The main entrance at Oak Ridge High School is pictured above.
Oak Ridge High School will celebrate the accomplishments of this year’s graduating senior class on Monday, May 23. The celebration will start at 7 p.m. in the Oak Ridge High School Performing Arts Center.
Those members of the senior class who have earned a “B” average and above through the end of their junior year will receive a cord and certificate to commemorate their outstanding achievement. [Read more…]
The Oak Ridge Community Band/Wind Ensemble is pictured above during its Spring Concert on April 19, 2015. (Submitted photo)
The Oak Ridge Community Band/Wind Ensemble will present its last indoor concert of the 2015-2016 “Every Day is Better with Music” series on Sunday, April 3. This performance will be held at the Oak Ridge High School Performing Arts Center at 3:30 p.m. Admission is $5 for all adults over age 18, and it includes free refreshments in the lobby at the conclusion of the show.
“This Sunday’s performance promises to be exceptional featuring music about America and a number of selections written by American composers,” a press release said. “A highlight of this concert will be guest soprano vocalist Lettie Andrade De La Torre, who will be making a return appearance to sing Andrew Lloyd Webber’s beautiful ‘Music of the Night’ from ‘Phantom of the Opera.'”
Another high note of Sunday’s show will be a unique narration of Ernest Thayer’s poem by Oak Ridge High School student Lucas Potter as the band plays Randol Bass’s “Casey at the Bat” focusing on America’s favorite summertime sport, baseball, the press release said. [Read more…]
Color Wheels (Photo courtesy Masskus Productions)
The Golden Dragon Acrobats will perform on Saturday, July 25, in a show that will benefit the Oak Ridge High School Masquers, the school’s drama program. It’s the group’s first visit to East Tennessee in more than a decade.
“The Golden Dragons are recognized throughout the United States and abroad as the premiere Chinese acrobatic touring company of today,” a press release said.
It said the Golden Dragon Acrobats represent the very best of a time-honored circus tradition that began more than 25 centuries ago. The group has more than two dozen highly trained acrobats and technicians.
The family entertainment event starts at 7 p.m. Saturday, July 25, at the Oak Ridge High School Performing Arts Center. All seats are reserved. Tickets are $25 for adults and $10 for children 12 and under, and they are available through www.KnoxvilleTickets.com. [Read more…]
Oak Ridge Wind Ensemble members pictured above are Ron Battle on trombone, Tim Michaels on trumpet, and assistant conductor Lisa Michaels on clarinet. (Submitted photo)
The Oak Ridge Wind Ensemble/Community Band’s final concert of the season is Sunday, April 19.
This is your opportunity to hear an amazing program of great music, a press release said.
This performance will begin at 3:30 p.m., and it will be held at the Oak Ridge High School Performing Arts Center. [Read more…]
Dan Allcott
Submitted
The Oak Ridge Symphony Orchestra will turn Saturday night into a magnificent musical evening when the Oak Ridge Civic Music Association presents a program of Verdi, Gorecki, and Shostakovich at the Oak Ridge High School Performing Arts Center.
Joining the orchestra for the concert at 7:30 p.m. Saturday will be the Oak Ridge Chorus along with the South Doyle High School Chorus for Giuseppe Verdi’s “Stabat Mater” and “Te Deum.”
Symphony conductor Dan Allcott wanted to do a Verdi choral work and chose these works in celebration of Verdi’s 200th birthday year. “The ‘Stabat Mater’ is one of my favorite works by the composer,†Allcott said. “Verdi was a small town boy who had a great work ethic, having composed 30 operas in his lifetime. These particular works were done in his later years.†[Read more…]
The Oak Ridge High School Masquers’ production of “Guys and Dolls” starts Friday, March 7, and ends Sunday, March 9. Pictured above are Maguire James as Nathan Detroit and Emily Bultman as Adelaide. (Submitted photo)
By Gwendolyn Hay

The Oak Ridge High School Masquers are bringing to life “Guys and Dolls,” which will be presented at the Performing Arts Center at Oak Ridge High School from March 7-9. Directed by Dana Wham, the production is an exciting performance by the cast and crew to finish out their fourth season.
This Damon Runyon story takes place in 1950s New York City and follows Sarah Brown, an object of affection for Sky Masterson, a high-rolling gambler. Masterson must get Brown to agree to go on a date with him to win a $1,000 bet placed with Nathan Detroit, a gambler obsessed with the idea of the next game.
“This will not be your regular ‘high school production,’†said Wham, who has been involved in more than 100 shows in the region. She is the former director for the Knoxville Performing Arts Institute and has worked with multiple area theaters. [Read more…]
Pictured above are Jacob Moreno as Mr. Knightly in the ORHS Masquers’ production of “Emma” and Meghanne Hill as Emma Woodhouse. (Submitted photo)
By Dianna Williams, ORHSÂ English teacher
The Oak Ridge High School Masquers will present “Emma,” a play adaptation of Jane Austen’s “Emma,” a beloved British novel published in 1815. Emma is the company’s first English comedy.
The play presents the story of Emma Woodhouse, a mischievous young woman bent on matchmaking whose efforts backfire when she sets her mind to finding a husband for her friend, Harriet Smith.
 Junior Meghanne Hill plays the starring role and senior Mackensie Russell will play Jane Austen herself, who comes alive as the narrator of the onstage version of the story.
“My favorite part of this production is that I’m finally getting to prove myself as an actor with as challenging a role as Jane Austen,†Russell said. “It’s hard to make a narrator a noticeable character.†[Read more…]
The internationally renowned Oak Ridge bassist and composer Edgar Meyer, winner of four Grammy awards, will open the Oak Ridge Civic Music Association’s Chamber Music Series with a one-man concert at 7:30 p.m. today (Saturday) at the Oak Ridge High School Performing Arts Center. (Submitted photo)
The internationally renowned Oak Ridge bassist and composer Edgar Meyer, winner of four Grammy awards, will open the Oak Ridge Civic Music Association’s Chamber Music Series with a one-man concert at 7:30 p.m. today (Saturday) at the Oak Ridge High School Performing Arts Center.
Meyer, who grew up in Oak Ridge and graduated from Oak Ridge High School, plays a unique role in the contemporary music scene, with compositions and performances in both classical and jazz traditions, and even in some remarkable combinations of both. He was hailed by the “New Yorker†as “…the most remarkable virtuoso in the…history of his instrument.â€
As a solo classical bassist, Meyer has released a concerto album with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra featuring Bottesini’s “Gran Duo†with well-known violinist Joshua Bell, Meyer’s own “Double Concerto for Bass and Cello†with internationally renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma, Bottesini’s “Bass Concerto No. 2,†and Meyer’s “Concerto in D for Bass.†[Read more…]
The Oak Ridge Community Band performs earlier at the pavilion at A.K. Bissell Park. (Photo courtesy Oak Ridge Community Band)
The Oak Ridge Community Band will present an “Early Music” Concert on Oct. 13 at Oak Ridge High School.
The concert starts at 3:30 p.m. in the ORHS Performing Arts Center at 1450 Oak Ridge Turnpike.
This concert is the first of six indoor concerts in the “Music for a Lifetime” series scheduled for October, November, December, January, February, and April. These concerts will take the audience from early compositions up to the 1890s, then continue through the 20th century featuring the roaring ’20s, Big Band era on through the Nifty Fifties, Swinging Sixties, Generation X, and ending with music representing the New Millenium. [Read more…]
