In this week’s Knoxville Mercury, I review last weekend’s concert of the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra—a concert that was the final one for Lucas Richman as the orchestra’s music director and conductor. The concert included Beethoven’s Overture to Egmont, the Tchaikovsky…
Thurs/Fri,May 14/15: Lucas Richman’s Final Concert with the KSO
It sounds trite to say it, but if you only make it to one Knoxville Symphony Orchestra concert this season, this week’s Masterworks pair should be it. KSO music director and conductor, Lucas Richman, will be conducting his last concert with…
In the Knoxville Mercury: So much to read, so little time…
Be sure to pick up a copy of the Knoxville Mercury this week—there are reviews of local performances plus the special pull-out-and-carry guide (necessary and indispensable) to Knoxville Opera’s Rossini Festival and the International Street Fair on Saturday. In that…
In the ‘Mercury’: Review of KSO’s ‘Mozart and Mendelssohn’
Last weekend’s Knoxville Symphony Orchestra concert featured Rossini’s Overture to William Tell, Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 25 in C Major (pianist Conrad Tao), and Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 3 in A Minor (“Scottish”). The guest conductor was James Feddeck. My review of…
Preview: KSO Visits Rossini, Mozart, and Mendelssohn’s ‘Scottish’ Symphony
The Knoxville Symphony Orchestra Masterworks “Mozart and Mendelssohn” Thursday and Friday, March 19, 20, at 7:30 p.m., Tennessee Theatre Conductor: James Feddeck Rossini: The overture to William Tell Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 25 in C Major, K. 503; Conrad Tao, piano Mendelssohn:…
Five Reasons Why the 2015 Big Ears Festival is So Important
The 2015 Big Ears Festival hits downtown Knoxville venues on Friday, March 27, through Sunday, March 29. If you have already acquired a weekend or day pass for the festival, you undoubtedly already know the importance of Big Ears, not…
Wed/Thurs: KSO Concertmaster Series Features Dvorák Quintet in G
The last KSO Concertmaster Series concert of the season comes this week to the Knoxville Museum of Art in a program featuring the Dvorák String Quintet in G major, Op. 77 as well as a slew of short virtuosic violin pieces…
Weekend Reviews, Part 1: KSO Performs Dvorák’s ‘Stabat Mater’
By itself, neither rain, nor snow, nor sleet, nor sub-zero cold, is enough to keep dedicated music audiences from the object of their affection. But tie those forms of wintry weather together with hardened sheets of ice created by sleet…
KSO This Week: Dvořák’s ‘Stabat Mater’
Despite the week’s treacherous ice, snow, and bone-chilling cold, the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra‘s concerts will go on as scheduled with a performance of Dvořák’s Stabat Mater. Casual followers of the music of Antonin Dvořák familiar with the composer’s Symphony from the New World,…
Review: Guest Conductor Lawrence Loh and the KSO Sculpt A Dynamic Masterpiece
There was a time—only a few years ago—that the booking and announcement of a guest conductor for a Knoxville Symphony Orchestra concert engendered in me a gnawing feeling of dread and trepidation. Thankfully, those days seem to be over as…