Big Ears To Present KNOXVILLE BROADCAST By Lisa Bielawa This October
Three free large-scale outdoor performances at World’s Fair Park will take place October 17–18, 2025.
By: A.A. Cristi Aug. 19, 2025
Big Ears Festival will present Knoxville Broadcast, a large-scale, site-specific “spatial symphony” created by Guggenheim Fellow and Rome Prize-winning composer Lisa Bielawa, on October 17–18, 2025, at World’s Fair Park. The free event will bring together more than 600 musicians from across Knoxville for three outdoor performances.
Knoxville Broadcast is the latest in Bielawa’s celebrated Broadcast series, following large-scale performances in Berlin, San Francisco, and Louisville. The San Francisco Chronicle called her 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.”
For this new Knoxville work, Bielawa has composed a score inspired by the city’s landscape, voices, and musical traditions. Participating groups include 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 Community College Choir, and the University of Tennessee Gospel Choir. Three “pickup” ensembles—the Sterchi String Band, Found Forte youth percussion group, and the Sunsphere Singers intergenerational choir—are also open to public participation.
Musicians will begin in the amphitheater and gradually disperse throughout the park, coordinated by long-distance musical cues. Audiences can move freely throughout the space, experiencing the piece from multiple perspectives.
“The abundance of musical cultures here makes Knoxville Broadcast unique among my large-scale urban celebrations,” says Bielawa. “From Appalachian traditional music and folk guitar to found object percussion and West African drumming, plus a vital tradition of school and community bands, orchestras, and choruses—it's been an exciting adventure collaborating with this vibrant city!”
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