatre has had a colorful existence of innovation and evolution, it owes that existence to the genre of operetta that graced stages of England and Europe in the last half of the 19th Century. Admittedly, though, time and changing theatrical sensibilities have relegated the bulk of operetta to the dusty shelves of yesteryear, their music and topical stories existing only as curiosities for historians. There are exceptions to that fact—most notably the English operettas of librettist William S. Gilbert and composer Arthur Sullivan and their topsy-turvy world of comic satire that mocks twisted logic and laughable human conceits. Along with some significant attention from Broadway producers, U.S. opera companies have been drawn to the works as a way of expanding their repertory into lighter fare to contrast with their traditional operatic offerings, retaining the emphasis on impressive voices and eye-catching staging. That is certainly the case with Knoxville Opera and their delightful and incredibly entertaining production of The Pirates of Penzance at the Tennessee Theatre.
This Week: Knoxville Opera’s ‘The Pirates of Penzance’ at Tennessee Theatre
On first glance, the very idea of mentioning Broadway’s musical hit, Hamilton, and the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta The Pirates of Penzance, in the same sentence may seem ridiculous in the extreme. Of course, the whole of the American musical…
Review: KSO Brings Back Paul Huang For a Spectacular Tchaikovsky Concerto
It did not require a seer or soothsayer to predict what would happen at the end of the first movement of the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto at this past weekend’s Knoxville Symphony Orchestra Masterworks concert. Given violinist Paul Huang’s flight of speed, dazzling technique, and breathtaking virtuosic storytelling, it was practically inevitable that the ending would yank the audience out of their seat for a performance-stopping, extended ovation that included cheers and a few bravos.
Review: Marble City Opera’s Haunting ‘dwb (Driving While Black)’
Marble City Opera’s latest production is ‘dwb (driving while black)’, a one-act opera that dives headlong into the inherently intensifying anxiety faced by Black families as children approach driving age and face the intersection of modern mobility and the horrors of profiling and racist policing. With music by Susan Kander and a libretto by Roberta Gumbel, the 45 minute work features three performer/musicians: Mother (soprano Allison Sanders), Cellist (Cremaine Booker), and Percussion (David Verin). ‘dwb’ is directed by Ivan Griffin, who previously directed MCO’s The Christmas Spider.
On Sunday: UT Symphony Celebrates 100th Anniversary of ‘Rhapsody in Blue’ With Pianist Sean Chen
The University of Tennessee Symphony Orchestra will be celebrating the 100th anniversary of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue with its October concert featuring pianist Sean Chen. Chen was a Van Cliburn 2013 medalist and appeared with the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra in…
This Week: KSO Concertmaster Series Leaps Into Autumn — and the Dvořák Piano Quintet No. 2
This week on Wednesday and Thursday at the Knoxville Museum of Art, Knoxville Symphony Orchestra Concertmaster William Shaub and his colleagues will be opening the 2024-25 Concertmaster Series with the spirit of early autumn evocatively infused into its programming—an evening…
Review: Amadeus Concert Ensemble Focuses On “Sacred Music of Dvořák”
After a performance history that has embraced composers like J.S. Bach, Giuseppe Verdi, Rossini, Mozart. and curated selections of French and Spanish musical gems, the Amadeus Concert Ensemble turned its attention last Sunday afternoon to sacred music of the Czech composer, Antonin Dvořák. Chosen were four movements from the Stabat Mater (1877) and the complete four movement cantata Te Deum (1892). Howard Skinner conducted the orchestra and chorus. Soloists were soprano Maria Natale, alto Diana Salesky, tenor John Overholt, and bass Stephen Morscheck.
