Calendar of Events

The Q Series features KSO’s String Quartets and Woodwind Quintet in six lunchtime performances on Wednesdays at 12 p.m. at the Elks Lodge. Lunch will be provided.

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

Date: Wednesday, March 26, Time: 6-8PM
Location: Knoxville Museum of Art, 1050 Worlds Fair Park Dr, Knoxville, TN 37916
Price: Free

Internationally renowned jazz pianist, composer, and producer Donald Brown will premiere a new composition inspired by the Beauford Delaney Papers in the University of Tennessee Libraries’ archives. The debut will take place at the Knoxville Museum of Art on Wednesday, March 26. The reception at 6 p.m. and the performance at 7 p.m. are free and open to the public. Jazz musicians, including special guest Greg Tardy, will perform Brown’s composition.

The performance is part of the University of Tennessee Libraries’ unique series Boundless: Artists in the Archives. The Boundless program invites musicians and other artists to visit the UT Libraries’ archives and create original works inspired by the unique primary sources preserved there. Brown visited UT’s Betsey B. Creekmore Special Collections and University Archives where he explored the papers of Knoxville-born, African-American artist Beauford Delaney (1901–1979), widely regarded as one of the major modernist painters of his time. An internationally renowned jazz pianist, Brown has played with Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, Freddie Hubbard, Wynton Marsalis, Joe Henderson, Donald Byrd, Willie Mitchell, and the Boys Choir of Harlem. Wynton Marsalis’s recording of Brown’s composition “Insane Asylum” earned Marsalis a Grammy nomination for Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, Soloist. In addition to albums of his own, Brown has recorded with many jazz artists. His original compositions are widely recorded. Brown taught at the Berklee College of Music in Boston for five years before coming to the University of Tennessee College of Music, where he taught piano, improvisation, and jazz history for 32 years. Event Website: https://tiny.utk.edu/boundless2025
Social Media: Instagram: utklibraries Facebook: UTLibraries X: UTKLibraries

Wednesday, March 26 / Regas Square / 7p
Free community event (open to anyone) as part of Big Ears

Don’t miss this special pre-festival listening event at Regas Square, where William Tyler will present his forthcoming album, Time Indefinite, in full. The evening will feature visuals specifically designed to accompany the music, plus a conversation with Tyler and Stephen Brower from Amazon Music.

Admission is free, but space is limited — grab your pass via the link below.
https://bigearsfestival.frontgatetickets.com/event/67f1jcwk2wdped4v

You can find our full listing of events by visiting our Events Calendar: https://music.utk.edu/events/
Can't attend in-person? Check out our Livestream. https://music.utk.edu/livestream/

Wind Ensemble Concert
Thursday, March 13 at 7:30 p.m.
Alumni Memorial Building, Cox Auditorium

Chamber Singers & Concert Choir Spring Concert
Tuesday, March 25 at 7:30 p.m.
Alumni Memorial Building, Cox Auditorium

Musicology Distinguished Lecture Series: Professor Timothy D. Taylor
Monday, March 31 at 4:30 p.m.
Natalie L. Haslam Music Center, Powell Recital Hall

Men's & Women's Chorales Spring Concert
Tuesday, April 1 at 7:30 p.m.
Alumni Memorial Building, Cox Auditorium

BY PHILIP DAWKINS
LAB THEATRE

A magical fable with music. This exciting new play tells the story of the Fail family and their seemingly difficult challenge to just stay alive around blunt objects, disappearances and the odd case of consumption. Sometimes you just never see death coming. In this upbeat, tuneful, magical fable you can either worry about the ever-impending death or you can live, love, and sing some songs along the way.

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

KITE SYMPHONY: a multidisciplinary exhibition by Roberto Carlos Lange + Kristi Sword
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE BIG EARS FESTIVAL | FIRST FRIDAYS: MARCH 7 + APRIL 4 | 5-9PM

EXTENDED BIG EARS HOURS: MARCH 27, 28, 29 | 12-9PM and MARCH 30 | 12-6PM and SPECIAL PERFORMANCES | STAR SCORES
Each day of the festival, a unique ensemble – featuring Lange, Rob Frye, and a cast of special friends and guests – will perform four experimental compositions alongside and impressionistic film exploring the forces shaping the West Texas landscape and Appalachian skies.
Thursday | March 27, 7:30PM | Performers: Rob Frye, Roberto Carlos Lange, and Darian Donovan Thomas
Friday | March 28, 1PM | Performers: Roberto Carlos Lange
Saturday | March 29, 1PM | Performers: Rob Frye and Roberto Carlos Lange
Sunday | March 30, 1PM | Performers: Rob Frye, Roberto Carlos Lange, Darian Donovan Thomas, and Kalia Vandever

Kite Symphony is a multidisciplinary exhibition by Roberto Carlos Lange and Kristi Sword. The project features a series of drawings called Radio Telescope. Two films, one experimental piece called Star Scores, will be scored live during the Big Ears festival, and a film documenting sculptural interventions during their time in Marfa, Texas. Sound is the throughline between these diverse elements of this long-term project. Lange is a musician (widely known as Helado Negro), Sword is a visual artist, and Kite Symphony is an extension of their collaborative practice where they create work at the intersection of music, performance, and visual art. Parts of the film were originally commissioned by Ballroom Marfa and organized by Sarah Melendez.

“Lange, better known as Helado Negro, teams with the visual artist Kristi Sword for a sprawling and inspired project paying tribute to the Marfa, Texas sky.” – Pitchfork

UT Downtown Gallery, 106 S. Gay St, Knoxville, TN 37902. Hours: W-F 11-6, Sa 10-3. Information: 865-673-0802, https://downtown.utk.edu

Co-curated by Crafting Blackness Initiative’s Karlota Contreras-Koterbay
with Karen LeBlanc Sullivan and Lyn Govette
Reception: March 7, 5 to 7 p.m. with artist talks & curators reading of poems by Nikki Giovanni and Beauford Delaney. Followed by DJ Soularia set from The Bottom, 7 to 9 p.m.

The Arrowmont Gallery & Marketplace, 110 S Gay St. Knoxville, TN 37902. Gallery hours: Wed-Thu 10-5, Fri 2-9, Sat 12-5. Information: (865) 436-7511, https://arrowmont.org/galleries

Movie Night - Space Jam - Watch Space Jam on the event lawn.
Mar 5th | 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM EST

LIVE MUSIC | DEVIN HARREL
Mar 7th | 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM EST

SALSA/BACHATA in the taproom 9pm-1am
Mar 7th - 8th Mar EST

LIVE MUSIC | UTK MUSICAL THEATER GROUP
Mar 8th | 6:00 PM - 8:15 PM EST

LIVE. MUSIC | CHRIS MOREL BAND | MARCH 14TH | 6 - 9 PM

SALSA/BACHATA in the taproom 9pm-1am
Mar 14th - 15th Mar EDT

St Patrick's Day Celebration
Free Axe Throwing 2-6 PM 360 Photo Booth 2 - 6 PM Celtic Band 6 - 9 PM
Mar 17th | 8:00 PM - 9:30 PM EDT

Knox Social Speed Dating - Come find the one at Kern's Food Hall!
Mar 19th | 6:00 PM - 9:30 PM EDT

LIVE MUSIC | JAC CONLEY
Mar 21st | 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM EDT

LIVE MUSIC | CHELSEA SAMPLES
Mar 22nd | 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM EDT

LIVE MUSIC | DANIMAL PINSON
Mar 29th | 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM EDT

Live Music - JAZZSPIRATIONS
Mar 29th | 6:30 PM - 9:30 PM EDT

Kerns Food Hall, 2201 Kern’s Rising Way, Knoxville, TN 37920 | https://kernsfoodhall.com/

Presented by The Standford Eisenberg Knoxville Jewish Day School

Violins of Hope is a collection of over 50 violins that survived the Holocaust, played by Jewish musicians in ghettos, concentration camps, and even as symbols of resistance. Each violin, lovingly restored by Israeli master violin maker Amnon Weinstein and his son Avshalom, carries a powerful story of resilience and survival. These instruments bear witness to the indomitable spirit of their owners, whose music defied the darkness of one of history’s most tragic periods. The Violins of Hope project will feature performances, exhibitions, and educational programs that celebrate the enduring power of music and the human spirit. Through these events, communities will come together to reflect on the past and inspire a future rooted in hope, acceptance, and unity. Join us as we honor these extraordinary instruments and the stories they tell.

*A Big Ears 2025 Exhibition (one of four very special exhibitions of visual art on display during the festival weekend (Mar 27-30) and during the month leading up to it. Extended hours TBA.

Digital Motif, 108 S Gay Street, Knoxville, TN 37902. (865) 214-6367 or https://digitalmotif.com/

The WDVX Blue Plate Special is a live performance radio show held at noon at Visit Knoxville (301 S. Gay Street) every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday with your host Red Hickey… and on Saturday with host Sean McCollough. On Fridays WDVX takes the Blue Plate Special to Barley’s Taproom & Pizzeria (200 E Jackson Ave) for “The Big Plate”. Make yourself at home as part of the WDVX family at this this daily free concert series. From blues to bluegrass, country to Celtic, folk to funk, rockabilly to hillbilly, local to international, it’s all part of the live music experience on The WDVX Blue Plate Special.

All seats are free, and visitors may come and go as they please.

Info: 865-544-1029, http://www.wdvx.com