Part of our jobs as musicians is to get others excited about what we do, whether it’s a pops concert, opera, ballet, masterworks, or a new electronic piece that no one’s ever heard. I’m really excited about the January Masterworks concert this week for several reasons. The first piece that we are playing is by […]
Category: Live Concert
It’s the Most Musical Time of the Year
“It’s the most wonderful time of the year.” For most businesses, planning for the holidays begins early, even before Autumn. So in October and November, people ask the musicians if we’ve started working on the music for the Christmas concert. Because we don’t see the music until about ten days before the first concert, it’s […]
Holiday Greetings from the Maestro
December means tradition, family and music. As we renew our KSO tradition with the 32nd Annual Clayton Holiday Concerts, we are immensely grateful for you, our audience, and for our extended musical family here in Knoxville, from the Knoxville Choral Society to Go! Contemporary Dance Works, and our sponsors, the Clayton Family Companies, especially Jim […]
Casting a vision for the next three years
KSO announces extension of Aram Demirjian contract The Knoxville Symphony Orchestra announced on Monday, Nov. 12 that the KSO Board of Directors has extended Maestro Aram Demirjian’s contract as Music Director for three years beyond the current three year contract that began in 2016. This extension takes Maestro Demirjian through the 2021-2022 season. Highlights of […]
Four Notes
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 […]
Music Under Stalin’s Shadow
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 […]
Women Who Rock
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 […]
Orchestra Member “Stretches” into New Territory
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 […]
Return to Rachmaninoff
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 […]