Calendar of Events

February 29, 2024 @ 7:30 pm - 9:30 pm
$27.50 – $47.50

Boys have been singing at Vienna’s Imperial Chapel since 1296. In 1498, Emperor Maximilian I (HRR) moved his court to Vienna, thus founding the “Hofmusikkapelle” (Chapel Imperial), and the Vienna Boys Choir. Throughout history, such noted composers as Heinrich Isaac, Philippe de Monte, Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber, Johann Joseph Fux, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Antonio Caldara, Antonio Salieri, Christoph Willibald Gluck, and Anton Bruckner have worked with the choir. Jacobus Gallus and Franz Schubert were themselves choristers, and brothers Franz Joseph and Michael Haydn were members of the choir of St. Stephen’s Cathedral, but frequently sang with the imperial boys choir as well. Until 1918, the boys sang exclusively for the imperial court. In 1924, the Choir was reestablished as a private organization.

Today, there are 100 choristers between the ages of 10 and 14, divided into four touring groups. Each spends 11 weeks of the year on tour. Between them, the choirs give around 300 concerts each year, attended by almost half a million spectators around the world. Since 1924, thousands of boys have experienced the joy of making choral music, on over 1000 tours, to 98 different countries. The boys’ first tour of the USA took place in 1931, their first world tour in 1934-35.

Clayton Center for the Arts, 502 East Lamar Alexander Parkway, Maryville, TN 37804. Information/tickets: 865-981-8590, www.ClaytonArtsCenter.com

The Knoxville Symphony Youth Orchestra Association is proud to present its Winter Concert at the Tennessee Theatre, 604 S. Central Street, on Monday, Feb. 29, at 7:00 p.m. This performance will also feature the KSO’s 2023 Concert Competition winner.

Tickets can be purchased online at https://knoxvillesymphony.com/concert/ksyoa-winter-concert/ or at the door for $5 (NO CASH – card or check ONLY). Students K-12 are free. Guests who purchased tickets online will check in at the lobby.

Knoxville Symphony Orchestra: 865-291-3310, www.knoxvillesymphony.com

Author and storyteller Carolyn Finney will be the featured speaker at the 2024 Wilma Dykeman Stokely Memorial Lecture on Feb. 29. The lecture will be held at 7 pm at the East Tennessee History Center. Admission is free.

Finney returned to school after a 15-year absence to complete a B.A., M.A. (both of these degrees focused on gender and environmental issues in Kenya and Nepal, respectively), and Ph.D. (which focused on African Americans and environmental issues in the U.S.) She has been a Fulbright Scholar and a Canon National Parks Science Scholar, and she received a Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship in Environmental Studies.

In her 2014 book Black Faces, White Spaces, Finney argues that the legacies of slavery, Jim Crow, and racial violence have shaped cultural understandings of the "great outdoors" and determined who should and can have access to natural spaces.

Though admission is free, registration is required by February 14 here. The lecture is sponsored by the John C. Hodges Society of UT Libraries and Friends of the Knox County Public Library. https://alumni.utk.edu/s/1341/2/20/adv.aspx?sid=1341&gid=2&pgid=20918&content_id=31033

Thursday, Feb. 29
When: 7:00 PM ET

Where: via Zoom
Register for the link at tiny.utk.edu/CC-Eggers

The question of how people in contexts of upheaval and displacement cope with their experiences of trauma and loss is one of enduring significance to the humanities. It matters not just because of its implications for international humanitarian policy, but because attention to the historically and culturally situated experiences of displaced people helps us to see them not just as "victims" or a "problem" that needs solving, but as creative actors in their own right. Over the past two decades, conflicts and political instability in the Democratic Republic of Congo have rendered it one of the world's most significant producers of international refugees. Based on an ongoing collaborative oral history research project, this talk will explore the experiences of some of these Congolese refugees in both Africa and the US, focusing on the role that religious community and faith have played during their flight and resettlement.

About the Speaker:
Nicole Eggers is an assistant professor of history at UT. Eggers’ research interests include 20th-21st-century Congolese history, health and healing, refugees, and religion and politics in Central Africa. Her first book, Unruly Ideas: A History of Kitawala in Congo (Ohio University Press, 2023) follows the history of the influential religious movement Kitawala from its colonial beginnings in the 1920s to its present-day influence in some of the most conflicted parts of Eastern Congo. The study highlights practitioners of Kitawala as intellectuals and innovators and considers broad theoretical questions about how they have historically drawn on and reformulated practices of spiritual and social healing in times of upheaval, creating a historically situated framework for understanding how they and their communities have experienced and understood power and violence. In the process, the book engages a number of fields of inquiry: health and healing, violence and power, religion and rebellion, intersections of gender and power, colonial incarceration, prayer and spiritual agency, and nationalism and the post-colonial imagination.

About the Series:
Conversations & Cocktails is a free public lecture series hosted by the UT Humanities Center, showcasing the original research of our distinguished University of Tennessee arts and humanities faculty. Our monthly online talks give you the opportunity to hear about fascinating and groundbreaking work in the arts and in fields such as philosophy, history, and literary studies. Presentations are 30-40 minutes long and are designed for the general public. A spirited question-and-answer discussion follows each presentation.

February Tree Walk, February 29th, 5:30-6:30 PM, Victor Ashe Park, 4901 Bradshaw Rd.

If you need a little refresher on your winter tree identification take a walk with Knoxville's Urban Forester, Kasey Krouse. The February Tree Walk will cover the ins and outs of tree ID during dormancy. We will meet at Victor Ashe park near the playground and restrooms. No need to sign up, just show up!

Trees Knoxville, treesknoxville.org

World Ballet Series: Swan Lake
Knoxville Civic Auditorium
February 29, 2024 at 7:00 PM.

Swan Lake, the ballet of all ballets, will be performed one night only as a part of the World Ballet Series with a live score played by the Allegro Symphony Orchestra. See the iconic Dance of the Little Swans, count the 32 fouettés performed by the Odile and immerse yourself in magical Tchaikovsky's music.

The production will feature richly detailed, hand-painted sets as well as over 150 radiant costumes that bring fresh representation to this timeless classic.
World Ballet Company’s signature program, World Ballet Series presents the most beloved and iconic ballets of our time in cities across the country. Driven by the belief that ballet is for everyone, performances appeal to newcomers and seasoned ballet goers alike. The company attracts many international artists and is composed of renowned professional dancers representing over ten countries.

Knoxville Civic Auditorium and Coliseum, 500 Howard Baker Jr Blvd, Knoxville, TN 37915. Information: www.knoxvillecoliseum.com

The University of Tennessee College of Music’s annual Contemporary Music Festival celebrates contemporary music through concerts of new music, workshops, and paper presentations each spring. It welcomes guest performers, scholars, and composers from around the world.

Wednesday, February 28
5:30 – 6:30 PM | The Emporium Downtown (100 S. Gay Street) -- Alejandro Rutty (6-string bass) and Jorge Variego (clarinets)

Thursday, February 29
12:55 – 2:10 PM | Natalie L. Haslam Music Center, Room 40 -- Ian Dicke presentation

5:30 – 6:30 PM | Natalie L. Haslam Music Center, Powell Recital Hall -- Ian Dicke presents “Cowboy Rounds,” his debut album that reimagines a collection of folk songs from the John and Ruby Lomax 1939 Southern States Recording Trip archive at the Library of Congress. Using the text and vocal contours of the original field recordings as a foundation, each track weaves an intricate sonic tapestry of processed loops that reflect the source material’s grit. The multidimensional songs explore themes of loneliness, oppression, and paranoia that form alarming parallels to the issues plaguing contemporary American society today.

Friday, March 1
9:10 – 10:00 AM | Natalie L. Haslam Music Center, Room 40 -- Lecture by Rodrigo Sigal (Supported by the Fulbright Foundation). Sigal joins us from Mexico where he teaches at the Escuela Nacional de Estudios Superiores Unidad Morelia.

10:20 – 11:10 AM | Natalie L. Haslam Music Center, Room 40 -- Eunmi Ko, Anruo Chen, Ania Vu, and Chen-Hui Jen discuss the MUTED project

2:30 – 3:30 PM | Natalie L. Haslam Music Center, Powell Recital Hall -- Rodrigo Sigal (monographic concert of electronic music).

5:30 – 7:00 PM | Natalie L. Haslam Music Center, Powell Recital Hall -- Eunmi Ko presents MUTED, featuring music of composers Anruo Cheng, Grace Ann Lee, Chen-Hui Jen, and Ania Vu.

University of Tennessee College of Music
117 Natalie L. Haslam Music Center
1741 Volunteer Blvd.
Knoxville TN 37996-2600
Phone: 865-974-3241
Email: music@utk.edu
https://music.utk.edu/events/cmf/

Disney’s Aladdin JR. is based on the 1992 Academy-Award®-winning film and the 2014 hit Broadway show. The story you know and love has been given the royal treatment! Aladdin and his three friends, Babkak, Omar, and Kassim, are down on their luck until Aladdin discovers a magic lamp and the Genie who has the power to grant three wishes. Wanting to earn the respect of the princess, Jasmine, Aladdin embarks on an adventure that will test his will and his moral character. With expanded characters, new songs, and more thrills, this new adaptation of the beloved story will open up “a whole new world!”

Performed Thursdays and Fridays at 7 PM; Saturdays at 1 PM and 5 PM; and Sundays at 3 PM.

KCT is East Tennessee’s leading producer of plays for children and families.
Knoxville Children's Theatre, 109 E. Churchwell Avenue, Knoxville, TN 37917. Information: 865-208-3677, www.knoxvillechildrenstheatre.com

By Lois Lowry
Adapted by Eric Coble
Clarence Brown Theatre
February 14 – March 3, 2024

From one of the most popular young adult novels of our time. Jonas’ world is perfect. It’s safe. Controlled. Without war or pain. Without color. Where every person is assigned a role in the community. At age 12, he’s chosen to be keeper of the community’s memories from The Giver, the only person with memories of real pain and joy. As Jonas begins to experience these memories, he is faced with a decision: conform to society’s expectations or control his own destiny.

Clarence Brown Theatre, 1714 Andy Holt Ave on the UT campus, Knoxville, TN 37996. For information/tickets: 865-974-5161, www.clarencebrowntheatre.com

Copper, wood and even salvaged plastic waste come together in a new art exhibition exploring the natural world at Pellissippi State Community College. The Ashton Ludden Exhibit is on display at the Bagwell Center for Media and Arts Gallery until March 1. Gallery hours are 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, and the gallery, located on the college’s Hardin Valley Campus, is free and open to the public.

“My work considers our relationship with wildlife as the natural world becomes estranged through human’s perpetual desire for rapid expansion,” said Ludden, the founder, co-owner, director and active artist of Relay Ridge Collaborative Artist Space in north Knoxville. “My work evokes a renewal of attentiveness toward our direct and indirect impacts on the wild and aims to rejuvenate a passion for conserving wild spaces.”

Ludden uses processes such as hand-engraving, printmaking, murals, ceramics and weaving in her works on display. The labor-intensive process forces her to slow down, meditate and focus as she creates, she said. Through her work, she works to find “ways to connect us to distant species and environmental concerns across the world, transforming our hopeful – yet seemingly futile – attempts in saving the natural world into something just as beautiful.” Outside of her studio practice, Ludden, who earned a Master of Fine Arts in printmaking from the University of Tennessee, teaches printmaking at Knoxville’s Community School of the Arts, Governor’s School for the Arts, Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts and Relay Ridge, and is currently teaching screenprinting at the University of Tennessee. You can learn more about her at www.ashtonludden.com or find her on Instagram @ashton_ludden.

For a list of Pellissippi State’s upcoming exhibitions in the Bagwell Gallery this spring, visit www.pstcc.edu/arts.
Pellissippi State | 10915 Hardin Valley Road, Knoxville, TN 37933

Knoxville Watercolor Society Exhibition
Art Exhibit at Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church
Free and open to the public
When: Reception Friday, February 16, 2024, 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. Artists’ talks at 6:30 p.m.

Gallery hours: 9:30-4:30 Monday through Thursday and 9:00-1:00 Sunday
2931 Kingston Pike, Knoxville, TN 37918

Knoxville Watercolor Society: Passionate About Art
For more than 60 years, the Knoxville Watercolor Society (KWS) has provided area watercolor artists, students and supporters with the only local art organization dedicated to the practice, advancement, and promotion of watercolor as a serious art form. KWS enjoys a long-standing reputation for the artistic excellence, expertise, passion, and mutual support of its members. Membership in KWS is open to all Knoxville area residents 18+, including experienced water-media artists, aspiring or developing water-media artists, art teachers, art students, patrons of the arts, representatives of arts organizations, and vendors. For more information, go to https://knoxvillewatercolorsociety.weebly.com/ or https://www.facebook.com/knoxville.watercolor.society/

Work by eight of the region's most prominent Black artists are on display through March 9th. Opening reception is this Saturday, February 3, 1:00 - 4:00. Many of the artists will be in attendance and light Hors D'oeuvres and refreshments will be served. Please join us for this wonderful show!

Oak Ridge Art Center, 201 Badger Avenue, Oak Ridge, TN 37830. Hours: Tu-F 9-5, Sa-M 1-4. Information: 865-482-1441, www.oakridgeartcenter.org