Calendar of Events

The Synergy Exhibitions feature the creative work of gifted art students from elementary, middle and high schools alongside their educators representing the public schools and private academies of East Tennessee. Student Art Exhibition curated by Amanda Galbraith.

Opening: Thursday, April 7 from 5:00-9:00pm and Awards Presentation: 7:00pm

Clayton Center for the Arts: 502 East Lamar Alexander Parkway, Maryville, TN 37804. Hours: Monday-Friday, 10:00am-6:00pm. Dogwood Arts: 865-637-4561 www.dogwoodarts.com

"Word by Word," is the theme of the Tennessee Mountain Writers' 28th Annual Conference, scheduled Thursday through Saturday, April 7-9, at the DoubleTree Hotel in Oak Ridge.

Conference workshop presenters will include Sonja Livingston, Nonfiction; Michael Knight, Fiction and General Session speaker; Jesse Graves, Poetry; Courtney Stevens, Writing for Young People; Denton Loving, Editing. Special sessions will be conducted by Beverly Connor, Keeping Series Books Fresh; Robert Gipe, Oral History Projects; Saundra Kelley, Storytelling; Bob Mayer, Self-publishing; Judy DiGregorio and Cathy Kodra, From Preparation to Publication. Keynote speaker at the awards banquet, the concluding event of the conference, will be award winning writer Sonja Livingston.

Early registration fees before March 24 are $185 for full conference ; $150 for all day sessions Friday and Saturday; single sessions are $30 each; banquet only, $35. Prices after March 24 are $200 for full conference; other prices remain the same. Students (high school and full time college) may attend full conference for $50. Additional information and a conference registration form can be found on the Tennessee Mountain Writers' web site, www.tmwi.org.

Join Jim Davis, Church Street member and violist, for an evening of string chamber music. Featuring:
Michael Davis, Violin, Concertmaster of the Louisville Orchestra
Peter deVries, Violin, Former Concertmaster of the National Orchestra of Portugal
Jim Davis, Viola, Former Principal Viola of the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra
Anthony Ross, Cello, Principal Cello of the Minnesota Orchestra
Rob Cameron, Classical Guitar

While students in the Indiana University School of Music, the brothers Davis met deVries and Ross. Quickly becoming friends they formed a string quartet and together explored the glorious world of chamber music. Through the years and along the paths of professional careers, they have remained close friends and chamber music colleagues. Delighted for this opportunity to reunite, they welcome classical guitarist and Knoxville resident Rob Cameron for an evening of Beethoven, Boccherini and more.

Church Street United Methodist Church, 900 Henley St, Knoxville, TN 37902. Information: 865-524-3048, www.churchstreetumc.org

Sangram Majumdar will speak as part of the University of TN School of Art Visiting Artist Lecture Series on April 7, 2016, at 7:30 in the McCarty Auditorium in UTK's Art and Architecture Building.

Majumdar says of his work "I find a strange pleasure in creating spaces that are simultaneously plausible via its parallel conditions to nature (Light, space, scale, etc.) while denying the viewer full disclosure, mining a space between seeing and naming."

UT School of Art: 1715 Volunteer Blvd, Knoxville, TN 37996. Information: 865-974-3200, http://art.utk.edu/

This music presentation offers a wide variety of instrumental pieces.

Hardin Valley Campus of Pellissippi State: 10915 Hardin Valley Road, Knoxville, TN 37932. Information: 865-694-6405, www.pstcc.edu/arts

The art and science of improv will take center stage at the Thursday, April 7 meeting of the Knoxville Writers Guild! Noted improv performers James Newport, founder of the Gatlinburg Improv Festival, and Paul Simmons, a founder of Einstein Simplified improv troupe, will speak. They will perform and talk about writing for improv.

Improv, according to the Einstein Simplified website, is comedy in which “one or more performers present unscripted material, such as games, scenes, monologues, musical montages, what-have-you, before an audience; usually basing this material on suggestions received from the audience. This is not sketch comedy (i.e. Mad TV, Saturday Night Live or The Carol Burnett Show). Nor is it stand-up comedy.”

Newport has nearly 30 years of improv performing, directing, and teaching experience. Before moving to the Knoxville area, Newport performed with SAK Theatre and Comedy Lab, in in Orlando, FL, where he was performer, teacher, and then SAK’s Artistic and Managing Director. Read more about the Gatlinburg Improv Festival at http://www.gatlinburgimprovfest.net. Simmons was a co-founder of Einstein Simplified and has taught many courses in comedy and improv over the years. Einstein Simplified has been entertaining Knoxville, TN and the surrounding area since 1994. The troupe has performed more than 1100 shows of comedy improv. It now performs at 8:15 p.m. every Tuesday at Scruffy City Hall on Market Square. Read more at http://www.einsteinsimplified.com.

The event, which will be open to the public, will begin at 7 p.m. in Central United Methodist Church's Fellowship Hall at 201 E. Third Ave. Attendees should enter off of the large parking lot behind the church. A $2 donation is requested at the door. The building is handicapped accessible. Info: www.KnoxvilleWritersGuild.org

Men's and Women's Chorales with contemporary acappella ensemble
James R. Cox Auditorium, Alumni Memorial Bldg.

UT School of Music: Unless otherwise noted, concerts are FREE and open to the public.
The Alumni Memorial Building is located at 1408 Middle Drive on the UT campus. *For individual or small group performances, please check the web site or call the day of the event for updates or cancellations: 865-974-5678, www.music.utk.edu/events

This week's installment of the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra's Concertmaster Series, "Gabriel Lefkowitz and Friends," features the Shostakovich String Quartet No. 3 as its ensemble work, a replacement for the Brahms sextet which was announced at the beginning of the season. The quartet will consist of Concertmaster Lefkowitz and associate Gordon Tsai (violins), Kathryn Gawne (viola), and Andy Bryenton (cello).

On the first half of the concert, Lefkowitz will be joined by pianist Kevin Class for several works for violin and piano: Caprice basque by Pablo de Sarasate, Rachmaninoff's Romance, the Souvenir in D major for violin and piano by František Drdla, and Tchaikovsky's Valse-Scherzo in C major, Op. 34.

At the Knoxville Museum of Art. Tickets are $20.00. Tickets and information: 865-291-3310, www.knoxvillesymphony.com

Part of the 2015-2016 Broadway at the Tennessee Theatre season!

THE BOOK OF MORMON will anchor the season and play a limited eight-show engagement at the Tennessee Theatre. The New York Times calls it “the best musical of this century,” while The Washington Post says, “It is the kind of evening that restores your faith in musicals. Entertainment Weekly raves, “Grade A: the funniest musical of all time,” and Jon Stewart of The Daily Show calls it “a crowning achievement. So good it makes me angry.” It's THE BOOK OF MORMON, the nine-time Tony Award® winner including Best Musical from the creators of South Park. Contains explicit language. For more information visit BookofMormonTheMusical.com.

Tennessee Theatre, 604 S. Gay Street, Knoxville, TN 37902. For information/tickets: 865-684-1200, www.tennesseetheatre.com, www.ticketmaster.com

At Westminister Presbyterian Church-Schilling Gallery, 6500 Northshore Drive, Knoxville

Free and open to the public, Monday thru Friday, 9 A.M. to 4 P.M.
Information: 865-584-3957

Featuring over 50 quilts, including contemporary quilts by The Merry Crow Hop Quilters and treasured quilts from family collections, at the Cora Veal Senior Center on College Street in downtown Madisonville

Opening Reception: Monday, April 4, 5 - 7 p.m.
Tuesday - Thursday, April 5 - 7, 8 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Friday, April 8, 8 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Saturday, April 9, 10 a.m. - 1 p.m.

Lunch available for purchase on Saturday - Free and Open to the Public
Monroe Area Council for the Arts: 423-442-3210, www.monroearts.com

A world-class visual arts exhibition of large-scale outdoor sculpture which enliven downtown Knoxville, the McGhee Tyson Airport and Oak Ridge. Sculpture artist Isaac Duncan III, a Brooklyn, New York native who currently resides in Chattanooga, Tennessee served as the Juror for the 2016-2017 exhibition. #AIPP

Dogwood Arts: 865-637-4561 www.dogwoodarts.com