From Maryville to Caryville

Aagghhh!!! It’s startling and new!!! What happened to the KSO’s home page? Somebody up and “new and improved” it! Actually, I’m kind of glad they did. This blog has been going on for 3-½ years, it hardly needs the “NEW!” tag on it. I hope the new design doesn’t intimidate you; I’m still working my way through it, trying to find the program notes, etc. If I don’t, I’ll have to make up ALL those cool facts about the music we play instead of only about half of them. (JK)!

Well, well, well... This week is a rebuilding week. The last four weeks were action-packed, and the next four probably will be the same. Side-by-side concerts with the Bearden High School Orchestra are imminent, as are Storytime concerts at local– and not-so-local– libraries. TODAY- at the Lawson-McGhee (downtown) library at 10:15 AM– that’s RIGHT NOW– and at the Norwood branch library on Merchants Rd. at 4:00. These are unique, intimate opportunities for young children to get a taste of classical music and have a book read to them.

A Storytime is planned for Caryville on the morning of March 6th. I don’t recall the KSO ever having played there, it must be a first. We’ve gone beyond; to Oneida, Huntsville, and even up to Whitley City, KY, but never Caryville. And by “we,” I don’t include myself, as this will be a different string quartet. That same day, Bearden High School’s Orchestra will host us at their side-by-side concert at 7:00. As was the case at Maryville High, challenging repertoire is on the docket; movements from Bloch’s Concerto Grosso No. 1, Vivaldi’s Concerto for 4 Violins, and Dvorak’s awesome Serenade for Strings. BHS Orchestra director Katie Middleton has done a great job with the strings at Bearden and their music department is always right on time.

Plenty of great stuff happening before we cross that Campbell County line, though. Mahler 2nd is on my stand and under my pillow, set for next Thursday and Friday, the 23rd and 24th. Chamber Classics and Stravinsky’s L’Histoire du Soldat are on March 4th, again without me as Stravinsky hated the cello and didn’t write a part for L’Histoire, (really, it says so right here on Wikipedia! JK). I’m sorry, I guess on the home page they are calling it “A Soldier’s Tale.” I have never known it by any other name, but it is a wonderful narrated piece that is essential Stravinsky. His Concerto in D for strings and Schoenberg’s Verklaerte Nacht fill out this very continental concert.

Stay tuned for more about Mahler...