By Alan Sherrod If Tchaikovsky’s ballets, symphonies, and operas tell us anything, it is that the composer gravitated to the richness and complexity of orchestral textures as a main vehicle for musical creation. Chamber music seems to have had…
Review: William Shaub and Friends Illuminate a Treasure of Baroque Gems in KSO’s Concertmaster Series
By Alan Sherrod Many Baroque composers are known for prolific output—J.S. Bach and G.F. Handel among them—but none so much as Antonio Vivaldi. His concerto output alone totals more than 500 works, yet none of these have been rewarded…
Review: KSO’s Concertmaster Series Explores the Power of String Duos
In a way, it feels like eons have passed since October 2012 when the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra launched its Concertmaster Series of solo and small ensemble music events under then-Concertmaster Gabriel Lefkowitz. During those five seasons, much has changed: the…
William Shaub Takes the Reins of the KSO’s Concertmaster Series
Most regular concertgoers have, at least, a vague idea of the role of an orchestra’s concertmaster. He or she symbolically represents the orchestra as a whole, occupies the first chair position of the first violins, calls for tuning at the…
Review in Brief: The Final “Gabriel Lefkowitz and Friends”
After last weekend’s stellar final Masterworks concert appearance by outgoing concertmaster Gabriel Lefkowitz performing the Brahms Violin Concerto (see the review in the Knoxville Mercury), this week’s final Concertmaster Series events (“Gabriel Lefkowitz and Friends”) may have seemed a bit anticlimactic…
KSO This Week – William Shaub’s Audition and Gabriel Lefkowitz’s Finale
This week’s Masterworks concerts by the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra mark yet another transition for the organization. Just as the KSO’s Aram Demirjian begins the last three programs of his first season as music director and principal conductor, the KSO’s concertmaster Gabriel Lefkowitz ends his six year stint with the orchestra having taken up the comparable post with the Louisville Orchestra.
Confessions of a Bachophile: Small Ensembles Keep the Love Alive
Confessions of a Bachophile is a continuation of an article series I began on Classical Journal several years ago. As personal history, it was the music of J.S. Bach that first captured my classical music imagination as a child. Today, while one…
Wed/Thurs: KSO Concertmaster Series-A Hot Ticket
If you can only make it to one of the KSO’s Concertmaster Series events this season, you should literally rush and purchase a ticket to this week’s performance at the Knoxville Museum of Art.
This Week: KSO’s Concertmaster Series at the KMA
The Knoxville Symphony Orchestra’s Concertmaster Series of chamber music events, Gabriel Lefkowitz and Friends, opens its 4th season this week on Wednesday and Thursday evenings at the Knoxville Museum of Art. What has made the series so charming are the friendly…
Wed/Thurs: KSO Concertmaster Series Features Dvorák Quintet in G
The last KSO Concertmaster Series concert of the season comes this week to the Knoxville Museum of Art in a program featuring the Dvorák String Quintet in G major, Op. 77 as well as a slew of short virtuosic violin pieces…