BY ALAN SHERROD For the winter installment of the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra’s Concertmaster Series, Concertmaster and host William Shaub offered up an intensely intriguing program with an evocative title: “Tides of Solitude.” That title, of course, referred to a…
Review: Gluzman and KSO Combine For A Dynamic Brahms Violin Concerto
BY ALAN SHERROD For a variety of reasons, the January Masterworks concerts of the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra always seem to acquire a disproportionate amount of unforeseen drama. For example, it was ten years ago this month that Aram Demirjian…
KSO This Week — A Perfect Pairing: Gluzman and Brahms
BY DIANA SALESKY One of the most important jobs a Music Director has is selecting soloists for its symphonic season. Maestro Aram Demirjian never disappoints in the violin category. In fact, he may have outdone himself this season with…
2025 Most Memorable Classical Music Performances in Knoxville
Change in the art and music world can come swiftly or cautiously, but finding meaning in either one is not necessarily easy to manage. Generally, new start-up organizations are a good sign, as is major news from those groups already…
Review: Pianist Park, Guest conductor Di Russo, and KSO Shine in ‘Rhapsody’ et al.
BY ALAN SHERROD With the beginnings of the holiday season now upon us, Knoxville Symphony Orchestra Maestro Aram Demirjian took the week off and handed the baton for its November Masterworks pair of concerts this past weekend to guest…
KSO Extends Aram Demirjian’s Contract Through 2030
The Knoxville Symphony Orchestra has announced that Music Director Aram Demirjian has signed a new four-year contract that will continue his leadership of the orchestra through the 2029-30 season. “We have made such inspiring strides together over the last 10…
KSO This Week: Pianist Chaeyoung Park — Classical Jazz Hands
I am fascinated to hear her answer to Gershwin’s iconic Rhapsody in Blue when she joins the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra on November 20/21 for her first performance of the piece, alongside conductor Michelle DiRusso. Pianists who perform this work have a lot to answer for, in that Gershwin demands not only classical virtuosity but also serious jazz chops.…
Review: Demirjian, Fung, and Knoxville Symphony Orchestra Deliver a Magical Evening
The Knoxville Symphony Orchestra concerts this past weekend, as programmed by Maestro Aram Demirjian and delivered by the orchestra, featured a brilliant take on Edward Elgar’s Cello Concerto by the young dynamic cellist Zlatomir Fung. The orchestra players were in the spotlight for the 1947 concert hall version of Igor Stravinsky’s ballet Petrushka and its dramatic orchestral storytelling. And, the opener, Meilina Tsui’s Floridian Symphony, was a delightfully vibrant and atmospheric new work that calls on orchestral instruments and their players to explore and artistically replicate the natural sounds of a rural Florida environment and its world of insects, birds, and other animals.
KSO This Week: Essential Elgar, Storybook Stravinsky
Following its compelling opening Masterworks Series concerts last month, the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra embraces an intriguing program for its October concerts this week that feature Edward Elgar’s Cello Concerto in E minor with guest soloist Zlatomir Fung, along with Igor Stravinsky’s delicious folk-fantasy ballet score, Petrushka. Maestro Aram Demirjian will be opening the concert with the eight-minute Floridian Symphony by Meilina Tsui—receiving its first performances in the state of Tennessee.
Review: KSO Concertmaster Series Opens With ‘Vices’ and Virtues
BY ALAN SHERROD In the space of only two weeks, the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra has launched four of its five performance series, with a fifth series opening just days away. The most recent of these season openers was last…