The Knoxville Symphony Orchestra will find itself in lofty company in 2020. The orchestra was one of four orchestras selected to perform a concert during the third SHIFT: A Festival of American Orchestras, performances that will take place at the Kennedy…
James Fellenbaum Named Artistic Director/Conductor of Brevard Philharmonic
By Alan Sherrod One of Knoxville’s busiest musicians is about to get just a bit busier. James Fellenbaum, who holds multiple conductorships in the Knoxville classical music world, has recently been named Artistic Director/Conductor of the Brevard Philharmonic. Fellenbaum…
Review: KSO Ends 2017-18 Season With Some Excitement and Risk-Taking
Perhaps it’s the warm weather, or perhaps it’s the seasonal idea of commencement—an ending that’s also a beginning. Whatever the impetus, the final concerts of the season for the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra each May always seem to evoke a mix of heart-tugging nostalgia and optimism for what the future may bring. On those final May concerts this past weekend, however, those usual emotions were joined by something new, a curious, but restrained sense of excitement and anticipation similar to what one feels when embarking on an adventure.
KSO This Week: A Feast of American Composers to End the Season
I have to admit that prior to February 2017 my knowledge of Florence Price and her music was that of her name on a list of American women composers. In my shaky defense to never having heard a live performance of her music until then, or even a recording, I can say that I wasn’t totally alone even among those who write about the subject.
Review: Pianist Fei-Fei Dong and Conductor Edwin Outwater Join KSO for a Splendid Mozart Piano Concerto No. 20
With Maestro Aram Demirjian away for the week in Boston conducting the New England Conservatory Symphony, the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra found itself once again with the Mozart concerto on the bill—and a guest conductor on the podium. This week’s Masterworks conducting duties fell to guest maestro Edwin Outwater in a program that also included Schumann’s Symphony No. 2 and contemporary composer Missy Mazzoli’s ‘Violent, Violent Sea’.
KSO This Week: Pianist Fei-Fei Dong and Conductor Edwin Outwater in Mozart and Schumann
Knoxville Symphony Orchestra Masterworks Missy Mazzoli: Violent, Violent Sea Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, K. 466 (Fei-Fei Dong, pianist) Robert Schumann: Symphony No. 2 in C Major, Op. 61 Guest conductor: Edwin Outwater Tennessee Theatre, 604 S.…
Review: KSO Indulges in a Lusty ‘Carmina Burana’
The KSO performance put the spotlight on what is important in the piece: a relatively simple musical language that wallows in the indulgent fantasies of spring, charms and satisfies the listener musically, and supports the bawdy and poetic spirit of the Medieval texts.
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…
Review: KSO Goes Bach to Mozart with a Freshness and Sparkle
Confessions of a Bachophile — Chapter 17 In my review of the Knoxville Symphony Chamber Orchestra’s February concert that included the J.S. Bach Concerto for Two Violins, I stated—humorously, I thought—that it seemed listeners simply could not get enough of…
Review: Pianist Tanya Gabrielian and KSO Uncover Russian Passion
Given the current revelations of the past week, I couldn’t help feeling that Maestro Aram Demirjian and the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra may have wished they had titled the week’s Masterworks concerts something other than “Russian Passion.” On the other hand,…