Music

Spotlight: A New Choral Music Ensemble – Symphony of Voices

Symphony of Voices, a new Knoxville-based professional choral ensemble, presents their inaugural concert this Sunday…

Sunday: UT Symphony Launches ‘Beethoven250’ with the Seventh Symphony

One hardly needs an excuse to listen to more of the music of Ludwig van Beethoven—but if one did demand an excuse, the inevitable march of time is about to provide one. The year 2020 represents the 250th anniversary of the composer’s birth, so you can be sure that there will be a host of musical explorations of the composer’s works across the globe between now and then.

The University of Tennessee School of Music has launched its own program of focus, Beethoven250, which will act as an organizing umbrella for concerts, recitals, discussions, and lectures over next two years. The UT Symphony Orchestra, under Director of Orchestras James Fellenbaum, is kicking off their participation this Sunday with their season-opening concert that will feature Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 in A major.

KSO This Week: Pianist Joyce Yang, “Brahms and Rachmaninoff”

There have been some notable anniversaries in the music world of 2018, among them Leonard Bernstein’s 100th birthday, for which there have been global celebrations of his music. It was also composer Charles Gounod’s 200th birthday, and the 100th anniversary of the first performance of Gustav Holst’s The Planets. And—although you probably won’t find it on any national lists—2018 was the 75th anniversary of Sergei Rachmaninoff’s last public performance in Knoxville, on February 17, 1943.
The KSO’s opening Masterworks concert of the season features works by Jonathan Leshnoff, the Piano Concerto No. 2 of Rachmaninoff, and Brahms Symphony No. 1.

Review: An Auspicious Start to Chamber Music Season

The distinction of being the first chamber music recital of the 2018-19 season in Knoxville goes to violinist Miroslav Hristov of the University of Tennessee School of Music, along with four notable guests, for their “An Evening of Chamber Music” recital this past Sunday evening. Their performance of Schubert’s String Quintet in C Major, along with works by Reinhold Glière and Beethoven, was their second of the weekend—the first being on Friday evening at East Tennessee State University where two members of the quintet, violist David Kováč and cellist Sean Hawthorne, are on the music faculty. The quintet also included violinist Yu-Fang Chen of Ball State University and cellist Daniel Veis of Park University in Missouri.