While summer heat still prevails, one can sense the coming of fall. One sign of the inevitable change is the arts calendar for September, which is already bulging with opening concerts, shows, and events for the 2022-23 season. Most organizations…
Knoxville Opera Announces Its 2022-23 Season…And a Rebranded Future – Part 1
BY ALAN SHERROD Crossing thresholds is a part of the life process of both individuals and organizations. As an organization, Knoxville Opera now finds itself in 2022 at one of those thresholds—an intersection, really—in which it is choosing its…
Review: Knoxville Opera Ends with Puccini – Begins a New Era
BY ALAN SHERROD Like the mythological Phoenix rising from its predecessor’s ashes, Knoxville Opera’s popular Rossini Festival International Street Fair rose once again last weekend to draw throngs of fun-and-entertainment seekers to the streets of downtown Knoxville. Unable to…
Big Weekend Downtown! – Rossini Fest, Puccini Gala, Chamber Music Society, ‘Sweat’
Knoxville Opera’s Rossini Festival International Street Fair Saturday, April 30, Downtown Knoxville, 10:00 AM – 10:00 PM After a 2 year absence due to the pandemic precautions, Knoxville Opera’s Rossini Festival International Street Fair is back on downtown Knoxville streets.…
Big Week on Stage: World Premiere from KSO, ‘Patsy Cline’ at Clarence Brown, Puccini from Knoxville Opera
Knoxville Symphony Orchestra For Knoxville Symphony Orchestra fans, every concert has some compelling component—a hugely popular work performed with passion or perhaps an unknown gem lurking just out of sight, at last finding the listeners it deserves. This week’s concert…
Knoxville Opera Makes April a Month of Puccini
“Puccini is Coming To Knoxville” — well, obviously, that’s not completely accurate. Although Knoxville Opera’s Rossini Festival takes to downtown streets on Saturday, April 30, another Italian opera composer is getting a lot of attention this month. Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924),…
Review: Knoxville Opera Returns with the Devilish Spectacle of ‘Mefistofele’
BY ALAN SHERROD After an absence of over two years from the performing stage, Knoxville Opera returned to life on Friday evening with a production of Arrigo Boito’s Mefistofele. Those two years have no doubt seemed like an eternity…
This Week: Knoxville Opera Returns to the Stage with Boito’s ‘Mefistofele’
BY ALAN SHERROD In the opera world of the 1860s, more than the mere Alps separated Italy from Germany. The battle between the influences of Giuseppe Verdi in the Italian opera world and the supporters of Richard Wagner and…
The Most Popular Arts Knoxville Stories of 2021
As we keep repeating as if it wasn’t obvious, 2021 has been a year like no other. Arts organization have had to reexamine their priorities and deal with new issues, like performer and audience safety, ticketing, and live-streaming. Those of…
Knoxville Opera Announces Big Changes To Its Artistic Management Team
BY ALAN SHERROD In what promises to be a significant change to one of Knoxville’s most important arts organizations, Knoxville Opera has announced that current Artistic Director Brian Salesky will be stepping down when his current contract concludes in…