Anyone who has attended one of the previous Big Ears Festivals will vouch for the thought-altering qualities of the “immersive” experience. What does that even mean, you ask? There is something quite indescribable that takes place when one is drawn…
Othalie Graham and Jonathan Burton Together Again for Knoxville Opera’s ‘Turandot’
It is a fact that opera need not be produced at the highest and loftiest levels of expense in order to be artistically interesting and successful. This claim has certainly been validated by opera companies like Knoxville Opera and others that operate in the environment of medium-size cities or regional entities.
Review: Pianist Tanya Gabrielian and KSO Uncover Russian Passion
Given the current revelations of the past week, I couldn’t help feeling that Maestro Aram Demirjian and the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra may have wished they had titled the week’s Masterworks concerts something other than “Russian Passion.” On the other hand,…
Sunday in the Concert Hall: UT Symphony and Young Pianist Series
The University of Tennessee Symphony Orchestra finds itself downtown this weekend at the Tennessee Theatre for its Sunday afternoon concert—“Viva l’Italia! II”—a sequel of sorts to its September 2017 concert. UTSO music director and conductor James Fellenbaum follows up that…
Self-Centered: Tubist/Composer Jim Self in Weeklong Residency with UT Music
I can virtually guarantee that everyone reading this has heard the work of tubist Jim Self, even if they didn’t realize it. Since 1974, Self has been a freelance musician in Hollywood, performing in orchestras for over 1500 motion pictures and…
Sergei Rachmaninoff, We Hardly Knew Ye
BY ALAN SHERROD This week—specifically Saturday, February 17—marks a rather ironic claim to fame for Knoxville. In Knoxville on that date in 1943, 75 years ago, the Russian composer and pianist, Sergei Rachmaninoff, gave the last public performance of…
Review: KSO Brings Ecstasy and Enlightenment with Bach and Shostakovich
After Sunday afternoon’s Knoxville Symphony Orchestra Chamber Classics concert, several things should now be readily apparent to the KSO’s audience.
Review: Clarence Brown Theatre’s ‘Alabama Story’
There is considerable humor, quaintness, and charm in Kenneth Jones’ play, ‘Alabama Story’, and in its current production, directed by Kate Buckley, at the Clarence Brown Theatre, in the play’s southeastern U.S. premiere.
KMA Announces Major Acquisition of Beauford Delaney Works
For artists and composers, recognition—or even health and comfort—often comes far too late for the individual. Such is the case with painter Beauford Delaney, born in Knoxville in 1901, dying in an insane asylum in Paris in 1979. However, in…
Strad and Rad: KSO Brings Two Stradivarius Violins To Knoxville for Bach, Shostakovich, and Schnittke
Knoxville Symphony Chamber Orchestra’s Chamber Classics Conductor: Aram Demirjian Schnittke: Moz-Art à la Haydn Golijov: Last Round (Muertes Del Angel) Bach: Concerto For 2 Violins (Soloists William Shaub and Edward Pulgar) Jessie Montgomery: Starburst Shostakovich: Chamber Symphony Sunday, February 4,…
