Of all the creations of music in the “classical” realm, George Frideric Handel’s Messiah is the perfect example of a beloved musical work that has survived a multitude of twisted traditions and misunderstandings, not to mention the performance abuse that comes with the well-meant intentions of over-popularity. Completed in 1741 and first performed in April of 1742 in Dublin, Ireland, at Neale’s Music Hall, Handel originally intended his oratorio Messiah for an Easter-time event. Handel also created the work with modest instrumentation, yet by the 1850s, Messiah was receiving lavish productions with huge choruses and orchestras and was often performed as a spectacle for Christmas audiences.
Review: Fire and Ice—KSO Takes A Journey Through Stravinsky, Debussy, and John Williams
In his opening remarks for the audience at the past weekend’s Knoxville Symphony Orchestra concerts, conductor Aram Demirjian offered that one would invariably find that the program would be a showcase of sorts for the orchestra’s players, one chock full of impressive moments for a host of individual musicians. That was certainly the case. But in the bigger picture, this was also a program of five very different works that meshed brilliantly with each other, rewarding the audience both musically and intellectually. Demirjian’s programming included two works by Igor Stravinsky, Firebird Suite and the Violin Concerto. Yet, Stravinsky style did not overwhelm. Somehow, John Williams’ “Hedwig’s Theme,” Debussy’s Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, and Lera Auerbach’s Icarus, were deliciously purposeful and appropriate as concern companions.
KSO This Week: Demirjian and Violinist William Shaub Prepare a Feast of Stravinsky
This week, the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra is offering a veritable feast of Stravinsky, including the Violin Concerto in D with KSO Concertmaster William Shaub as the soloist. Concluding the concert will be Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite, a suite of five movements taken from the composer’s score for Sergei Diaghilev’s ballet, The Firebird, for the Ballets Russes. Aram Demirjian conducts.
Review: KSO Brings Back Paul Huang For a Spectacular Tchaikovsky Concerto
It did not require a seer or soothsayer to predict what would happen at the end of the first movement of the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto at this past weekend’s Knoxville Symphony Orchestra Masterworks concert. Given violinist Paul Huang’s flight of speed, dazzling technique, and breathtaking virtuosic storytelling, it was practically inevitable that the ending would yank the audience out of their seat for a performance-stopping, extended ovation that included cheers and a few bravos.
Review: KSO Chamber Classics Opens With A Very ‘Memorable’ Beethoven, Mozart, and McKay
This past Sunday afternoon yielded two concerts that practically defined memorable, one of which was the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra’s season opening concert in their Chamber Classics Series at the Bijou that featured the world premiere of Dosia McKay’s ‘The Lure of the Flowering Fern’, Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 17 with pianist Emi Kagawa, and Beethoven’s Fourth Symphony. Aram Demirjian conducted.
Sunday Spotlight: Pianist Emi Kagawa & KSO Chamber Orchestra—Mozart, Beethoven, McKay
The Knoxville Symphony Orchestra begins its Chamber Classics Series on Sunday, September 29, at the Bijou Theatre. The concert will offer Beethoven’s Symphony No. 4, preceded by the world premiere of the KSO-commissioned, ‘The Lure of the Flowering Fern’ and Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 17. KSO’s Emi Kagawa is the pianist in the Mozart concerto. Aram Demirjian conducts.
Review: KSO Delights with Season Opener of Beethoven and Gershwin
The Knoxville Symphony Orchestra opened its 2024-25 season with George Gershwin’s Concerto in F and Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, plus ‘Kauyumari’ by the contemporary Mexican composer, Gabriela Ortiz. Aram Demirjian conducted.
Review: The Gravity of ‘The Planets’ – Resistance is Futile
Although last evening’s Masterworks concert—Part 2 of the KSO’s Cosmos Festival— had the massive orchestral suite The Planets by Gustav Holst as its focus, there were other attractions to enchant the listener.
Not To Be Eclipsed, KSO Celebrates the Cosmos With A Festival
While Knoxville mostly missed the celestial entertainment of the Total Eclipse this week due to cloud cover and rainy weather, the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra’s Cosmos Festival will not require special glasses or rain gear, but—at most—a ticket or two.
Review: KSO and Violinist Geneva Lewis Present a Detailed and Subtle Beethoven
There are some concert program combinations that are simply too intriguing to pass up, for any number of reasons. Maestro Aram Demirjian and the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra unlocked one of those combinations this past weekend, cutting an enjoyable swath through music history from early Romanticism through turn-of-the-century Impressionism, then finally introducing a compelling new work by a living American composer.