KSO Pops 2018-19 Season will 'Fly you to the Moon!'

Just Announced...The Knoxville Symphony Orchestras' News Sentinel Pops Series lineup for 2018-2019.

The KSO 2018-19 Pops Season includes Music of Frank Sinatra, Music of Pink Floyd, Disney's Mary Poppins, and Leslie Odom, Jr. from Broadway's Hamilton, a role for which he won the Tony Award for Best Male Actor.

You have the chance to see Hamilton's Leslie Odom, Jr. perform in concert with the KSO...do not throw away your shot!

All concerts take place at 8:00 p.m. at the Civic Auditorium unless otherwise noted. View the KSO 2018-19 Concert Calendar here.

This post authored by the KSO communications dept.

Gershwin, Price, Copland- This concert takes the cake

This week's Masterworks performances are sure to take the cake. The KSO 2017-18 season comes to a close this Thursday and Friday with "Rhapsody in Blue." Performances are at 7:30 p.m. at the Tennessee Theatre with a pre-concert chat at 6:30. Tickets here.

Pianist Michelle Cann joins the Orchestra for not one but two piano concerti - both Gershwin's infamous "Rhapsody in Blue,"  and 'Piano Concerto in One Movement' by Florence Price, a lesser known composer whose work is beginning to make a come back.

The program opens with an upbeat treat, which will also serve as a teaser for the full production later this year. Leonard Bernstein's Overture to Candide is a 5-minute concert opener that featuring melodies from the work, has enjoyed an independent life as one of the most popular concert pieces of the second half of the 20^th century. 

Since the premiere of Rhapsody in Blue, George Gershwin became recognized not only as an important composer of Broadway and popular melodies but a force to be reckoned with in classical music.  Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue remains one of the most beloved and performed concert works by an American composer.

Our guest artist this week, Michelle Cann, holds degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music and an Artist Diploma from the Curtis Institute of Music, where she later joined the staff as a Collaborative Staff Pianist. 

Florence Price was the first African American woman to have her music played by a major American orchestra when the Chicago Symphony performed her Symphony in E minor in 1933. She lived from 1887-1953 and wrote symphonies, arrangements of spirituals and folk songs. More of her music, including violin and piano concertos, was not discovered until after her death.

You don't want to miss the second half of this program, Aaron Copland's Symphony No. 3, which includes Fanfare for the Common Man in the fourth movement, which many will recognize. This was the first symphony Copland composed, written just after World War II and is referred to as the "Great American Symphony."

Copland describes the first movement as “broad and expansive in character”.  The second movement serves the function of the Symphony’s lively scherzo.  Copland describes the slow-tempo third movement as “the freest of all in formal structure. Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man serves as the introduction to the main portion of the Symphony’s finale, which journeys to a majestic close.

This post authored by the KSO Communications Dept.

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The gift of music found in unexpected places

Music entertains as well as uplifts our minds, bodies, and spirits. The KSO's Music and Wellness program places live musicians playing therapeutic music in healthcare settings - including hospital rooms. 

Alan Carmichael, a well-known marketer and music lover in Knoxville, was a recipient of the gift of music.

Alan writes:

"I had quadruple bypass surgery at Parkwest Medical Center one year ago. My recovery is going fine. I was in the hospital for several days following the operation and was visited by Stacy Nickell, cellist with the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra. Stacy played, and visitors to other patients on the cardiac floor, including children, came to my room to listen. When you go through a life-altering experience like bypass surgery, you become very emotional. When Stacy played Ashokan Farewell, it brought tears to my eyes. Overall, it was a very uplifting experience I will never forget."

The Knoxville Symphony Orchestra is raising funds for the KSO Music & Wellness Program via CrowdRise by May 11th.  All online donations given through THIS LINK ($10 or more in the next 10 days) will help the KSO become eligible for a $25,000 grant. Please consider supporting this unique program which brings live, therapeutic music to those who need uplifting.

Click here to find out more and to support the Music & Wellness Program.

Alan Carmichael helps clients communicate effectively in his role as president and chief operating officer of Moxley Carmichael. In this role, he creates and executes up-to-date communications strategies is based on firsthand experience in advising clients on proactive public relations programs, as well as preparing for and managing crises. Alan is the 2018 honoree for Outstanding marketing Professional presented by the American Marketing Association's Knoxville Chapter. 

Alan is strongly connected to the community and has served on many nonprofit boards including the Board of Visitors of the College of Communication & Information, the East Tennessee Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association, Ijams Nature Center, Dogwood Arts Festival. He and his wife, Cynthia Moxley, are generous supporters of the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra in addition to the entire arts community. Moxley Carmichael is the underwriting sponsor of the KSO's Moxley Carmichael Masterworks Series.

This post authored by the KSO Communications Dept.

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Another Grand Opera for Knoxville

Don't let that apparent gap in the KSO's concert schedule fool you-- we are still plenty busy preparing for Knoxville Opera's production of Aïda this coming Friday and Sunday. The grand finale of KOC's 40th anniversary season will be a proper Grand Opera. The demanding vocal score is in good musical hands with soprano Michelle Johnson (as Aïda) and Dongwon Shin (as Radames) headlining.

Giuseppe Verdi stands the test of time as one of the most important opera composers ever. His composing career of 68 years nearly doubles Mozart's entire lifespan. His own lifespan straddled those of Beethoven and Stravinsky. Operas from the 1840s, such as Macbeth and Nabucco, are just as stageworthy today as his final opera from 1893, Falstaff.

Early financial success at La Scala and other important European opera houses enabled Verdi to focus later in life on what came to mind, rather than be bound to commissions or the conventions of the day. There was a formula to many of his earlier works; I'll admit as a performer that there is a certain predictability to some of them, but their appeal is more about the depth of emotion and sense of drama. That said, Aïda was in fact a commission; the Khedive of Egypt paid him the equivalent of $30,000 (1871 dollars-- about $200k today) to create something to open the new Cairo Opera House. This premiere was conducted by the famous double-bass virtuoso, Giovanni Bottesini, and was an instant international success.  Aïda (pronounced eye-EE-da) is more symphonic, with several “movements” rather than a collection of arias, choruses ensembles. The musical language here is much freer and there are many tempo fluctuations, but they are not taken to the garish extreme of some of Puccini's works. If you're still not convinced yet that you should attend, I have two words for you: Triumphal March.

Don't miss us at the Civic Auditorium, Thursday at 7:30 or Sunday at 2:30. Or both!