Calendar of Events

Sunday, December 6 at 8:30 & 11:00 AM
Music of Advent and Christmas led by the Church Street Children’s and Youth Choirs

Sunday, December 13 at 8:30 & 11:00 AM
A service of Music and Readings by the Parish Adult Choir with the Brasswinds Quintet

Thursday, December 24 ~ Christmas Eve at 5:00 PM and 10:30 PM
Choral Masterworks for the season presented by the Parish Adult Choir and Chamber Orchestra

Church Street United Methodist Church, 900 Henley St, Knoxville, TN 37902. Information: 865-524-3048, www.churchstreetumc.org

Friends of Music and the Arts, a support society for music at Ascension, augments the calendar of liturgical feastdays with concerts and organ recitals throughout the year.

Candlelight service with Choirs of Ascension. Free and open to the public.

At the Episcopal Church of the Ascension, 800 S Northshore Dr, Knoxville, TN 37919. Information: 865-588-0589, www.knoxvilleascension.org/music-at-ascension

The Board of Advisors cordially invite you to a Holiday Musicale benefiting the School of Music Scholarship Fund, and featuring traditional holiday music favorites. Heavy hors d'oeuvres will be served, and casual, festive attire is encouraged.

At The Paris Apartment, 4461 Kingston Pike, Knoxville, TN 37919
RSVP by Monday, November 30 to the School of Music at 865-974-7547
$75 donation per person is suggested.
Additional scholarship donations are accepted.

Music Office: 865-974-3241 | Music News: 865-974-8935 | Concert Line: 865-974-5678
musicnews@utk.edu | music.utk.edu

Sunday, December 6 at Ijams Nature Center.

3rd Annual Ijams Holiday Marketplace (1-5pm)
Join us on December 6th from 1:00pm-5pm for a flurry of fun and shopping at our 3rd Annual Holiday Marketplace. We will have over 35 local artists, crafters, and designers as well as local food, a beer garden,and live music to add to all the festivities of the day.

Native American Flute Circle (4pm)
Native American Flute Circles are one of the best ways to get together with other flute players to play music. At Ijams Nature Center, you can join local crafters and musicians Jackie and Mike Hardin for a monthly flute circle. Whether you are a beginner or a professional musician, all are invited to bring their flutes to Ijams and celebrate music in the beauty of natural surroundings! This program is FREE, but pre-registration is suggested.

Ijams Nature Center, 2915 Island Home Ave, Knoxville, TN 37920. Hours: Grounds and trails open during daylight hours. Call for Visitor Center hours. Information: 865-577-4717, www.ijams.org

Popcorn balls and paper chains… fruits and nuts in their stockings … carols by the fire... a cedar tree cut in the nearby woods- that’s the Christmas most rural Appalachian children knew. And it's the Christmas we recreate each year throughout the Museum village at our special.... Join us as we recreate a meaningful holiday of simpler times. Traditional trees and hand-made decorations, typical of austere pioneer days, transform the Museum’s authentic log buildings.

Wander through the village and marvel at the simple treasures of their settlement days. In the one-room, dirt-floored “Dan'l Boone” cabin, strings of popcorn and cotton bolls circle a dormant tree; Paper chains and other ornaments trim the tree in the Little Tater Valley Schoolhouse. Sweet gum and sycamore balls are strung throughout the Mark Twain Family Cabin, and a traditional silver star tops a native red cedar Christmas tree in the turn-of-the-century Peters Homestead House. Apples, nuts, homemade toys, and oranges fill stockings hung in the cabins. Pick up some stocking stuffers in the Museum Gift and Antique Shop, which features everything from hand-crafted ornaments, locally made muscadine and moonshine jellies, and beautiful pottery, along with baskets, quilts, and plenty of Appalachian specialties. Or just come and enjoy a homemade southern country lunch in front of the warm fireplace. You'll want to make Christmas in Old Appalachia part of your family's annual holiday tradition!

Museum of Appalachia, 2819 Andersonville Hwy., Clinton, TN 37716 (16 miles north of Knoxville at I-75, exit 122, then one mile east). Open every day except Thanksgiving and Christmas. Information: 865-494-7680, www.museumofappalachia.org

Make plans now to join us for the 27th Annual Victorian Holiday Home Tour on December 5th & 6th! Old North Knoxville features beautiful homes built in the Queen Anne, Craftsman/Bungalow, Neoclassical Revival, and American Four Square style. To help you kick off your holiday season, Old North Knoxville neighbors will open the doors of select homes in a variety of these styles, restored and decorated for the season for your viewing pleasure!

Candlelight Tour: Saturday Dec. 5th, 2015 4:00PM – 9:00PM
Afternoon Tour: Sunday Dec. 6th, 2015 12:30PM – 5:00PM

http://www.victorianholidayhometour.com/

The Arts & Culture Alliance proudly presents its 2015 Members Show, the largest annual exhibition of local artists in the Greater Knoxville area. The fresh mix of two- and three-dimensional works created within the last two years encompasses a wide variety of media such as oil, acrylic, watercolor, pastel, mixed media, photography, fine craft, sculpture, ceramics, fiber, and more from regional artists who are all individual members of the Arts & Culture Alliance, which serves and supports a diverse community of artists, arts organizations, and cultural institutions. Membership is open to all, and information may be found at www.knoxalliance.com/join.html. Most of the works in the 2015 Members Show are for sale and may be purchased through the close of the exhibition as holiday gifts.

The exhibition will be on display throughout the Emporium Center, 100 S. Gay Street, in downtown Knoxville from December 4, 2015 – January 29, 2016. An opening reception will take place as part of First Friday activities on December 4 from 5:00-9:00 PM.

Gallery hours for the 2015 Members Show are Monday-Friday, 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM and Sundays, December 6 & 20 and January 3 & 17, 3:30-6:30 PM. Additional special hours are posted at www.theemporiumcenter.com/visit.html. Please note, the Emporium will be closed December 24 – January 1 for the holidays. For more information, please contact the Arts & Culture Alliance at (865) 523-7543 or visit www.knoxalliance.com.

Feast Your Eyes. An ART exhibit ALL about FOOD! Artists reflect on food as it pervades our lives, from the profound to the mundane.

Opening Reception and Awards Night will be held on "FIRST" Friday December 4, 5-9pm. It is suggested that all guests for the reception bring one can of food for donation to a local food bank.

To view the show afterward the regular gallery hours are be 11-7pm Thursday, Friday, Saturday and 11-3pm Sunday. Please note: we will be open Christmas Eve until 3 PM and closed Christmas Day.

Broadway Studios and Gallery, 1127 Broadway St, Knoxville, TN 37917. Information: www.BroadwayStudiosAndGallery.com

Bliss Home is pleased to present Aurora by Knoxville artist Jane Nickels, for December's First Friday. Bliss Home will host an opening reception on Friday, December 4th from 6pm to 9pm. Complimentary treats from Wild Love Bakehouse will be provided and Jane's art will be featured for the month of December.

Jane grew up in Europe, the USA and Asia attending high school at the United World College Of South East Asia, Singapore. Jane earned her BFA from Saint Mary’s College of Notre Dame, IN. Inspired by international experiences during her formative years, Jane chooses to use pattern and color presented in a non figurative format to filter out cultural bias and the visual experience of region, religion and politics. Patterns and designs found in cultures and the natural world around the globe and crossing multiple eras have been collected and studied, these patterns then are deconstructed and reformed in a foam printing or line drawing process seeking to illustrate a universal aesthetic of pattern and color. Aurora is a series of paintings that invite the viewer to explore optimism, anticipation and the energy of the aurora, of the dawn.

Bliss Home, 29 Market Square, Knoxville, TN 37902. Information: 865-329-8868, www.shopinbliss.com

The Arts & Culture Alliance is pleased to present a new exhibition of recent photographs by Dean Rice of Knoxville at the Emporium Center. These photographs show the faces of Syrian children who now live in the Zaatari Refugee Camp in the desert of Jordan and children who are orphaned living in Amman, Jordan. “We talk often of instability in the Middle East, and today we struggle with balancing our national security interests with our humanitarian desires to help the helpless,” says Dean Rice. “Through these photographs, however, we see the faces that can bring lasting stability, peace, friendship and gratitude.”

Dean Rice is chief of staff to Knox County Tim Burchett and also a member of the national advisory board of the Syrian Emergency Task Force (SETF). In the spring of 2015, he traveled to Jordan to visit the Zaatari refugee camp and meet with various Syrians in exile. The photographs of children in this exhibition are some of those he met. Rice is a Global Security Fellow with the University of Tennessee’s Institute for Nuclear Security and serves as an adjunct faculty member at the University of Tennessee’s College of Communication and Information. In 2013, Rice received the Society of Universal Dialogue’s Atlantic Institute "Peace Award" in recognition of his efforts to promote inter-cultural engagement and dialogue. His photographs and paintings have been displayed in multiple exhibitions. A permanent exhibition of his refugee photos is scheduled to open at the National Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC in January, 2016.

The exhibition will be on display in the Emporium Center, 100 S. Gay Street, in downtown Knoxville from December 4-23, 2015. An opening reception will take place as part of First Friday activities on December 4 from 5:00-9:00 PM with complimentary hors d’oeuvres and chocolate fondue by the Melting Pot of Knoxville. The First Friday reception features music by Pistol Creek Catch of the Day from 5:00-7:00 PM. Gallery hours are Monday-Friday, 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM and Sundays, December 6 & 20, 3:30-6:30 PM. Please note, the Emporium will be closed December 24 – January 1 for the holidays.

Arts & Culture Alliance at the Emporium Center, 100 S. Gay Street, Knoxville, TN 37902. Information: 865-523-7543, www.knoxalliance.com

Encore will wrap up its 9th season with a “FRA-GIL-E” package just in time for the holidays with “A Christmas Story: The Musical.” Ralphie Parker wants only one thing for Christmas; An Official Red Ryder Carbine-Action 200-shot Range Model Air Rifle. “A Christmas Story The Musical” is the hilarious account of Ralphie's desperate quest to ensure that this most perfect of gifts ends up under his tree this Christmas. A kooky leg lamp, outrageous pink bunny pajamas, a cranky department store Santa and a triple-dog-dare to lick a freezing flagpole are just a few of the obstacles that stand between Ralphie and his Christmas dream. This new Broadway musical is based on the classic 1983 movie, which itself was based on stories by legendary radio humorist Jean Shepherd. With songs both funny and heartfelt by Benj Pasek & Justin Paul, and a faithful yet inventive book by Joseph Robinette, “A Christmas Story: The Musical” captures holiday wonder with such deliciously wicked wit that it is sure to delight children and grown-ups alike. It's the Christmas present that you'll cherish all holiday long.

Performances are December 4, 5, 11, 12, 18, and 19 at 8pm. Matinee performances are December 6, 13, 19, and 20 at 2pm. Tickets are $20 for adults, $17 for Seniors, and $12 for Students and Youth.

At Walters State Community College. Encore Theatrical Company: 423-218-8331, www.etcplays.org

Knoxville Children’s Theatre will present Cinderella And Ebenezer, a new holiday play, based on the timeless tales of “Cinderella” and “A Christmas Carol.” The play will be performed Thursdays and Fridays at 7 PM; Saturdays at 1 PM and 5 PM; Sundays at 3 PM.

Cinderella & Ebenezer is a comic modern-day mash-up of two classic tales, containing the crystal slipper, rude step-sisters, midnight deadline, and all the romance of "Cinderella," as well as all the good-natured holiday spirit of Charles Dickens' classic Yuletide novel, "A Christmas Carol." A heart-warming comedy for all ages, "Cinderella & Ebenezer" is written by Zack Allen and directed by Ashlee Latimer.

The play is performed by 14 talented young actors, from ages 9 to 16. KCT is East Tennessee’s leading producer of stage plays for children. Cinderella And Ebenezer is the 72nd play to be produced by Knoxville Children’s Theatre. The company is also the area’s leading producer of new works; Cinderella And Ebenenzer is the 30th original play to be created by the company. Over 9,500 people attended a KCT play in 2014. The play is written and directed by Zack Allen.

Knoxville Children's Theatre, 109 E. Churchwell Avenue, Knoxville, TN 37917. Information: 865-208-3677, www.knoxvillechildrenstheatre.com.