Author: Bob Adamcik

Four notes. That’s how many notes it takes to get a gasp out of the audiences when we play music from Harry Potter. It’s such a wonderful moment and it makes us remember the power of music. The KSO performs the Young People’s Concerts annually at the Civic Auditorium for more than 8,000 elementary students […]

KSO Cellist and Owner of Wilhite Strings rents instruments to area students, furthers their music education   Bruce Wilhite has played cello with the Knoxville Symphony for more than 25 years. He was a full-time core member from 1980-2003 at which point he transitioned to a per service member of the cello section.  He opened […]

View the KSO Board of Directors here. The Knoxville Symphony Orchestra Board of Directors has grown by two this season. New members include recently-elected Patricia Bible, Founder/CEO of KaTom Restaurant Supply and Christian Corts, Regional VP of BB&T. A native of Greenville, S.C., Corts received his bachelor’s degree in finance from Samford University. He was as […]

Music composed under Stalin’s regime provides emotional escape Most people have deadlines for work, an annoying boss, and feel underpaid. The Soviet era composers, artists and writers, including Dmitri Shostakovich and Sergei Prokofiev had to deal with all of that plus the fear of winding up in a labor camp or being shot for displeasing the dictator Joseph […]

MUSICIAN SPOTLIGHT: Megan Kehren, KSYO conductor and KSO Violist Many music teachers tell their students, “I was once where you are.” In Megan Kehren’s case, she was EXACTLY where her students are – taking her seat as a violist in the Knoxville Symphony Youth Orchestra (KSYO), and now as an adult, she leads a youth […]

Musician Spotlight: Erin Archer, KSYO conductor Erin Archer has been involved with the Knoxville Symphony Youth Orchestra (KSYO) since her family moved to Knoxville in the early 90’s. As a college student at the University of Tennessee, she became a KSYO rehearsal assistant. She also plays with the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra as a substitute viola […]

Aretha. Carole. Tina. Janis. Whitney. I can’t imagine having written enough great songs and had an interesting enough life to create a musical about myself, but Carole King has. If you had a chance to see “Beautiful” when it was in Knoxville last spring, you know the amazing talent of Carole King and the difficult life […]

 KSO Flutist also acts as mom, teacher, yogini Jill Bartine is regularly recognized in the Knoxville community, whether it’s from playing the flute on stage with the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra or teaching yoga at a local studio. A wife and mother of twins juggling multiple jobs, Jill is constantly trying to find “balance” – both literally […]

If you’ve been keeping up with the symphony, you know that some of the members have been busy with Candide at the Clarence Brown Theatre. It’s been fantastic to be playing Bernstein’s music and to have the privilege of watching the amazing actors around us for eight shows a week. How do they memorize all of […]

By Bob Adamcik, KSO percussionist A classical musician who was known around the world and recognized in popular culture? The 100th birthday of Leonard Bernstein gives us a chance to look at his life and career as an unprecedented force in music and society as a performer, conductor, and teacher. He was also a civil rights […]