KSO launches 90th Anniversary Season with Beethoven’s Ninth The Knoxville Symphony Orchestra opened its 90th anniversary season with a program that celebrated both contemporary creativity and symphonic grandeur. Led by Music Director Aram Demirjian, the concert began with a burst of energy in the form of XC Blast by Jennifer Higdon — the first commission […]
Category: Concerts & Programs
A Joyful Celebration of Community and Country
On July 4, the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra brought patriotic spirit and musical joy to the World’s Fair Park Amphitheater for its 41st Annual Independence Day Concert, presented by the Lawson Family Foundation. Thousands gathered with lawn chairs and picnic blankets as part of the City of Knoxville’s Festival on the Fourth. Music Director Aram Demirjian […]
A Powerful World Premiere: Between Suns Debuts with KSO
In May 2025, the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra presented the world premiere of Between Suns, a groundbreaking new concerto for West African drums and orchestra, composed by Derrick Skye and performed by Obayana Ajanaku and Indigenous Vibes. The KSO-commissioned work was met with enthusiastic applause at the Tennessee Theatre, where audiences experienced an electrifying fusion of […]
Honoring Dr. King Through the Music of Mahalia Jackson
In January 2025, , the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra presented its Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration Concert to a full house at the Bijou Theatre. The free performance, presented in partnership with the Beck Cultural Exchange Center and the Bijou, honored the enduring legacy of Dr. King through the powerful music of gospel legend Mahalia […]
That’s a wrap: Rodrigo, Ravel, and Paris
What a nice way to end a season with a wide variety of music from France, Spain and America! Gershwin’s “American in Paris” is a fun piece describing the clamor and beauty of Paris, a city that has been on our minds a lot recently. Part of the clamor comes from traffic noises that are […]
Tony Award Winner Leslie Odom, Jr. in Knoxville this week – and he’s a nice guy, too
Leslie Odom. Jr. is a “Triple Threat” (singer, dancer, actor) and he’s done everything from the TV screen to Broadway, and he’s coming to Knoxville for one night only. “The world will never be the same…” (Yes, that’s a lyric from Hamilton…) If you’re not familiar with the Broadway musical, “Hamilton,” it’s a spellbinding work, […]
Demirjian Receives Solti Foundation Career Assistance Grant
Aram Demirjian, Music Director for the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra, received the 2019 Career Assistance Award from the Solti Foundation U.S., the foremost organization in the United States dedicated to assisting outstanding young conductors to further develop their talent and careers. Demirjian was one of just ten recipients. The Foundation endeavors to seek out those musicians […]
Morph into Spring with this week’s music (Mendelssohn and More)
Just because it’s an interesting transition between playing the music of Pink Floyd on Saturday and moving on to Masterworks this week doesn’t mean it can’t be fun. The Pink Floyd crowd loved the concert, and it’s always nice to play for an appreciative audience. (Picture a rock band backed by a full orchestra playing […]
March Forecast: KSO Goes to Washington
The Knoxville Symphony Orchestra will travel to Washington, D.C. in March 2020 to participate in the ‘SHIFT: Festival of American Orchestras’- where only four American orchestras will perform. The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and Washington Performing Arts have announced the four orchestras selected to participate in the third SHIFT: A Festival […]
Stringing Along February into March
One of the improvements the symphony has made in the last few years is in finding new ways to showcase the players. We have some really strong players in the orchestra, and the relatively new Q Series is a great way to hear some of our core players. This Wednesday, Feb. 27 you can hear the […]
Ballet and Opera and Children, Oh My!
Last week’s masterworks was a fun concert, especially with the addition of the Appalachian Ballet Company dancers. Obviously, I didn’t get to watch everything that they did, but the part that really intrigued me was part of the “Ritual Fire Dance” where the dancers entered while shaking prop branches. Not only did it look cool, but I […]
You Always Have Better Ballet Tickets Than I Do…
I always have a seat under the stage for ballet, so while I get some interesting views of fog, I never get to see whatever is going on in the show. This week changes everything because we have the Appalachian Ballet Company performing while we play romantic music. I always marvel at the dancers and […]
Soiree and Swoon
This past Tuesday, as part of the Knoxville Symphony League’s Elegant Dining Series, the musicians of the KSO hosted a “Symphony Soiree” where we musicians cooked the food and provided the entertainment. The event was a unique chance to get to hear somewhat different music from fellow classical musicians in the orchestra along with the […]
Casting a spell with live music and a beloved film
Playing movie scores is challenging because you have to be flexible and adjust tempos within scenes, but you also do not have the luxury of being able to slow down scenes that are difficult. The rehearsals tend to be intense because you don’t wait for the action in the movie to pass by, you just […]
Chat with the Conductor – Part II
Get to know conductor, coffee drinker and crossword puzzle enthusiast Aram Demirjian in this Q&A post, Part II of II. Read Part I here. 1. Can you briefly describe what made you *sure* you wanted to pursue music as a career? What, if anything, bolstered that decision? I remember I was walking home in college […]