MetroPulse Stories: Classical Music

KSO Closes 2011-12 Season With Exhilarating Performance

Wed, 23 May 2012 18:59:00 -0000

With a flourish and a grand gesture of au revoir, the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra finished its 2011-12 Masterworks season last weekend with its usual pair of concerts: “A Touch of France,” covering four works by French composers. As usual, time permitting, I had the opportunity to hear both evenings’ performances, although that luxury is rarely necessary given that the pair generally differs only in what one expects from live music. On this occasion, however, the Friday evening performance particularly came alive in comparison to Thursday’s—perhaps because of its finality—in ways that were really quite exhilarating.

Experience and Youth Come Together for Knoxville Opera's Superlative 'Otello'

Wed, 02 May 2012 14:58:00 -0000

Knoxville Opera’s superlative Rossini Festival production of Otello last weekend fused the brilliance and solidity of seasoned operatic performers with a solid cast of younger singers possessing major, and truly exciting, vocal talents.

Tenor Michael Austin Takes on His 47th Portrayal of Shakespeare’s Conflicted Moor in Knoxville Opera's 'Otello'

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 13:32:00 -0000

With just a glance, even without a note of music being heard, one knows instantly why tenor Michael Austin is known in opera houses of the world for his portrayal of the title role in Giuseppe Verdi’s Otello—he looks exactly like the Shakespearean character listeners visualize.

A Seasoned Tenor and a Soprano Making Her U.S. Debut Star in Verdi’s 'Otello'

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 13:29:00 -0000

This was not the Verdi of Rigoletto or La Traviata, but a Verdi who had possibly been influenced, subconsciously of course, by his musical nemesis, Wagner. The work had musical continuity and complex orchestration—the first that one might call truly “symphonic,” in which the orchestra is used to portray a range of character emotions.

Guest Conductor Leads KSO Through 'The Planets'

Wed, 28 Mar 2012 15:35:00 -0000

Due to its familiarity with audiences, a work such as Gustav Holst’s early 20th-century suite The Planets, the headliner on last weekend’s concerts, burdens a conductor with the weight of numerous comparisons.

KSO’s Chamber Series Unveils the Crowd-Pleasing Music of Two Once-Controversial Composers

Wed, 07 Mar 2012 15:37:00 -0000

With the benefit of historic distance, it seems only natural that the music of Igor Stravinsky and Arnold Schoenberg belongs together on the same program, as it did with Sunday afternoon’s Knoxville Symphony Orchestra’s Chamber Classics Concert.

Knoxville Opera Reaches Out to a New Audience With 'Romeo et Juliette'

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 16:16:00 -0000

One need look no further than last weekend’s Knoxville Opera production of Charles Gounod’s Romeo et Juliette to see what has changed in Knoxville over the last five years or so. In contradiction to the tired stereotype of opera-goers, the audience for the virtually sold-out Friday evening performance was a vibrant and vocal mix of fashion-conscious twentysomethings and culture-hungry newbies intertwined with the loyal base of experienced enthusiasts.

Guest Conductor Edward Cumming Leads KSO Through a Night of Mozart

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 15:47:00 -0000

With over 400 years of music in our western repertoire, modern concerts devoted to just one composer often run the risk of appearing overly focused, fussy, and academic, even for listeners with more than a casual interest. The Knoxville Symphony Orchestra, however, made a case last weekend that the music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart can be a remarkable exception.

KSO Opens Its Chamber Series With Tense, Dynamic Readings of Mozart and Haydn

Wed, 09 Nov 2011 16:14:00 -0000

It may seem like a stretch to attach any sort of operatic qualities to Mozart’s Symphony No. 38 in D Major (“Prague”), yet that is exactly what Lucas Richman appeared to be doing last Sunday as the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra opened its Chamber Classics series.

Knoxville Opera's Novel Staging of 'La Traviata' Makes the Familiar New

Wed, 02 Nov 2011 15:16:00 -0000

The reasons for La Traviata's popularity are clear—Giuseppe Verdi’s score is tuneful, lush, and addictively evocative; the libretto has a seemingly perfect balance of character complexity, stage simplicity, and literary intrigue. The challenge, of course, is to embrace the popularity and still find freshness and vitality in a piece that is so well-known and loved. Knoxville Opera’s La Traviata met that challenge, and then some.

KSO Finds Connections Among Katrina, Copland, and Dvorák

Wed, 26 Oct 2011 14:45:00 -0000

It was an evening of exploration—and perhaps even discovery—as the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra trod familiar trails and also ventured into some new territory with its concerts last weekend.

KSO Presents the World Premiere of Theodore Wiprud’s 'Violin Concerto (Katrina)'

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 16:09:00 -0000

Of huge importance to the theme of “American” music on the program is the presence of the world premiere of Theodore Wiprud’s Violin Concerto (Katrina).

A Revamped KSO Marks Its Return With a Vibrant Interpretation of Beethoven

Wed, 28 Sep 2011 13:58:00 -0000

The orchestra was back, and in ways that were phenomenally impressive in both form and spirit.

UT Symphony’s New Instrumental Prowess Matches the Demands of Its Upcoming Schedule

Wed, 21 Sep 2011 14:01:00 -0000

When I first saw the programming lineup for the University of Tennessee Symphony Orchestra fall season, I sensed right away that something big and significant must be afoot.

UT’s Faculty Chamber Series Reflects on the Anniversary of 9/11

Wed, 14 Sep 2011 20:50:00 -0000

I admit I never asked whether the joint occurrence of the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 tragedy and the opening concert last Sunday of the University of Tennessee Faculty Chamber Series was by design or by coincidence of the calendar. While I suspect the latter, the UT School of Music seized the overwhelming importance and obligation of the day and programmed four works that followed something of an arc describing, in musical terms, the nature of war and strife, its aftermath, and the resulting sadness and tragedy.

Fall A&E Preview: Classical Music

Wed, 14 Sep 2011 20:10:00 -0000

After a Knoxville summer devoid of concerts and operatic performances, music lovers always seem to be anxious for the fall season with the giddy eagerness and optimism of a third-grader armed with fresh school supplies. The fall of 2011 has the clear potential to be more than just a fresh new season, and more than the slaking of an audience’s musical thirst.

Knoxville's Dry Season for Classical Music

Wed, 29 Jun 2011 14:54:00 -0000

“School’s Out” was a big hit for Alice Cooper in 1972, and has since become an iconic statement of euphoria for a summer with little to offer except a few mindless pleasures. Unfortunately, though, the song’s anthemic refrain—“School’s out for summer”—has also become something of a metaphor for Knoxville’s own classical, post-classical, opera, and music theater scene, which in recent years has mostly evaporated with the last concerts of May

KSO Ends an Emotional Season on a High Note

Wed, 25 May 2011 13:12:00 -0000

Given recent sad events and important personnel changes, I wasn’t necessarily expecting the final Masterworks concerts of the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra’s 2010-11 season to be an exhilarating and euphoric experience, but that’s exactly what happened last weekend.

KSO's Final Chamber Concert Sheds New and Needed Light on the Baroque Period

Wed, 11 May 2011 15:08:00 -0000

Making sense of the Baroque period of music today is no small task, for probably no other period of music has suffered as much at the hands of both history and contemporary marketers.

KSO Delivers a Magisterial Performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony

Wed, 20 Apr 2011 14:27:00 -0000

Performances of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 today have unfailingly been presented and accepted as big events.