ABOUT KNOXVILLE BROADCAST

Join us for Knoxville Broadcast, a large-scale site-specific “spatial symphony” created by the award-winning composer Lisa Bielawa that will unite hundreds of musicians from across Knoxville in three free public performances at World’s Fair Park.

Knoxville Broadcast continues Bielawa’s celebrated series of Broadcast performances in Berlin, San Francisco, and Louisville—each rooted in the history and community of its location. The San Francisco Chronicle called Crissy Broadcast, “…one of the most moving performances of the year…where all the boundaries we take for granted in musical life…are casually obliterated.” 

Free and open to all, Knoxville Broadcast will transform the entire park into a living stage during each 45 minute performance. Musicians will begin together in the Tennessee Amphitheater before gradually dispersing throughout the park, guided by long-distance musical cues. Audiences are free to wander, hearing the piece shift and transform from different vantage points. By dissolving the boundaries of a traditional concert, the work invites listeners of all ages into a shared, fluid, and deeply communal encounter with music.

For Knoxville, Bielawa has composed a new score inspired by the city’s landscape, voices, and musical traditions. More than 600 local musicians of all ages and backgrounds will take part, including the Appalachian Equality Chorus, Knoxville Community Band, Knoxville Symphony Youth Orchestra, Halls Middle School Bands, L&N Stem Academy Concert Band and Orchestra, Drums Up Guns Down, members of Nief-Norf, Hardin Valley Academy Guitar Ensemble, Roane State Choral Society, and the University of Tennessee Gospel Choir, and students from the UT College of Music. Three all-ages “pickup” groups—Sterchi String Band (old-time), Found Forte (youth percussion), and the Sunsphere Singers (intergenerational choir)—are also open to the public.