Unfortunate Conflicts

Let's be honest…Knoxville is not so large a city that it can't avoid unfortunate arts scheduling. While an ice hockey game, a club band appearance, and a popular film can easily co-exist on the same night, two events that draw from the same audience pool end up benefiting neither one. While there may be circumstances that make these conflicts unavoidable, one would hope that audiences would not be forced to choose.

For example, January and February already contain some unfortunate situations that may confront concertgoers with having to make uncomfortable choices. First, the brilliant and famous St. Olaf Choir was scheduled for a once-only concert at the University of Tennessee on February 13th--the same evening as the opening performance of Knoxville Opera's production of Rigoletto. The KOC schedule has been known since last spring; wasn't this avoidable? Second, the January recital of the Evelyn Miller Young Pianist series was programmed in direct conflict with the Knoxville Symphony Chamber Orchestra concert "Basically Bach" on Sunday, January 25th. Similarly, the KSO schedules are known a year in advance.

While the audience for classical music events continues to be strong, there is no reason to divide that audience with unfortunate programming decisions.