BY DIANA SALESKY Editor’s Note: Diana Salesky was the alto soloist in the recent Knoxville Symphony Orchestra performance of Handel’s ‘Messiah’ at the Tennessee Theatre. There are moments during rehearsals and concerts when one connects with another performer for…
Review: Demirjian Leads KSO, KCS, and Soloists in ‘Messiah’ and ‘A Carol Symphony’
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…
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 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…
Review: KSO Opens Chamber Classics Series with Variego, Smyth, and Mozart
BY ALAN SHERROD It would be nice if we could pretend that the past weekend was a normal one for classical music in Knoxville. The fact is, there was nothing normal about it. Knoxville was treated to an unusual…
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…
One Great Reason to Get Your KSO Tickets: Violinist Stefan Jackiw
BY DIANA SALESKY Single tickets for the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra (KSO) season went on sale yesterday. There are many great reasons to purchase tickets sooner rather than later – Mahler’s Symphony #4, Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, Handel’s Messiah,…
Review: KSO Wraps Season With Visceral Stravinsky and Emotional Beethoven
BY ALAN SHERROD Going big in a season finale symphony concert is, most assuredly, a valid approach, one that the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra and conductor Aram Demirjian embraced this weekend to finish up the 2022-23 concert season. In this…