A number of productions of Bizet’s Carmen have been in the music news recently, not the least of which is a current production at the Metropolitan Opera in New York with some rather notable casting. While such discussion makes any…
2015 Arts and Culture Alliance Juried Exhibition Shows Its Digital Influence
One of the cruelest of ironies in arts and technology is that the company that developed the core technology for digital photography ended up being the biggest victim of its success. Steven Sasson of Eastman Kodak invented the first prototype…
Knoxville Opera’s ‘Carmen’ This Weekend: Bass Ryan Kuster and his Escamillo
Do toreadors and opera singers have anything in common? Perhaps. Both require training to expand on one’s natural gift; both must perform, often at risk, before a demanding audience; and both thrive on the adulation of the crowds and develop…
Depth Becomes Her in Knoxville Opera’s ‘Carmen’
Knoxville Opera’s production of Bizet’s Carmen Conductor and musical director: Brian Salesky; Stage director: Chuck Hudson With Audrey Babcock as Carmen, Brian Cheney as Don José, Ryan Kuster as Escamillo, and Zulimar López-Hernández as Micaëla. Friday, February 13, 8 p.m.…
Sunday: The Public Cinema Series At the KMA
We’re just now hearing about the Public Cinema Series at the Knoxville Museum of Art–but if you gravitate toward cinema art, you will want to put this bi-weekly series on your Sunday to-do list. The free-admission program on Sunday, Feb.…
Two New Exhibitions Open at the Knoxville Museum of Art
Two new exhibitions open at the Knoxville Museum of Art on Friday, January 30, and both run through April 19. Contemporary Focus is an annual exhibition series that features regional artists whose appeal reaches far beyond the region. This year’s exhibition consists of…
Review: Fabulous Vocal Performances in Marble City Opera’s ‘La Femme Bohème’
Marble City Opera’s latest production, La Femme Bohème, opened this past weekend at the Old City’s NV Nightclub in its continuing survey of refreshing out-of-the-ordinary venues — and with its continuing penchant for fabulous, knock-your-socks-off vocal performances. [It continues on Saturday this…
Review: Guest Conductor Lawrence Loh and the KSO Sculpt A Dynamic Masterpiece
There was a time—only a few years ago—that the booking and announcement of a guest conductor for a Knoxville Symphony Orchestra concert engendered in me a gnawing feeling of dread and trepidation. Thankfully, those days seem to be over as…
Saturday: Knoxville Opera Goes To Church
One of the more uplifting blendings of musical genres one is apt to ever encounter in Knoxville, or anywhere, is Knoxville Opera Goes To Church, A Celebration of Talent — a program that skillfully combines gospel music, spirituals, and opera on one…
Pianist Ching-Yun Hu Opens 2015 YPS on Sunday
For their 35th season, the Evelyn Miller Young Pianist Series has finally returned to Knoxville. The Knoxville pianist and teacher, Evelyn Miller, began the series in 1980 as a way to showcase under-35 year old pianists who are at the…
