Oak Ridge Today

Oak Ridge talent showcase, pub quiz benefit Grove Theater on March 28, 29

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High Places Community Church

An Oak Ridge talent show and pub quiz night will benefit the historic, renovated Grove Theater on March 28 and 29.

An Oak Ridge talent show and pub quiz night will benefit the historic, renovated Grove Theater on March 28 and 29.

On Friday, March 28, the new nonprofit organization Friends of the Grove Theater will have a showcase titled “Oak Ridge Has Talent.” It will benefit the Grove, a legacy of the Manhattan Project era that is celebrating 70 years of history and a decade since its re-opening by High Places Community Church, a press release said.

The Manhattan Project was a top-secret federal program to build the world’s first atomic bombs during World War II.

All proceeds from the March 28 show at the Grove will be used to maintain the facility as a performing arts center for Oak Ridge and East Tennessee organizations, the press release said. The show starts at 7 p.m., and it will include performances from community partners and other locals who want to support the Grove. Comedian and humorist Tyler Gooch will entertain between acts. [Read more…]

Rock to Bach Music Festival is Saturday at New Hope Center

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Kukuly Fuego

Kukuly and Gypsy Fuego will perform gypsy and American swing jazz at the Oak Ridge Rock to Bach Music Festival on Saturday, March 1, at New Hope Center. (Submitted photo)

The fourth annual Oak Ridge Rock to Bach Music Festival is Saturday.

Rock to Bach is an all-day music festival presented by the Oak Ridge Civic Music Association as a benefit for ORCMA music organizations, such as the Oak Ridge Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, and the world-class Chamber Music Series.

Eighteen groups will perform this Saturday, playing pop, rock, blues, bluegrass, folk, jazz, Celtic, patriotic, Dixieland, swing, klezmer, and classical music.

The festival is scheduled from 10:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Saturday at the New Hope Center near the main entrance to the Y-12 National Security Complex. The New Hope Center is next to Scarboro Road, just across from the intersection with Union Valley Road.

Among the performing groups and performers are the Tennessee Schmalz, Knoxville Youth Jazz Orchestra, Early Bird Special Band, Liz and Tim, Jack Russell and the Terriers, Kukuly and Gypsy Fuego, Walker Marema, Silver Winds Choir, and singers with the Oak Ridge Chorus who will perform selections from musicals, operas, and operettas. [Read more…]

Rock to Bach Music Festival on March 1 at New Hope Center

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Classic Beatles and Rock to Bach Music Festival

Fifty years ago, the Beatles, the pop and rock group from England, arrived in America to perform before screaming fans. Now, one of them, Paul McCartney, composes classical music.

Imagine the Beatles walking one way as they pass Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, and Haydn walking in the opposite direction.

That’s the mental image you might have if you attend Oak Ridge’s fourth Rock to Bach Music Festival on Saturday, Mar. 1.

The annual festival has a new venue this year. It will be held from 10:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. at the New Hope Center of the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge. [Read more…]

Symphony Orchestra presents Baroque Bonanza on Saturday

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Meghan Mayes

Meghan Mayes

A Saturday evening concert with the Oak Ridge Symphony Orchestra will feature the music of Bach, Vivaldi, and Mozart.

It will also feature singer Meghan Mayes, winner of the Youth Aliyah Honors Concert in Oak Ridge. She will be in the spotlight for “Exsultate, Jubilate” by Mozart, a press release said.

The orchestra will be led by conductor Dan Allcott, and the concert starts at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at First United Methodist Church. The church is at the intersection of Oak Ridge Turnpike and Tulane Avenue.

The Baroque Bonanza concert is part of an Oak Ridge Civic Music Association concert series. [Read more…]

ORCMA: ‘Dialogue with Dan’ on Monday

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Dan Allcott

Dan Allcott

Music lovers can have lunch on Monday with Dan Allcott, director of the Oak Ridge Symphony Orchestra, and learn about the Feb. 15 concert.

“Dialogue with Dan” will be held from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the lobby of the historic Grove Theater at 123 Randolph Road in Oak Ridge. Allcott will discuss the Oak Ridge Civic Music Association’s concert featuring the music of Mozart, Bach, and Vivaldi.

Those attending are encouraged to brown bag or to buy a sandwich from Panera for $8.

Chamber Music concert Saturday features Cumberland Piano Trio

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The Oak Ridge Civic Music Association’s Chamber Series will present the Cumberland Piano Trio at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Pollard Auditorium.

The trio includes Susan Eddlemon on violin, Oak Ridge Symphony Orchestra Director Dan Allcott on cello, and Emi Kagawa on piano. Scott Eddlemon, ORSO percussionist, will be assisting in the performance.

Reserved seat tickets are $25 ($12 for students). For additional information, call the ORCMA office at (865) 483-5569 or visit www.orcma.org.

Holiday concert on Sunday features Oak Ridge Symphony, Chorus, Sound Company

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Sound Company Children's Performing Choir

The Sound Company Children’s Performing Choir of Oak Ridge is pictured above singing in an earlier concert. (File photo)

The Oak Ridge Symphony Orchestra will join Sound Company and the Oak Ridge Chorus to “ring in” the holiday season during a concert on Sunday.

The concert starts at 3 p.m. Sunday in the Oak Ridge High School Performing Arts Center.

The holiday concert is presented by the Oak Ridge Civic Music Association.

The orchestra, under the direction of Dan Allcott, will open the concert with the “Hanukah Festival Overture,” composed by Knoxville’s own Lucas Richman. Music from “Mass of the Children,” and “Colors of Christmas,” will feature the children and the civic choruses. The performance will be dedicated to the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings in Connecticut last year. [Read more…]

Oak Ridge Symphony: ‘A Double Dose of Awesomeness’ on Saturday

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Dan Allcott

Dan Allcott, Oak Ridge Civic Music Association director, is pictured above.

Violinist Wei Tsun Chang and cellist Wesley Baldwin will join forces for a performance of the Brahms double concerto with the Oak Ridge Symphony Orchestra at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Oak Ridge High School Performing Arts Center.

Additional music will honor the 200th anniversary of the birthday of Wagner and Verdi with performances of La Forza Del Distino and Renzi overtures.

The concert is presented by the Oak Ridge Civic Music Association. Tickets are available from the ORCMA office at (865) 483-5569.

Oak Ridge Symphony has free family concert this afternoon

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The Oak Ridge Symphony Orchestra has a free family concert at 3 p.m. today (Sunday) at Oak Ridge High School.

“Hop on the music train as we perform a family-friendly concert ranging from ‘Thomas the Tank Engine’ to ‘Polar Express’ to Eduard Strauss’s ‘Bahn Frei (Fast Track!)’ polka,” the ORCMA website says. “Come early for pre-concert activities, and come dressed in your railroad finest to join our costume parade. Train whistles allowed! Our own ‘conductor’ will lead you on a journey of fun musical times!” [Read more…]

ORCMA opens season with ‘Double Dose of Awesomeness’ in October

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The Oak Ridge Civic Music Association’s 70th musical season, “Excellence to the Second Degree, Bringing you Music that Matters,” will offer Oak Ridgers performances from the Oak Ridge Symphony Orchestra, the Chamber Series of concerts, and the Oak Ridge Chorus.

The orchestra, under the direction of conductor Dan Allcott, will open the season in October with “A Double Dose of Awesomeness” featuring music by Johannes Brahms with violinist Wei Tsun Chang and cellist Wesley Baldwin performing the Brahms’ Double Concerto. That performance will be held at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 26 in the performing arts center at Oak Ridge High School. [Read more…]

Nonprofit lease termination could leave vacant space in central Oak Ridge

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Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic building

Oak Ridge officials have been asked to terminate the 50-year lease on the former Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic building on Badger Road, which would leave vacant space in central Oak Ridge. City officials haven’t decided what to do with the building.

A decision to terminate a 50-year lease agreement on a building once used by a national nonprofit organization to record audiobooks for the dyslexic and visually impaired could open up some office space in central Oak Ridge.

But city officials said they haven’t decided what to do with it yet.

Now partially empty, the split-level two-story building on Badger Road was once home to Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic. Located on the south side of Alvin K. Bissell Park, it still houses the Oak Ridge Civic Music Association, which includes the Oak Ridge Symphony Orchestra and Oak Ridge Chorus. [Read more…]

ORCMA elects officers, appoints board members

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Carmen DeLong and Carol Plasil

Carmen DeLong, left, and Carol Plasil were recently appointed to the board of the Oak Ridge Civic Music Association. (Submitted photo)

The Oak Ridge Civic Music Association recently elected new officers and appointed four new board members to its organization, a press release said.

New officers are Audrey Stelson and Syd Ball, co-presidents; Richard Ward, vice president; John Gunning, treasurer; and Jerry Eddlemon, secretary.

Board members added to the organization include Carmen DeLong, Carol Plasil, Alicia Randisi-Hooker, and Mary Childress. [Read more…]