Calendar of Events

This year’s lineup features ANOHNI and the Johnsons, genre-bending bassist Esperanza Spalding, folk-pop innovator Rufus Wainwright, and sitar prodigy Anoushka Shankar. In addition, festival favorite Bèla Fleck, cinematic post-rock maestros Explosions In The Sky, legendary bluesman Taj Mahal, plus over 150 additional performances, discussions, panels, and films will unfold across four days in 12+ venues nestled throughout historic downtown Knoxville. Full lineup and passes at https://bigearsfestival.org

At its heart, Big Ears is a celebration of how music and culture can bring us all together. It is in that spirit that we offer the Big Ears experience to everyone in a series of free concerts all weekend long, the Knoxville Museum of Art to the Visit Knoxville Visitors Center. These are some really special performances. We hope you’ll encourage your friends and neighbors to join us!

Dedicated Men of Zion & Knoxville Opera Gospel Choir
Sunday, March 30 / Knoxville Civic Auditorium / 5p
Experience a powerful and uplifting musical collaboration as the Dedicated Men of Zion join forces with the Knoxville Opera Gospel Choir for a special Sunday performance at Big Ears. Nearly a year in the making, this joyous celebration of gospel music’s rich heritage and lasting spirit is not to be missed. While the event is included as part of the offerings for festival pass holders, Big Ears is excited to open this special event to the public. Reserve your free ticket at the link below and be part of this unforgettable performance!

Knoxville Museum of Art
The Knoxville Museum of Art will be free and open to the public all weekend. The museum will host performances by artists by Bríghde Chaimbeul, Kalia Vandever, eucademix (Yuka Honda), Carlos Niño Salon’s Night 1 and Night 2, Allison De Groot & Tatiana Hargreaves, June McDoom, Fred Moten & Brandon Lopez, Larry & Joe, and Mivos Quartet. The museum will also host Laraaji & Arji OceAnanda’s Laughter: The Best Medicine Playshop and in addition to Pangrok Sulap’s exhibit at RED Gallery, the collective will be doing live printmaking sessions throughout the festival weekend at Knoxville Museum of Art’s South Garden.

Visit Knoxville Visitors Center
Visit Knoxville Visitors Center is your destination for all things Knoxville. During Big Ears free programming will include WDVX Blue Plate and Big Plate Specials with special guests, Knoxville Music History with Jack Neely, Critics’ Pick Panel with Ann Powers, Nate Chinen, Ashley Kahn, and Marcus J. Moore, Essential Tremors featuring Ian Lynch, Victoria Shen, and William Tyler a conversatios between Dawn Richard and Marcus J. Moore, Lonnie Holley and Grayson Currin, and Terika Dean & Lance Ledbetter from Dust to Digital, alongside the Gladson Family Band.

The Emporium Center - Wayne White: Big Words
UT Downtown Gallery - Kite Symphony / Star Scores
RED Gallery - Pangrok Sulap
Digital Motif - Violins of Hope

https://bigearsfestival.org/

Poet and MacArthur Scholar Fred Moten and acclaimed Puerto Rican bassist Brandon López draw from contemporary art and cultural theory on Black fugitivity to explore Nathaniel Mackey‘s poetry and music and talk about how listening, with big ears, is always a variation on a kind of spooky, distant jazz practicing.

The pair have collaborated on music albums and performance projects together since 2018. An American cultural theorist, poet, and scholar considered to be one of the foremost theorists of his generation, Moten is a professor of performance studies at New York University and a Distinguished Professor Emeritus at University of California, Riverside. His books include the groundbreaking In the Break: The Aesthetics of the Black Radical Tradition and numerous poetry collections, and he was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship in 2020. López is a bassist, composer, and improviser working at the fringes of contemporary music. His playing has led him to work with the luminaries of the contemporary avant-garde such as Moten, Gerald Cleaver, and John Zorn, and he was a featured soloist with the New York Philharmonic.

This event is in partnership with the Big Ears Festival and is part of the Denbo Center's 2024-25 Distinguished Lecture Series. See the BEF site here. The event is free and open to the public and to UT students and faculty.

Knoxville Museum of Art, Bailey Hall (Great Hall)
1050 Worlds Fair Park Dr, Knoxville, TN 37916
https://calendar.utk.edu/event/on-the-run-from-ownership-nathaniel-mackey-music-centrifugitivity-with-fred-moten-and-brandon-lopez

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