Although it wasn’t really a secret—opera-goers and supporters had known for a while—Marble City Opera has officially announced its next season of productions plus a number of add-on concerts for 2023-2024. Like in the past, that new season contains new…
Knoxville Opera Announces 2023-24 Season of Operas
Knoxville Opera has announced its 2023-24 season of opera and related offerings. As in the past, three operas will be featured in October, February, and May. Giuseppe Verdi’s Falstaff Friday, October 13 and Sunday, October 15 — Tennessee Theatre Directed…
Review: Marble City Opera’s ‘Susannah’ Finds Magic in the Outdoors
BY ALAN SHERROD There is an ineffable sense of magic in theatre that is performed outdoors, particularly when accomplished at twilight in a natural setting as the fading light and ambient sounds of nighttime take hold. Marble City Opera…
This Week: Marble City Opera Goes Outdoors for Carlisle Floyd’s ‘Susannah’
Chamber opera has been the raison d’etre for Marble City Opera over its 10 years of life, even if many of the company’s productions seemed to redefine what a “chamber” actually is. Tosca in a cathedral and La Traviata in…
Review: River & Rail Theatre Co. Explores Secrets and Truths in ‘Fun Home’
BY ALAN SHERROD Successful works of theatre have a way of holding up a mirror to its viewers, its reflection revealing universal truths that touch each individual with memories and revelations specific to their own lives. That is certainly…
Review: KSO Wraps Season With Visceral Stravinsky and Emotional Beethoven
BY ALAN SHERROD Going big in a season finale symphony concert is, most assuredly, a valid approach, one that the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra and conductor Aram Demirjian embraced this weekend to finish up the 2022-23 concert season. In this…
KSO This Week: “Beethoven and The Rite of Spring”
Knoxville Symphony Orchestra — “Beethoven and The Rite of Spring” Conductor: Aram Demirjian • Lili Boulanger: Of A Spring Morning • Tan Dun: Passacaglia: Secret Of Wind And Birds • Ludwig Van Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 4 —…
Review: KSO Wraps 2022-23 Chamber Classics With Double Oboe Concertos and a Fabulous Beethoven Eighth
BY ALAN SHERROD Is it possible that the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra saved the best for its last Chamber Classics Series concert of the 2022-23 season? Clearly, Sunday afternoon’s musical outing was one that not only looked intriguing on paper,…
This Week: The Lusty Month of May Begins with KSO, UTSO, KJO, Jazz Tuesdays, et al.
The lusty month of May has arrived, although the “gusty” month of May is probably more accurate. Whether May is a cause for excitement or not depends on one’s awareness that the 2022-23 season is now beginning to wind down…
Review: Knoxville Opera Triumphs With ‘The Marriage of Figaro’
BY ALAN SHERROD Knoxville Opera began its life at the Bijou Theatre in 1978 as the Knoxville Civic Opera. Returning to its birthplace this weekend, the company triumphed there to wrap up its 2022-23 season with a production of…