Calendar of Events

Three-time winner of the National Flatpicking Championship, Steve Kaufman will perform a concert of guitar music in the Reading Rotunda of the library.

Free and open to the public, the program is at the Blount County Public Library, located at 508 N. Cusick Street, Maryville.

For further information about other library programs or services, call the library at 982-0981 or visit the Web site at www.blountlibrary.org. You are also invited to follow the library on Facebook: “Blount County Public Library” and Twitter at “Blount_Library”.

Members of the Knoxville Symphony Youth Orchestra Association are gearing up for their final performance of the season at the Tennessee Theatre. This FREE concert will feature performances from all five of the orchestras in the Association: Jr. Philharmonia, Philharmonia, Sinfonia, Youth Chamber Orchestra and the Youth Orchestra.

Knoxville Symphony Orchestra, 100 S. Gay St, Ste 302, Knoxville, TN 37902. For information and tickets: 865-291-3310, www.knoxvillesymphony.com

The Tennessee Valley Opera (formerly the Monroe Area Opera) will be presenting Gilbert & Sullivan’s comic operetta “Iolanthe” for 3 performances only (April 30, May 1 and May 7.) The Saturday April 30th performance will be at 7:30 pm at the Athens Arts Center, 320 North White Street in Athens. There will be performances on Sunday May 1 at 3:00pm and Saturday May 7th at 7:30 pm at the new state-of-the-art theater at the Sweetwater Elementary School, 301 Broad Street in Sweetwater.

Exhibition featuring students from: South-Doyle H.S. South-Doyle Middle, Bonny Kate Elementary, Dogwood Elementary, Gap Creek Elementary, Mooreland Heights Elementary, Mt. Olive Elementary, New Hopewell Elementary, and South Knox Elementary.

Fountain City Art Center, 213 Hotel Ave, Knoxville, TN 37918. Hours: Tuesday & Thursday, 9AM-5PM; Wednesday & Friday, 10AM-5PM; Saturday, 9AM-1PM. For information: 865-357-2787, www.fountaincityart.org

Mix a Hitchcock masterpiece with a juicy spy novel, add a dash of Monty Python and you have a fast-paced whodunit with nonstop laughs, over 150 zany characters, dizzyingly played by a cast of four. A man with a boring life meets a woman with a thick accent who says she's a spy. When he takes her home, she is murdered. Soon, a nationwide manhunt unfolds, climaxing in a death-defying finale. A winner of multiple Tony and Drama Desk Awards. Suitable for teens and older.

Oak Ridge Playhouse, 227 Broadway in Historic Jackson Square, Oak Ridge, TN 37830. For information and tickets: 865-482-9999, www.orplayhouse.com

Art Exhibit/Artist Reception:
"Fun with Garden Scissors" by Nathaniel Galka
Refreshments provided

Red Line Gallery, 11519 Kingston Pike, Knoxville, TN 37934. Hours: Tuesday-Saturday 11AM-6PM. For information: 865-288-0277, www.redlinegallery.net

“The Music Man” follows fast-talking traveling salesman Harold Hill as he cons the people of River City, Iowa into buying musical instruments and uniforms for a boy’s band he vows to organize – despite the fact he doesn’t know a trombone from a treble clef! His plan to skip town with the cash are foiled when he falls for Marian, the town librarian, with chaos ensuing as the townsfolk get wind of his scheme.

Preview for “The Music Man” is Thursday, April 21, followed by Opening Night Friday, April 22, 2011.
UT faculty/staff, senior citizens, children and students receive discounts. For tickets, call the Clarence Brown Theatre box office at 865-974-5161, Tickets
Unlimited at 865-656-4444 or online at www.clarencebrowntheatre.com.

April 27-29, May 4-6, May 11-13, Wednesday-Friday, 7:30 PM - These performances are part of the Penny Performance program for Knox County students ages 5-18. Visit www.penny4arts.com for more information.

Clarence Brown Theatre, 1714 Andy Holt Ave, Knoxville, TN 37996. For information: 865-974-6011, www.clarencebrowntheatre.com. For tickets: 865-656-4444, www.knoxvilletickets.com

The American Enka and the Modern Labor Movement exhibition, curated by Dr. Jennifer E. Brooks, examines the 1950 strike at the American Enka plant in Hamblen County. The plant provided much-needed jobs to the rural workforce of Hamblen and surrounding counties, including Jefferson, Greene, Cocke, and Grainger. The strike began in March 1950, when workers at the at the rayon plant walked out on strike. Before long, the company advertised for replacement workers. Tension built as people from local and surrounding communities appeared at the Enka gates to apply for the jobs to replace the striking workers. In the violence that followed, shots were fired, cars damaged, and a home dynamited. Tennessee Governor Gordon Browning dispatched National Guard troops to restore order. Before its end, the strike became national front-page news and was later the subject of onsite congressional hearings held in Morristown and led by Hubert Humphrey for the Democratic majority.

East Tennessee Historical Society, 601 S. Gay Street, Knoxville, TN 37902. Museum hours: Monday-Friday: 9AM-4PM; Saturday: 10AM-4PM; Sunday: 1-5PM. For information: 865-215-8824, www.easttnhistory.org

Loggia Gallery. Opening Reception: Wednesday, April 20, 5:30 - 7:00 pm

Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, 576 Parkway, Gatlinburg, TN 37738. For information: 865-436-5860, www.arrowmont.org

Now in its fifth year, this world-class exhibition of 25 large-scale sculptures can be viewd in downtown Knoxville and the McGhee Tyson Airport. The 2011 exhibition juror will be John Henry and will feature up to 35 large-scale, outdoor sculptures. The selected sculptures will be exhibited in downtown Knoxville. For more information: 865-637-4561, www.dogwoodarts.com

"Cold War Crisis: The U-2 Incident" exhibit details the story of Francis Gary Powers, a U-2 pilot flying photographic reconnaissance missions for the CIA. His plane was downed by a Soviet surface-to air missile on May 1, 1960 and he was convicted of being a spy and held in Russian prison until February 11, 1962, when he was dramatically exchanged for a Soviet spy in New York, in the first Cold War Spy exchange.

American Museum of Science & Energy, 300 S. Tulane Avenue, Oak Ridge, TN 37830. Hours: Monday-Saturday 9AM-5PM; Sunday 1-5PM. For information: 865-576-3200, www.amse.org

There will be an opening reception on Friday, April 8 from 5:30 * 7:30, free and open to the public.

Knoxville Arts and Fine Crafts Center, 1127 Broadway Suite B, Knoxville, TN 37917. For information: 865-523-1401, www.cityofknoxville.org/recreation/arts