BY ALAN SHERROD Believe it or not, it has only been since 2015 that the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra has marked the beginning of its busy holiday season with a “Classical Christmas” offering for its late-November Chamber Classics Series concert.…
On the Wall … Off the Wall: November 15 – 30, Part 2
Part 1 of this multi-part November arts survey is here. • • • • • • St. John’s Cathedral Arts Series: Chase Hawkins, trumpet, and Jason Overall, organ Chase Hawkins, principal trumpet of the Knoxville…
Knoxville Symphony Orchestra Among Additions to Big Ears 2023
The 10th edition of the internationally acclaimed Big Ears is on tap for 2023 and additions to the program lineup announced today suggest that the festival is celebrating the milestone by taking an important direction in reflecting new music. Partnering…
Review: Knoxville Symphony Orchestra Salutes Veterans Day
BY ALAN SHERROD Seizing on the opportunity of November 11th and Veterans Day coinciding with its Masterworks concert schedule for November, the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra and Maestro Aram Demirjian chose to honor the occasion with a program entitled “Service…
Review: KSO, Lecce-Chong, and Michelle Cann Take ‘Rach’ to the Heights
BY ALAN SHERROD Just what are the elements of a successful symphony orchestra season? Most will agree there has to be challenges to both the orchestra and the audience in the season’s programming. That programming has to have drama,…
KSO Joins 30-Orchestra Consortium in League of American Orchestras’ Commissioning of Women Composers
As the story from 1943 goes—composer Florence Price once wrote a letter to Maestro Serge Koussevitsky asking him to consider programming her music with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. In introducing herself, she wrote: “To begin with, I have two handicaps,…
This Week: KSO Welcomes Guest Conductor Francesco Lecce-Chong and Pianist Michelle Cann
Knoxville Symphony Orchestra Masterworks: “Michelle Cann Plays Rachmaninoff” Guest Conductor: Francesco Lecce-Chong Pianist: Michelle Cann Tennessee Theatre, 604 S. Gay Street in Downtown Knoxville Thursday and Friday, October 13 and 14, 7:30 PM • • • Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No.…
KSO’s Concertmaster Series Returns: A Q&A with Concertmaster William Shaub
BY ALAN SHERROD Although it seems like decades in our post-pandemic world, it was only five years ago in 2017 that we were introducing William Shaub as the new Concertmaster of the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra. Since that time, the…
Review in Brief: KSO and Laura Beth Wells Bring A Sunday Afternoon Audience To Joy and Tears
BY ALAN SHERROD While a sudden fall rain fell outside the Bijou Theatre on Sunday afternoon, those inside may have noticed a little moisture as well. No, not a leaky roof, thank heavens, but rather a tear or two…
Review: KSO and Demirjian Find Freshness in Grieg and Tchaikovsky for Season Opener
BY ALAN SHERROD The four months of summer break for the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra Masterworks concerts always seems a bit interminable. But there we were—strolling into the Tennessee Theatre lobby feeling that strange sense of excitement that is not…