Alan Sherrod
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Drawing from a career background in music, motion pictures, and theatre, Alan Sherrod has been writing about Knoxville's diverse art and music scene since 2007 — first as the classical/new music writer for the alternative weekly Metro Pulse, then later in the same capacity for the Knoxville Mercury. After the closure of Metro Pulse in 2014 by its parent company, Sherrod created ARTS KNOXVILLE to provide a home for Knoxville arts journalism. In August, 2017, he expanded ARTS KNOXVILLE into the site it is today — a site dedicated to continuing the arts journalism legacy of those alternative weeklies. In addition to covering Knoxville's arts scene, he has also contributed music content to the Nashville Scene and other arts and entertainment publications around the U.S, including the website, Classical Journal. Mr. Sherrod was a recipient of a 2010 Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts — the Arts Journalism Institute in Classical Music and Opera — under the auspices of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. In 2019, Sherrod was inducted into the East Tennessee Writers Hall of Fame.

This Weekend: Entertainment Choices—and decisions—Abound

This week/weekend will be one of those that offers something for every one with an arts and/or music interest. Unfortunately, you may find yourself confronted with some painful choices and inescapable conflicts. Here is our rundown of events you may…

Review: William Shaub and Friends Make Sense of Beethoven’s Final String Quartet

BY ALAN SHERROD   The Knoxville Symphony Orchestra’s Concertmaster Series with William Shaub has one more performance of “The Late Genius: Beethoven’s Final Days”, Thursday evening, April 6, at 7:00, at the Knoxville Museum of Art. Tickets and Information  …

Review: Big Ears Magic-Shara Nova and the Knoxville Symphony in ‘The Blue Hour’

BY ALAN SHERROD   As the 2023 Big Ears Festival was winding down on Sunday evening, a couple of performances by the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra remained: violinist Tessa Lark performing Michael Schachter’s Violin Concerto: Cycle of Life, followed by vocalist…

Review: Knoxville Symphony Orchestra Journeys Through Higdon, Copland, Sibelius

BY ALAN SHERROD   If you sat back, closed your eyes, and indulged your imagination for just a bit, it was entirely possible that the evening’s music could conjure up a vision of the blue hazy mountains of the Appalachians…

Review: ‘Men on Boats’ at Clarence Brown – Old History, New Perspective

BY ALAN SHERROD   On its most basic level, the Jaclyn Backhaus play, Men on Boats, which opened Friday evening in the Lab Theatre of the Clarence Brown, is a retelling of the 1869 exploratory journey made by John Wesley…

Review: MCO’s ‘The Infinite Energy of Ada Lovelace’ Is Infinitely Charming

BY ALAN SHERROD   In its ten years of existence, Marble City Opera has filled a niche in Knoxville’s music scene,  a niche for which it seems it was destined. It has also earned a reputation for a mind-boggling variety…

Preview: Marble City Opera – “The Infinite Energy of Ada Lovelace”

For its mid-season production, Marble City Opera is presenting The Infinite Energy of Ada Lovelace—music by Kamala Sankaram and libretto by Rob Handel. The one-act chamber opera received its premiere in 2019 from Opera Ithaca. The MCO production will be…

Knoxville Symphony Orchestra Announces 2023-2024 Season

The Knoxville Symphony Orchestra, led by Music Director Aram Demirjian, has announced the program lineups and dates for the 2023-24 season for each of its five main series. •  The eight Masterworks concert pairs at the Tennessee Theatre feature the…

Review: KSO Finds Delightful Sunday Companions in Mozart, Rossini, and Schubert

BY ALAN SHERROD   Sunday afternoon’s Knoxville Symphony Orchestra’s Chamber Classics concert at the Bijou was not “Mostly Mozart,” but it was—at least—“partly Mozart” in much the same clever spirit and variety that has been showcased in the notable long-running…

Sunday Spotlight: Pianist Emi Kagawa & KSO Chamber Orchestra—Mozart, Rossini, Schubert

Knoxville Symphony Orchestra—Chamber Classics Series “Mozart Piano Concerto No. 27” Conductor: Aram Demirjian •  Gioachino Rossini: Overture To Il Signor Bruschino •  W.A. Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 27 In B-Flat, K. 595   (Pianist Emi Kagawa) •  Franz Schubert: Symphony No.…

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