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: Demirjian Leads KSO, KCS, and Soloists in ‘Messiah’ and ‘A Carol Symphony’
BY ALAN SHERROD Just what does it take for something to become a tradition? A specific concert selling out two years in row is probably a good start. For the second year, Maestro Aram Demirjian and the Knoxville Symphony…
Review: A Powerful Mozart ‘Requiem’ from Knoxville Symphony and Knoxville Choral Society
BY ALAN SHERROD Any discussion of past or present requiems inevitably begins with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s 1791 Requiem, a work that has found itself the subject of myth and speculation, largely due to the fact that the composer died…
Review: Knoxville Symphony Orchestra et al. — Handel’s ‘Messiah’ and ‘A Carol Symphony’
BY ALAN SHERROD Believe it or not, it has only been since 2015 that the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra has marked the beginning of its busy holiday season with a “Classical Christmas” offering for its late-November Chamber Classics Series concert.…
Yikes! More To Do This Weekend-Momentum Dance Lab, KJO’s NXT GEN, Knoxville Choral Society
In addition to the First Friday gallery crawl this weekend and the events listed previously – “On the Wall…Off the Wall: Art, Music, and Theatre This Week“, there is more to dive into and enjoy. Momentum Dance Lab: “On The…
Tuesday Arts Miscellany: March 10, 2020
“Let’s wait and see” is the statement we’re hearing a lot these days concerning possible cancellations of events due to the fears of accelerating the spread of the Coronavirus (Covid-19). Clearly, no one takes those sorts of high-pressure decisions lightly…
Review: Knoxville Choral Society Heads for the Future With “Sing! Knoxville”
By Alan Sherrod It is fair to say that the last dozen years or so have seen a rise in enthusiasm for choral music in the United States, both on the performance side and in audiences. What could possibly…
Review: KSO and Choral Colleagues Combine for a Sublime Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony
By Alan Sherrod If works of music were living human beings, they would no doubt be nervous, if not outright frightened, to be paired on a concert with Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. Yet, the pairing of contemporary works with Beethoven’s…
Review: John Orr Leads Knoxville Choral Society in Handel ‘Masterworks’
By Alan Sherrod Ask a classical music listener to describe the Baroque Period in music and a generic answer will invariably gravitate to two composer’s names—Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Handel. While the pair was born only a…
Preview: KSO, Knoxville Choral Society, and Soloists Take on ‘Carmina Burana’ This Week
Knoxville Symphony Orchestra Masterworks: “Carmina Burana” Conductor: Aram Demirjian Gustav Mahler: Blumine Kurt Weill: Suite from Die Dreigroschenoper (The Threepenny Opera) Carl Orff: Carmina Burana Tennessee Theatre, 604 S. Gay Street, Downtown Knoxville Thursday and Friday, March 15 and 16, 7:30…