Drumroll, please...

KSO percussionist Bob Adamcik shows us just one way he cares for his instruments. Watch it here.

"When I love listening to a piece of music, I sometimes have to remind myself that a person has taken what is basically a machine and created something beautiful with it. As you watch and listen to the Knoxville Symphony, you’re hearing the sound of wood and metal machines with levers, pedals, keys, and pegs that create sounds that reach the audience. That’s part of the magic of music, taking an object that can’t produce something on its own, and giving it life. 

Because the percussion instruments are fun to watch during a performance, I’ve recorded a time-lapse movie of me changing the head on one of our timpani. The heads are made of mylar, and they cost about $100 per drum. It took me about 40 minutes to remove the old head, replace the lubricant between the drum and the head and put the new head on."

About Bob

Bob Adamcik currently plays timpani on the Knoxville Symphony’s Moxley Carmichael Masterworks Series and is the Principal Percussionist for all other services. He has been a featured soloist with the symphony on marimba and xylophone, played with the Dallas and Ft. Worth symphonies. He has recorded with the Dallas Wind Symphony. After growing up in San Antonio, Bob graduated from the University of North Texas, where he earned a Bachelor’s degree in Music Education and a Master’s Degree in Percussion Performance. He has taught at the University of Tennessee and Pellissippi State, and has presented master classes at UT, Middle Tennessee, East Tennessee State and North Carolina School for the Arts. He has also performed in music festivals from Montana to Maine. 

This post authored by Bob Adamcik.

Bernstein's 'Candide' coming this fall

The Knoxville Symphony Orchestra and the Clarence Brown Theatre celebrate the 100th anniversary of Leonard Bernstein's birth with a production of his Broadway smash Candide. 

Candide
Aug. 31 - Sept. 16, 2018
Clarence Brown Theatre Mainstage
at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville  

Featuring hit songs "Glitter and Be Gay" and "Make Our Garden Grow," Candide is a modern theatrical setting of Voltaire's timeless satire.

Tickets are available now EXCLUSIVELY to KSO and CBT subscribers at a special discounted rate. Call the KSO box office at 865-291-3310 for more information.

This production will be directed by Calvin MacLean, Producing Artistic Director of the Clarence Brown Theatre and conducted by Aram Demirjian, Music Director of the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra.

About Candide

In Bernstein’s musical derived from Voltaire, a young man wanders “the best of all possible worlds” only to find war, destruction and loss.  Separated from his beloved, Candide’s hard-won survival ends in a joyous reconciliation. 

While a number of derivative works came from Voltaire’s satirical novella released in France in 1759, Leonard Bernstein revamped the musical Candide several times after its London premiere in 1956.  When Bernstein’s “final approved” version of this comedic, poignant story reappeared on Broadway in 1989 with a full score, a revival was born. This version continues to be revived and performed in opera and professional theaters and is the score and libretto the KSO/CBT will perform in 2018, known as “the Scottish Opera version.” 

“Leonard Bernstein at 100” Centennial Year Celebration

2018 is the Centennial year for Leonard Bernstein, who was born in 1918, honoring his 100^th birthday with more than 1,000 events taking place on six continents.  Orchestras, museums, ballets, and arts organizations around the world are celebrating and performing his works during the calendar year in celebration of his contribution as a composer, conductor, educator, activist, cultural ambassador, and humanitarian. Bernstein’s mark on the world of the arts in the past century will last for generations to come.

           

The mission of The Roy Cockrum Foundation is to award grants to support world-class performing arts projects in not-for-profit professional theaters throughout the United States. The foundation’s intent is to support the vision of particular artists and to expand the capacity of theaters to realize the scope of that vision. 

Other grant recipients of The Roy Cockrum Foundation include such prestigious theaters as Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre Company, The Goodman Theatre, Washington DC's Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company and The Acting Company of New York.