BY ALAN SHERROD Just what does it take for something to become a tradition? A specific concert selling out two years in row is probably a good start. For the second year, Maestro Aram Demirjian and the Knoxville Symphony…
Review: Pianist Alessio Bax, Conductor James Fellenbaum, KSO Thrill in ‘Rach Three’
BY ALAN SHERROD For a brief instant, the pose caught me by surprise but seemed unmistakable. Pianist Alessio Bax had just brought the house down in a performance of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3 with the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra…
KSO Announces Conductor Change for November Masterworks Concert
KSO Music Director Aram Demirjian is handing the baton over to KSO Resident Conductor James Fellenbaum for this week’s Masterworks concerts. The reason? On Saturday, November 11, Maestro Demirjian and his wife Caraline welcomed a daughter into their family. Congratulations!…
KSO This Week and Next: Ives, Rachmaninoff Set the Stage for “A Classical Christmas”
Knoxville Symphony Orchestra Masterworks This Week: “Bax Plays Rachmaninoff” • Bernstein: Overture to Candide • Sergei Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor (Alessio Bax, piano) • Charles Ives: Symphony No. 2 Thursday and Friday, November 16 and 17,…
Review: Bruch’s ‘Scottish Fantasy’ Comes Alive with Stefan Jackiw and KSO – A Sensational Beethoven ‘Pastoral’
BY ALAN SHERROD Concerts have an intriguing way of taking on a life and meaning of their own. That meaning may be obvious and intentional, or personal and ineffable. That is the joy—and burden—of those that program concerts: the…
Review: KSO’s Concertmaster Series—Nostalgia and History
BY ALAN SHERROD “Nostalgia is just History after a few drinks.” The Knoxville Symphony Orchestra’s Concertmaster Series as hosted by Concertmaster William Shaub has always enjoyed displaying its dual personality of virtuosic violin showmanship contrasted with deep dives into…
Can Concertmaster William Shaub Pass His Own Music Programming Test?
BY DIANA SALESKY “Somewhere in Time”— Knoxville Symphony Orchestra – Concertmaster Series William Shaub, violin; Kevin Class, piano; Rachel Loseke, violin; Katy Gawne, viola; Andy Bryenton, cello Knoxville Museum of Art Wednesday and Thursday, October 4 and 5—7:00 PM…
Review: KSO Begins 2023-24 Season with Trumpets and Triumphs
BY ALAN SHERROD A sip of cold champagne, a trumpet fanfare, and an energetic welcome from Maestro Aram Demirjian greeted audience arrivals at the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra’s opening Masterworks concerts this past weekend. While similar to previous versions of…
Big Week for Knoxville Symphony Orchestra — 2023-24 Season Openings in Two Series
It rarely happens this way, but thanks to the whims of the calendar, the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra will be opening the 2023-24 season for two of its major series within a few days of each other. The KSO’s always-intriguing Chamber…
KSO’s 2023-24 Season: A Q&A with Maestro Aram Demirjian
BY ALAN SHERROD With the sales of single tickets having begun for the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra’s 2023-24 season of concerts, Knoxville music lovers are now confronted with the reality of picking and choosing from the five series and the…