Announcing Knoxville Broadcast October 17 & 18, 2025

As Big Ears continues to expand beyond the festival stage with year-round engagement throughout Knoxville, we are thrilled to introduce our latest project, Knoxville Broadcast, by composer Lisa Bielawa. 

Bielawa’s Broadcasts are a series of large-scale, site-specific musical compositions designed to be performed by large groups of musicians in public spaces. Performances have taken place in a variety of locations, from former airfields Tempelhof Airport in Berlin and Crissy Field in San Francisco, to Shelby Park and the Big Four Bridge in Louisville, to a virtual reality environment based on the Brickyard at NC State, and more. These events blur the lines between concert performance, civic engagement, and community ritual, drawing on the architecture, history, and social fabric of the place in which it is performed. 

Mark your calendar! Knoxville Broadcast will bring together hundreds of Knoxville’s professional, student, and amateur musicians, including orchestras, bands, and experimental new music groups, for three site-specific performances at Knoxville’s World’s Fair Park on October 17 and 18, 2025.

We look forward to sharing more information about this sonic celebration of Knoxville as the project takes shape!