About the Program

Three celebrated works explore the passion, drama, and lyricism of the Romantic tradition. Music Director Aram Demirjian leads a program featuring music by Richard Wagner, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, with violinist Bella Hristova returning to the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra as soloist.

The evening opens with music from Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, an opera that transformed the course of Western classical music through its bold harmonic language. Demirjian describes the work as one of the most influential scores ever written, setting the stage for a program that traces the evolution of Romantic expression.

Hristova performs Korngold’s Violin Concerto, one of the composer’s best-known concert works. The program concludes with Tchaikovsky’s Suite from Swan Lake, bringing audiences some of the ballet’s most memorable music. Together, these works span nearly a century of musical history while celebrating composers whose melodies, orchestral color, and dramatic storytelling continue to captivate audiences today.