An evening with the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra

This past Thursday evening was the second annual "Bloggers Night" at the Knoxville, Tennessee Symphony Orchestra (KSO). The Symphony invited up to 50 area bloggers and a companion to attend a free Symphony concert and attend a reception afterward.

As a bonus the KSO performs most of their concerts in the restored and refurbished Tennessee Theatre in downtown Knoxville. PLUS there's free parking for theatre goers just a block away at the State St. garage!

Sounded like an offer too good to pass up so I went.

The nights fare was Mozart & Mendelssohn with a little Bach thrown in for good measure.

There was a pre-concert chat before the performance with Maestro Lucas Richman who conducts the Orchestra and he was joined by featured pianist Navah Perlman. Maestro Richman was pretty funny when he tried to explain to the audience what blogging was; clearly his forte is music. ;-)

The opening performance was Bach's Brandenburg Concerto for strings featuring the Orchestra's string section; that's the violin, viola, cello, and bass. It was terrific and I enjoyed watching all the bows on stage fly back and forth across the instruments.

Second was Mozart's Concerto No. 24 for Piano and Orchestra. Ms Perlman, the featured performer, was wonderful during this presentation. Her fingers flew back and forth on her keyboard producing beautiful, haunting music.

After a brief intermission the final performance was Mendelssohn's Italian Symphony which was my favorite. Mendelssohn called this his "jolliest" piece. I like the subtle sounds of the Oboes and the occasional Timpani (kettledrums).

At the conclusion we all went downstairs to the Glenn Miller room for the reception. Maestro Richman, Ms Perlman, and several members of the orchestra joined us to hobnob and answer any questions. It was great to meet some fellow area bloggers in person and get to know them a little better offline.

Image via Wikipedia Felix Mendelssohn

KSO Maestro Lucas Richman and Pianist Navah Perlman at the reception following the concert.

I was pleasantly surprised to find one of my fellow Realtors, Jennifer Crake, is a musician with the Orchestra.Jennifer is Second Horn as well as a Knoxville Realtor.

Also Knoxville blogger Katy Gawne is the principal violinist and de facto KSO blogger.

The Blogger's Night organizers linked back to the bloggers that wrote about their night at the symphony so you can read what they wrote. First linkback I've ever had involving wine & cheese. ;-)

Bloggers filing into the Glenn Miller room for a reception following the concert. Unlike the 50 Active Rain paid bloggers we only got free concert tickets and wine & cheese for this gig instead of a check.

“The aim and final end of all music should be none other than the glory of God and the refreshment of the soul.”

Johann Sebastian Bach, composer, 1685-1750

Mr. Bach I could not agree more.

Thank you KSO for a delightful evening and a wonderful performance.