It is difficult to believe that 11 years have passed since the University of Tennessee music world crossed a major threshold by moving into a new home, the Natalie L. Haslam Music Center. Along with the natural growth and expansion…
Review: River & Rail’s ‘It’s A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play’ – A New Holiday Tradition?
One of the most interesting ironies of the American cinema is that the now-classic holiday television vehicle, the 1946 Frank Capra film, ‘It’s A Wonderful Life,’ was not initially successful, either financially or critically, despite its director and its star, James Stewart. While it was nominated for five Academy Awards, it failed to win any; critics in the post-war years were generally complimentary, but found it too “simple-minded” and overly sentimental. Falling into Hollywood’s version of obscurity, the film languished and its copyright was eventually allowed to expire in 1974, an event that ironically set the stage in the 1980s for its subsequent television appearances and belated popularity.
The current River & Rail Theatre Company production, ‘It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play’—an adaptation by Joe Landry— runs at the Old City Performing Arts Center through December 22.
Sunday: Amadeus Concert Ensemble Presents Chanukah Music Fest
Celebrating the 25th Anniversary of Knoxville Jewish Community Family of Funds, Amadeus Concert Ensemble is presenting a free community-wide CHANUKAH MUSIC FEST concert under the direction of Maestro Brian Salesky on Sunday, December 8 at 4:00 PM at the Arnstein…
Review: ‘Tina: The Tina Turner Musical’ at the Tennessee Theatre
Tina: The Tina Turner Musical, now in its second National Tour run, is making a stop in Knoxville this week for eight performances at the Tennessee Theatre. This quintessential biographical jukebox musical follows the rise and rock queen-dom of Anna Mae Bullock, who would eventually triumph as the super-star Tina Turner.
Review: KSO Kicks Off Christmas Season With Handel’s ‘Messiah’
Of all the creations of music in the “classical” realm, George Frideric Handel’s Messiah is the perfect example of a beloved musical work that has survived a multitude of twisted traditions and misunderstandings, not to mention the performance abuse that comes with the well-meant intentions of over-popularity. Completed in 1741 and first performed in April of 1742 in Dublin, Ireland, at Neale’s Music Hall, Handel originally intended his oratorio Messiah for an Easter-time event. Handel also created the work with modest instrumentation, yet by the 1850s, Messiah was receiving lavish productions with huge choruses and orchestras and was often performed as a spectacle for Christmas audiences.
Review: CBT’s ‘A Christmas Carol’ Returns — And So Should You
The current Clarence Brown Theatre version of A Christmas Carol which opened this past weekend is an adaptation by Edward Morgan and Joseph Hanreddy with music by John Tanner. This popular version first appeared on the CBT stage in 2016 and returned for three more years before the pandemic closure of 2020. It returned in 2023 and has now been freshened and energized for a 2024 run through December 21. Those theatre-goers who may have seen the production last year, or before, will certainly want to consider a return. This 2024 staging is CBT’s best by far—both in performances and visual delights.
Opening This Week: CBT’s Grand Tradition – ‘A Christmas Carol’
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.
