BIG EARS FESTIVAL

AGE OF REFLECTIONS / 100 OF OUR FAVORITE THINGS (PART 9)

Age of Reflections

Collective Offerings of Sound, Light, and Architecture at Church Street United Methodist

Get ready for immersive event series Reflections when they join Big Ears for a 3-day residency at Church Street United Methodist Church, illuminating a lineup of visionary ambient artists. Reflections is known for creating atmospheres that evoke wonder and spiritual introspection. For their residency they’ll perform site-specific lighting that grows in intensity during the day. At sunset, they’ll shift deeper into the sublime with projection-mapped lighting.

Thursday, March 27
Steve Roach

Friday, March 28
Arushi Jain
Flore Laurentienne
Rachika Nayar & Nina Keith
Cowboy Sadness


Saturday, March 29
Steve Roach
William Basinski
Clarice Jensen
Chuck Johnson  

100 of Our Favorite Things Coming to Big Ears 2025 (Part 9)

Big Ears is excited to present a multi-faceted celebration of the music of Tyshawn Sorey, who received the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 2024. There will be two performances of Monochromatic Light (Afterlife), premiered at the 50th Anniversary celebrations of the Rothko Chapel in 2022; two of his jazz trios will perform: the Tyshawn Sorey Trio with pianist Aaron Diehl and bassist Harish Raghaven, whose latest record, The Susceptible Now, topped “Best of 2024” recordings everywhere; and then Fieldwork, the dynamic virtuosity collaboration with pianist Vijay Iyer and saxophonist Steve Lehman. Then, there’s a new “supergroup” with King Britt, Meshell Ndegeocello, and Melz, and of course, the Knoxville Symphony will perform the piece that led to the Pulitzer Prize designation, Adagio (for Wadada Leo Smith). Additionally, pianist Sarah Rothenberg will perform a new work of Sorey’s, For Julius Eastman, and, well, there’s another rumor or two floating around as well.

The quiet, slowly unfolding jazz-folk ambience of the Tara Clerkin Trio blends Clerkin’s voice, with acoustic guitar, subtle synth washes, percussion and space to create a lovely, enchanting musical universe.

The violin of Darian Donavan Thomas has graced the stages of BIg Ears on several occasions (Arooj Aftab, Moses Sumney) and this time he’ll present a solo performance drawing from his fascinating recording, A Room With Many Doors.

One of the leading visionaries of the Krautrock movement in the 1970s, The multi-instrumentalist, Krautrock legend and founding member of Kraftwerk Michael Rother has continued to evolve musically and creatively. In this rare US performance, Rother will revisit some of the groundbreaking music of his bands, NEU! and Harmonia, along with treating us to some of his more recent music

Danish composer, violist, singer Astrid Sonne writes intimate, reflective songs that she brings to life within imaginative and evocative musical soundscapes. Originally scheduled to appear at BIg Ears in 2020, we’re delighted to have her join us now.

RB Morris, Knoxville’s first Poet Laureate and acclaimed singer-songwriter (none other than John Prine signed him to his label and covered one of songs), joins forces with musical polymath Wil Wright and an all-star musical cast in setting his “Mockingbird Elegies” to music.

In the decade following the release of this intense experimental hip-hop unit’s riveting debut, front man Daveed Diggs was sidelined for a bit by a little Broadway show called Hamilton, where he originated the dual roles of Thomas Jefferson and Marquis de Lafayette and won a 2016 Tony Award as a result, along with a Grammy. clipping has continued on however, and in 2025, Diggs, Jonathan Snipes, and William Hutson have returned in full force, with the single “Run It” teasing their sixth full length release, Dead Channel Sky, to be released on Sub Pop a mere two weeks before they rock Big Ears 2025.

Nashville multi-instrumentalist Michael Ruth, aka Rich Ruth, creates both gleefully adventurous and calmingly meditative music that blends synth-infused prog-post rock, spiritual jazz, and cosmic ambiance. His latest recording, Water Still Flows (Third Man Records), is both his heaviest and most cathartic to date.

Cited by Rolling Stone as one of best live performances at SXSW 2024,

Chanel Beads debut recording, Your Day Will Come, announces the arrival of New York-based musician Shane Lavers as a new force in experimental music. Laying synthetic and real instruments, his uncanny and dreamlike sounds trigger haunting and evocative memories.

One of the most beloved indie-rock bands of all time is also one of the most delightfully unpredictable and imaginative, infusing their core melodic sweetness with an ever adventurous edge and unpredictability. Returning to Big Ears, Yo La Tengo will join forces with none other than the Sun Ra Arkestra for one show, and pay homage to many of their own greatest hits in another.

Artists in the truest sense of the word, Maruja’s ferocious combination of punk, harsh noise, and transcendent cosmic jazz is fast marking them out as one of the most exciting new acts in the country. The years spent relentlessly honing their craft are paying off in style, driven not just by passion but rather an all-consuming need to create and perform with a visceral intensity, they are both electrifying and terrifying.

One of the foremost exponents of the pedal steel guitar, Susan Alcorn has taken the instrument to previously unimagined creative heights, from Pauline Oliveros to Astor Piazzolla and fearless encounters with many of the world’s leading improvisers, including Evan Parker, Joe McPhee, Ken Vandermark, and countless others. Her return to Big Ears finds her fronting a very special band featuring Mary Halvorson on guitar.

BIG EARS
03.27_03.30.25
Knoxville, TN · USA

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