On Monday, Aram Demirjian “will take the stage to lead the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra for the first time as its permanent conductor for the … Independence Day concert at World’s Fair Park,” writes Steve Wildsmith in Wednesday’s (6/29) Daily Times (Tennessee). “ ‘It’s quite fitting, actually, that my debut as music director of the Knoxville Symphony is going to be festive, and that’s there’s going to be fireworks both on stage and in the sky, and that it is going to be a free concert for everybody in the greater Knoxville community,’ he said. …‘I believe—and we believe at the Knoxville Symphony—that symphonic music is for everybody, and that everybody should have access to it. We are going to go out of our way to make classical music and to make the symphony the most inviting, welcoming place for artistic entertainment in the community.’ … Prior to accepting the position with the Knoxville Symphony,” Demirjian was associate conductor at the Kansas City Symphony, “where he helped develop the city’s nationally recognized ‘Classics Uncorked’ series … As guest conductor, he stood on the podium for … the Minnesota Orchestra; the Boise and Fresno philharmonic orchestras; and the Omaha, Memphis and Illinois symphonies.”
Posted July 1, 2016