Shakespeare and Music

Be not afeard; the isle is full of noises,
Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not.
Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments
Will hum about mine ears, and sometime voices…

--The Tempest, William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare stands alone among playwrights, not just for his own work, but also for the creations he has inspired in others. In music alone, we have ballets, operas, incidental music, tone poems…by composers too numerous to mention. I suppose we could mention just a few: Purcell, Mendelssohn, Korngold, Prokofiev, and Carlson. Carlson—that would be Knoxville composer James Carlson, who has organized Sounds & Sweet Airs: Shakespeare & Music, an evening of music, theatre, and dance inspired by the Bard, including scenes from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Much Ado About Nothing, The Tempest, Romeo and Juliet, and Macbeth.

Among the local artists performing on the program will be:
The Wild Thyme Players directed by Brandon Daughtry Slocum; Shake, Rattle & Role Stage Combat; Momentum Dance Lab; Lorraine DiSimone, mezzo-soprano; Patrick Harvey, piano; Hillary Herndon, viola; Rebekkah Hilgraves, soprano; Mark Hook, piano; Greg Horne, guitar/vocals; Julia Lawson, soprano; Lucie Novoveska, violin; Maria Rist, soprano; Thomas Tallent, lute; Daniel Stipe, organ; and Mary Weaver, alto.

That, if I then had waked after long sleep,
Will make me sleep again: and then, in dreaming,
The clouds methought would open and show riches
Ready to drop upon me that, when I waked,
I cried to dream again.

Sleep not lest you miss this intriguing concert at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church on Saturday, March 28th at 7:30pm.

Sounds & Sweet Airs: Shakespeare & Music
Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church
2931 Kingston Pike
Knoxville
Tickets available at the door.