Review: Baroque Excitement from KSO Concertmaster William Shaub and Friends
Review: KSO Opens Its Chamber Classics Series With Layers, Conversation, and Honey
By Alan Sherrod Perhaps it is the unseasonably warm weather that persists—although we’ve survived warm, dry autumns before. Still, things feel a bit different in Knoxville’s classical music scene this fall. First, it was the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra’s opening…
Review: Knoxville Symphony Orchestra Aims For The Stars and ‘The Planets’ in Season Opener
By Alan Sherrod In whatever way the musicians of the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra spent their summer—playing festivals, traveling, or just chilling—they arrived on the stage of the Tennessee Theatre last evening to begin the 2019-20 Masterworks season visibly energized…
Review: Guitarist Vieaux and KSO Offer a Fascinating and Entertaining 2018-19 Season Finale
By Alan Sherrod For the previous two seasons, Knoxville Symphony Orchestra music director Aram Demirjian has concluded those seasons with programs that mixed repertoire stalwarts with exciting newer works that had the effect of flinging open the door to…
Review: KSO’s “Mozart in the City” Wraps Its Chamber Classics Season
By Alan Sherrod Creating concert programs that satisfy and challenge an audience, as well as providing intellectual connections that intrigue the listener, is an art—an art that Knoxville Symphony Orchestra maestro Aram Demirjian obviously relishes. His program for the…
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: Shaub, Chen, and KSO Combine for An Evening of Symphonic Delights
By Alan Sherrod It is something of an understatement that Felix Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E minor is a vehicle for violinist stardom—either for those who already have acclaim and reputation, or for those who seem destined for acclaim…
KSO’s 2019-20 Masterworks Season Lineup: A Q&A with Maestro Aram Demirjian
By Alan Sherrod The Knoxville Symphony Orchestra released the news of their 2019-20 season programming last month, planting the seeds of excitement in Knoxville classical music listeners. KSO music director and conductor Aram Demirjian took the time to answer…
Review: Pianist Chih-Long Hu and KSO Brighten a Sunday, Rainy Sunday
By Alan Sherrod It is sheer speculation on my part, but I’m betting that if KSO music director Aram Demirjian had known that Sunday afternoon would be yet another gloomy, rainy, soporific day, he might have programmed his Chamber Classics…
Review: KSO Basks in the Romance and Drama of Ballet – With and Without the Dancers
By Alan Sherrod It was an evening of dance for the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra last weekend, but that statement requires a bit of explanation. Much like the rhythm of a waltz, concert hall interest in music from Peter Ilyich…