Calendar of Events

Come join the Smoky Mountain Blues Society as they present some of the best known local, regional and nationally touring Blues Music artists. They will be performing on stage during specialty cruises on the Tennessee River. From April through October, blues lovers will convene to celebrate this truly American art-form during a 3 hour Sunday afternoon cruise on the Star of Knoxville Tennessee Riverboat.

6/25 Mighty Blue – Old School Blues makes them a Knoxville favorite!

The Riverboat is located just one-half mile east of Neyland Stadium at 300 Neyland Drive, next to Calhouns. Boarding begins at 3pm. Tickets are available at http://tnriverboat.com/blues-cruises-2/ or (865) 525-7827. Tickets are just $16 in advance and $20 at the door. Each voyage will also have a limited food menu and full bar available. Info: www.smokymountainblues.org.

SUNDAY, JUNE 25 • 7:30PM • VIP PRE-SHOW PARTY 5:30PM

We're excited to welcome Punch Brothers back to the U.S. Cellular Stage as the featured artist for our 9th annual Bijou Jubilee! We invite you to join us for a celebration of the historic Bijou Theatre, which serves as the primary fundraiser to support ongoing preservation and operations of this legendary venue. There are two ticket options: Reserved General Seating • $49.50, VIP Premier Seating & Pre-Show Party • $200

VIP tickets are limited and include access to our pre-show party at Club LeConte featuring heavy hors d’oeuvres, wine, beer and spirits, a silent auction, and live entertainment. All ticket holders will have a chance to participate in our live auction featuring signed instruments and tour posters from artists who’ve played on the U.S. Cellular Stage at the Bijou Theatre. The live auction will take place immediately prior to Punch Brothers’ performance.

Bijou Theatre, 803 S. Gay Street, Knoxville, TN 37902. Information/tickets: 865-522-0832, www.knoxbijou.com, www.ticketmaster.com

Featuring Mighty Blue – Old School Blues makes them a Knoxville favorite!

The Smoky Mountain Blues Society launches its Blues Cruise aboard the Star of Knoxville, running April to October. Boarding time is at 3 pm and the cruise itself runs from 4 to 7 pm.

The Blues Cruises reflect the Smoky Mountain Blues Society's commitment to presenting some of the best known local, regional and nationally touring Blues Music artists. The artists perform onstage during these specialty cruises which take them and their audiences up and down the scenic Tennessee River on the Star of Knoxville Tennessee Riverboat. The Riverboat is located just one-half mile east of Neyland Stadium at 300 Neyland Drive, next to Calhouns. This year’s line-up is a stellar cross section of the modern blues genre.

Tickets are available through the Tennessee Riverboat Company’s website, (http://tnriverboat.com/blues-cruises-2/) and by calling (865) 525-7827. Tickets are just $16 in advance and $20 at the door. Smoky Mountain Blues Society Members can enjoy a special discount. Each voyage will also have a limited food menu and full bar available. More information at www.smokymountainblues.org.

At Knoxville Museum of Art, 1050 World's Fair Park Dr SW, Knoxville, Tennessee 37916

Come join us at the Knoxville Museum of Arts for a showing of several documentaries, including a sneak peak of a yet to be released PBS premier, and more. Seating is limited so be sure to reserve your spot via EventBrite. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/refugee-film-festival-tickets-35045145975

Come experience E.T. The Extraterrestrial on the big screen on June 23 or June 25!
Steven Spielberg’s heartwarming masterpiece quickly became one of the most popular films of all time. Filled with unparalleled magic and imagination, E.T. has made audiences around the world laugh and cry. E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial follows the moving story of a lost little alien who befriends a 10-year-old by named Elliott. While E.T. learns about life on Earth, Elliott learns that friends knows no earthly bound. Overflowing with memorable performances, a stirring musical score and scenes of wonderment, E.T. invites everyone to share the thrill of its magic touch.
Organists Bill Snyder and Freddie Brabson will play the Mighty Wurlitzer organ before the film.

Friday, June 23 • 8pm
Sunday, June 25 • 2pm

Tickets can be purchased at the Tennessee Theatre box office, Ticketmaster.com or by phone at 865-684-1200. Ticket price is $9.00 for adults, $7.00 for children under 12 and seniors 65 and over; subscriptions are $45.00 for adults and $35.00 for children and seniors. Tennessee Theatre, 604 S. Gay Street, Knoxville, TN 37902. www.tennesseetheatre.com, www.ticketmaster.com

Thursday, June 22nd, 6:00pm
KUUMBA FESTIVAL kicks off with “Seeding the Garden of the Mind” Celebrating Kuumba Kamp participants and parents at Haley Heritage Square

Friday, June 23rd, Market Square - 12-8 PM
12:00 noon - The Kuumba Marketplace will open the day's event with food and merchandise vendors from all over the country.
1:00 - 2:30pm African Dance workshop - Free to the Public
2:30 - 5:00pm - Local talent showcase
5:00pm - 6:00pm - Taria Person will Bless the stage on Market Square with Poetry and spoken word mixed with classic music and positive Hip hop
6:00pm - The JUNKANU (Parade) featuring festival participants, Stilt Walker, Kuumba Watoto Dance and Drum Company.
Beginning on Cumberland and market Street to the Market Square stage.
6:30pm - Kuumba Watoto Dance and Drum Village Extravaganza.
8:00pm - Live Concert: featuring Cobalt Blue / enjoy soulful sounds of Reggae and conscious hip-hop From Nashville, Tn

Saturday, June 24th, Morningside Park, 12:00pm - 10:00pm
Enjoy the African Market Place with traditional crafts, clothing, and foods. World Children's Village with Inflatable Jump Houses
1:00pm -2:30pm -African Dance workshop - Free to the Public
2:30 - 3:30pm - Power words workshop with Taria Person
3:30pm - 5:00pm - Bring your children for lots of fun and Games with The Game Truck
3:30pm - 6:00pm - Local talent showcase at the Morningside Park Stage
6:00pm - 7:30pm Kuumba Watoto Dance and Drum Village Extravaganza.
8:00pm - 10:00pm - Live Concert - Featuring Daje Morris and Band at the Haley Heritage Square Stage.
8:00pm - 10:00pm: Party in The Park with DJ Swift featuring live Entertainment t the Morningside Park Stage.

Sunday June 25th, Morningside Park, 12:00pm - 10:00pm: Relish in the cultural spirit of the African Marketplace with traditional crafts, clothing, and foods. World Children's Village with Inflatable Jump Houses
1:00pm -2:30pm African Dance workshop - Free to the Public
2:30pm - 5:30pm Local talent showcase
6:00pm - 7:30pm Kuumba Watoto Dance and Drum Village extravaganza.
8:00pm - 10:00pm Tribute Concert for Nkechi Ajanaku featuring, Jazz Artist Kelly Jolly

https://sites.google.com/site/kuumbafestival/

Sixth International Conference on Music and Minimalism
June 21–25, 2017
Keynote Speakers: Mary Jane Leach & Amy Cimini
Guest Artists: Ellen Fullman, Randy Gibson, Russell Hartenberger, R. Andrew Lee, Marc Mellits

The Sixth International Conference on Music and Minimalism is hosted by the University of Tennessee and the nief-norf Summer Festival in Knoxville, TN.

Performances and discussions will feature the music of Maryanne Amacher, Julius Eastman, Ellen Fullman, Randy Gibson, Michael Gordon, Mary Jane Leach, Marc Mellits, Steve Reich, Anna Thorvaldsdottir, arrangements of Moondog’s music, and much more.

To attend the full conference, we recommend arriving on Wednesday, June 21 in the afternoon, in time for the opening evening concert. Papers begin Thursday morning and conclude Sunday at noon, followed by a marathon concert into Sunday night. We recommend departing on Monday morning, June 26.

Please email any questions or concerns to minimalism2017@niefnorf.org.
Sixth International Conference on Music and Minimalism is hosted by the larger 14-day nief-norf Summer Festival, a gathering of dozens of performers and composers in Knoxville, TN (June 7 - 26, 2017). More information about the festival: http://www.niefnorf.org/festival-overview/

Art work by Kate Aubrey and Lee Edge is on exhibit in the gallery at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church, 2931 Kingston Pike, Knoxville, TN.
The exhibit is free and open to the public.

The opening reception is June 16 from 6 to 7:30PM; artists' talks at 6:30PM.
Exhibit runs through August 10, 2017
Gallery hours: 10 AM – 5 PM, Monday through Thursday
10 AM – 1 PM, Sunday

A devoted watercolorist for 40 years, Kate Aubrey has won numerous awards and was a finalist in The Artists Magazine's Over 60 Competition of 2013 for her painting, "Invisible." Since arriving in the Knoxville area in 2014, Aubrey has taught workshops in Tennessee and Nevada, is Vice President of the Knoxville Watercolor Society, and is a member of the Art Guild of Tellico Village, the Fountain City Art Center, the Tennessee Artist's Association, the Southern Watercolor Society, and the Arts Alliance of Knoxville. Her paintings have been in the Oak Ridge Art Center's Annual Juried Shows of 2014 and 2015, winning awards each year, and The Arts and Culture Alliance's National Juried Exhibition of 2016. She won awards in the 2016 and 2017 Southern Watercolor Society Juried Exhibits, and her painting "Old Soul, Dear Heart" took the top Jerry's Artarama Purchase Award in the 2016 Tennessee Watercolor Society Biennial Exhibition.
Lee Edge uses a variety of techniques to create artwork ranging from portraits to landscapes to still lifes. Edge's artwork has appeared in juried shows in numerous locations including the Denver Art Museum, the Rocky Mountain states, Philadelphia, and Knoxville. She received an award in the 18-state-plus-D.C. Southern Watercolor Society show in 2017 and was awarded "Excellence of Watercolor" in the 2014 Oak Ridge Open Show. She has worked as an art teacher in various states over thirty years while raising her family and moving often, necessitated by husband's jobs. She and her husband have resided in Tellico Village since 2003.

Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church Gallery
2931 Kingston Pike, Knoxville, TN 37918

Music and Lyrics by Cole Porter; Original Book by P.G. Wodehouse & Guy Bolton and Howard Lindsay & Russel Crouse; New Book by Timothy Crouse & John Weidman.

Thursdays: June 15 and 22 at 7:30 p.m.
Fridays: June 16 and 23 at 7:30 p.m.
Saturdays: June 17 and 24 at 7:30 p.m.
Sundays: June 18 and 25 at 3:00 p.m.

The Tennessee Valley Players proudly present the 1987 Beaumont version of "Anything Goes." With a cast of over 40 multi-talented singers and actors, "Anything Goes" is De-Lovely musical full of dance, laughs and also the age-old tale of Boy Meets Girl. It features one of Cole Porter's most magical scores including the songs, “It’s De-Lovely,” “Friendship,” “I Get A Kick Out Of You,” “All Through The Night,” “Anything Goes,” “You’re The Top” and “Blow, Gabriel, Blow.” This musical is presented "in the Round" at the Carousel Theatre next to the Clarence Brown Theatre on the University of Tennessee campus. The Tennessee Valley Players is pleased to produce the show in collaboration with the University of Tennessee School of Music.

Admission is $20 a ticket and for children 12 years old and younger, $10 a ticket. Tickets can be purchased on the Tennessee Valley Players’ website with a credit card ahead of time. Tickets may also be purchased at the box office starting 1 hour prior to each show with cash, check, or credit card. Festival seating. Check out Tennessee Valley Players’ website at http://www.tennesseevalleyplayers.org or call (865) 201-5913.

nnSF began as a percussion chamber music festival back in 2011, and has grown into a multi-faceted think-tank for the exchange of ideas surrounding contemporary music. Each year, dozens of composers, interpreters, and scholars gather to create, discuss, and analyze both the classics and the newer, unknown gems in contemporary chamber music. Friendships are formed, collaborations are forged, and concerts are presented nearly every day for two weeks.

Here are a few of the highlights that we have in store at the the 2017 Nief-Norf Festival:

/// Musician, visual artist, and instrument builder Ellen Fullman will perform her Long String Instrument, an installation she has been developing for more than 30 years, which was recently covered by The Guardian. She will be in residence building the installation in preparation for her performance in collaboration with cellist Theresa Wong at the Ewing Gallery in the University of Tennessee’s Art & Architecture Building on Saturday June 24th at 7:30PM.

/// Carolyn Chen, one of our International Call for Scores winners, will be in town to work with our performance fellows on her new work for mixed piano quartet Sentence. On Saturday June 17th, we will also offer the world premiere of Chen’s Hamlet, her 30’ sextet for percussionists, at UT’s Sandra G. Powell Recital Hall.

/// We will welcome Nina Young, 2015-16 Rome Prize winner and visiting faculty at the Peabody Institute, as our first week’s Composer-in-Residence. Young’s works will be featured on events beginning on the opening faculty concert on Monday June 12th, and wrapping up on Saturday June 17th.

/// As always, there is a heavy research component to nnSF, led once again by our very own Kerry O’Brien. This year our Research Summit has been swapped out for The Society for Minimalist Music’s 6th International Conference (MinSoc). Dozens of scholars of musical minimalism from around the globe will be visiting Knoxville to share their professional thoughts surrounding music and minimalism.

And more! Information available at www.niefnorf.org

Knoxville Children’s Theatre, in partnership with The Ritchie Company, will present “Sleeping Beauty & the Seven Sisters,” based on the classic fairy tale by Charles Perrault.

The play will be performed June 9 - 25, Thursdays and Fridays at 7 PM; Saturdays at 1 PM and 5 PM; Sundays at 3 PM. KCT reboots the classic story amidst the color and pageantry of France. The happy life of Briar-Rose is interrupted by a curse from one of the Seven Wise Sisters of Fountainbleau, sending the girl into a deep sleep. Can an ancient wizard and a young soldier come to her rescue with some magic of their own?
The play is performed by 14 talented young actors, from ages 8 to 14.

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

The image of the tortured artist is cliché because it’s often true, and, more so, because we talk about it a lot. In fact we love it. It may be that it appeals to a strange human craving for martyrdom: we love those who suffer for their passions. But not all artists fall on their swords or mutilate their ears; for a whole bunch of them the creative process reflects an earnest desire to bring a burning passion or drive to create into harmony with a good, even calm life.

Dino Liddick is one of the seekers of calm. Dino’s exhibit, “With the Eye, For the Mind” is currently hanging in our Market Square location, and the work that comprises the show is built upon a foundation of mindfulness and kindness. Some of that is a reaction to an emotional life, and some is related to sheer practicality. Certainly the artist has responded to emotional crises in his work, but for Liddick, the art isn’t merely a kind of therapy: it’s a statement of being. “Sometimes somebody will ask me how I feel, and I say, well, look at that painting – that’s how I feel.” On his website, he writes, “Rather than pulling ideas from the mind to produce ‘art,’” he, “practices clearing his mind through the process of a piece.”

Rather than formulate a work, Liddick hopes the piece will come together intuitively without too much conscious involvement. It’s an effort to feel rather than to think. When he’s moved by a subject or situation, Dino tries “to go home and reach that feeling, and let that feeling come into shape. I try to paint the feeling and then put in the shapes – I don’t try to the paint the shapes and then put in the feeling.”

“With the Eye, for the Mind” by Dino Liddick will be on view at the downtown Knoxville Tomato Head on Market Square from June 5th through July 2nd. The exhibit will display at the West Knoxville Gallery Tomato Head from July 4th through August 3rd.

Tomato Head, 12 Market Square (865-637-4067) and 7240 Kingston Pike, Suite 172 (865-584-1075), in Knoxville. http://thetomatohead.com