This weekend and next – it’s the 47th season for Appalachian Ballet’s production of The Nutcracker. One American holiday tradition that sparkles with timelessness is that of productions of Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker during the winter season. The Appalachian Ballet Company…
Review: A Feast of Variety in “Classical Christmas” from KSO and Knoxville Chamber Chorale
By Alan Sherrod In 2015, the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra took a chance and moved its November Chamber Classics concert to the weekend following Thanksgiving and titled it “Classical Christmas.” That incredibly popular concert took a different direction from the…
Review: An Exciting Circle – Conductor Eric Jacobsen and Pianist Gabriela Martinez Join KSO For “Schumann’s Circle of Friends”
By Alan Sherrod It begins and ends the same way, simply enough, with four chords from woodwinds building onto each other. Yet, that four chord progression is one of the most magically captivating in all of music history and…
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: Knoxville Opera’s Comedy Double Bill Exudes Cleverness and Charm
By Alan Sherrod While the overwhelming bulk of the operatic repertoire is devoted to tragic heroes, heroines, and villains, Knoxville Opera took a comic detour Friday evening in its season-opener, leaving no comedy stone unturned in its performance of…
Review: Violinist Bollinger Awes Audience In Tchaikovsky as KSO Triumphs in Shostakovich Fifth
By Alan Sherrod If there was ever a concerto that could send its audience into ecstasy with the conclusion of the first movement, it is certainly the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto. Its extended rousing coda works its familiar magic on…
Preview: Knoxville Opera’s Comedy Double Bill — Mozart’s ‘The Impresario’ and Puccini’s ‘Gianni Schicchi’
By Alan Sherrod There are a lot of myths surrounding the life of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, but one thing that we know for certain is that he absolutely loved a good joke—particularly if it ridiculed or parodied those in…
New Faces in the KSO – 2018 Edition
Symphony orchestras, by their very definition, work as an ensemble, sometimes making it easy to forget that the ensemble is a collection of individuals. And, those are individuals who have devoted years to honing their talents through training and education.
The Knoxville Symphony Orchestra has seen some changes in it’s individuals for the 2018–19 season. Here are the new faces in the orchestra.
Review: KSO’s Q Series Finds A New Home At The Emporium Center
The KSO’s Q-Series, built around its Principal Quartet and the Woodwind Quintet, has seen a major venue change this season, leaving the Square Room and its presentational arrangement for the long rectangular gallery of Gay Street’s Emporium Center.
Review: KSO’s Season Opener Finds Warmth and Sparkle in Brahms and Rachmaninoff
The arriving audience for the weekend’s concerts by the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra in the Tennessee Theatre were greeted with glasses of champagne, no doubt to add a bit sparkle and lightness to the usual anxious expectations of season-opening concerts. For those who had missed the real season-opener for the orchestra, the production of Leonard Bernstein’s Candide with the Clarence Brown Theatre, the bubbly reinforcement may have been necessary. However, those who had already been dazzled by Candide arrived warmed up and ready for the season.
After a performance of Jonathan Leshnoff’s Starburst, the pianist Joyce Yang joined the orchestra for Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2, with the second half taken up by Johannes Brahms’ Symphony No. 1.