BIG EARS FESTIVAL

Big Ears Announces Exciting New Programs

We hope you’ve had the opportunity to explore some of the many special programs taking place at Big Ears 2022, including an eight-concert celebration of recent work by John ZornMeredith Monk and Kronos Quartet each play a pair of special presentations at the festival, while Caroline Shaw + Sō PercussionNathalie Joachim + Spektral QuartetKen Vandermark + Ensemble Dal Niente perform their respective celebrated collaborations.

Composers Ellen ReidEllis Ludwig-Leone, and Tristan Perich offer live premieres of new work; and clarinetist Evan Ziporyn makes the first performance in over half a century of a long-lost Philip Glass piece.

Finally, Shabaka Hutchings joins the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra for a special performance of Aaron Copland’s Clarinet Concerto, as well as other musical treats.

In addition to what we’ve already already announced, we’re pleased to highlight some exciting new special programs and projects to explore at Big Ears 2022:

• Trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire plays duets with drummer Andrew Cyrille;
• Nathalie Joachim makes a solo performance for flute, voice, and electronics;
Saul Williams performing a rare solo spoken word set;
• James McVinnie plays a solo organ recital of work by JS Bach and Philip Glass;
• Singer / songwriter Leyla McCalla performs her Vari-Colored Songs: A Tribute to Langston Hughes, accompanied by a string quintet from new music ensemble, chatterbird;
• Guitarist Gyan Riley joins Bang on a Can All-Stars to perform Terry Riley’s Autodreamographical Tales;
• Attacca Quartet play a concert featuring work by Flying Lotus, Squarepusher, and others from their release Real Life; on an additional program, Caroline Shaw joins Attacca to perform music composed exclusively by Shaw;
• Sō Percussion play Julia Wolfe’s Forbidden Love, Nathalie Joachim’s Note to Self (a piece for Sō and Joachim), and the world premiere of Angélica Negrón’s When the Sun Hits Just Right (an octet for Sō and Kronos Quartet); 
• Composer and saxophonist Miguel Zenón and Spektral Quartet play Yo Soy La Tradición, as well as the world premiere of a new quartet Zenon has written for Spektral;
• Ensemble Dal Niente play a full two-day sequence of brief sets at the Knoxville Museum of Art.

Stay tuned for further additions to the Big Ears 2022 schedule, along with films, workshops, conversations, panels, and surprise performances.

BIG EARS
03.27_03.30.25
Knoxville, TN · USA

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