Friday, March 30, 2012

News

This week we welcome pianist Emi Kagawa to town for the Sunday afternoon Chamber Classics concert at the Bijou (2:30). In a unique orchestration, the impressionistic classic Concerto for Violin, Piano and String Quartet by Ernest Chausson will cap off an eclectic show featuring the KSO’s Principal String Quartet. Also on our stands is Mozart’s quirky Quartet in E♭, K. 428, (that one in E♭ that you were always afraid to sight-read at a gig) and an exciting work by Mexican composer Javier Alvarez entitled Metro Chabacano. featuring edge-of-your-seat, Mexican train rhythms. Rehearsals have moved to my house for the quartet proper; I don’t know why, but Katy has kicked us out. HAHA jk. The themes of the first movements of the Mozart and the Chausson are similar and we have had some fun combining the two, although that’s where the similarities end. The Chausson exhibits tendencies of Faure and Franck and is like no other work you will hear, with concertmaster Gabe Lefkowitz and Emi leading us down the musical Champs-Élysées.


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Losses in Knoxville’s musical community are never fun to write about, but we have lost a really precious person in Louise Hough. She played violin in this orchestra before I arrived, up until a few years ago. Her smile was always great to see at a church gig and her laugh made you feel like everything was ok. Her husband Don was principal trombone for many years and remains a major force on Knoxville’s jazz scene. We share his pain as we remember Louise in our prayers and thoughts.

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