Final Countdown

This is the final week of the Knoxville Symphony's 2009 - 2010 season. For me this year has flown by. It seems like we just started the season! There is a lot packed into this week.

On Sunday evening my quartet played for the Lucas Richman Society. Before the concert there was a dinner. To be honest, meeting new people and mingling makes me nervous. Also, I am very intimidated by place settings that contain multiple forks and glasses. I don't attend formal events often and when I do I usually manage to spill something down my shirt or drop a buttered roll on the shoe of the person next to me. I'm glad that I attended the dinner on Sunday, though, because I had a wonderful time talking to the people at my table. It is a group who are just as passionate about the symphony and music as the musicians on the stage. And I didn't spill, drop, or break anything the entire evening.

Earlier on Sunday afternoon, the symphony began rehearsing for our final Masterworks concert of the year. I had forgotten how powerful the Pines of Rome is. HUGE amounts of sound coming from the stage as well as additional brass players in the balcony. Being in the middle of all that sound is an awesome experience. It is so tremendous you can feel it in your core. Tonight we will rehearse Prokofiev's Second Violin Concerto with Rachel Lee. Prokofiev 2 is one of my favorite violin concertos and I'm looking forward to hearing Rachel's interpretation. Also on the schedule for tonight is Ravel's Mother Goose Suite, which contains one of the highest incidental solos for viola in the orchestral repertoire.

Masterworks takes up most of this week, culminating in concerts on Thursday and Friday. Saturday is the final performance of the season, though. On Saturday a string quartet from the symphony will be performing two story time concerts at the Children's Festival of Reading. If you've never attended, this is a fun event that is not to be missed. The festival kicks off the Knox County Public Library's summer reading program. It takes place at World's Fair Park this Saturday from 10 until 3. There are all sorts of things for kids to see and do including crafts, inflatable bouncy things, a magician, and, of course, KSO story time performances. A quartet from the symphony will be giving two performances in the morning. KSO story times are always nicely paced and interactive.

More information about the Masterworks concerts and Festival of Reading performances can be found on the main KSO website.