Big Ears returns March 30 – April 2, 2023, and has announced the first wave of programs scheduled for that special weekend, with full festival weekend passes going on sale Wednesday, September 14, at 9am EST.
Once again, Big Ears offers a bold, head-spinning kaleidoscope of multi-genre, multi-generational musical adventure. Jazz legends like saxophonist Charles Lloyd, Christian McBride, and William Parker share the line up with Béla Fleck, Rickie Lee Jones, and Los Lobos, along with a gathering of beloved alt-folk rockers like Iron & Wine, Andrew Bird, The Mountain Goats, Devendra Banhart, Bonny Light Horseman, Kevin Morby, Son Lux, The Weather Station, and more.
Other highlights on tap for 2023 include bassist Pino Palladino’s collaboration with songwriter/producer Blake Mills, along with Sam Gendel; composer/bass virtuoso Edgar Meyer’s dazzling “Trios” with violinist Tessa Lark and cellist Joshua Roman; composer/bandleader/drummer extraordinaire Makaya McCraven’s opus In These Times; Scottish harp virtuoso Maeve Gilchrest’s The Harpweaver, with the Aizuri string quartet; and Love in Exile, a collaboration between Pakistani singer Arooj Aftab, pianist Vijay Iyer, and multi-instrumentalist Shahzad Ismaily.
Big Ears will present the North American premiere of guitarist Bill Frisell and his trio with the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra, with arrangements by Michael Gibbs.
A series of special concerts will highlight the iconoclastic, groundbreaking work of composers Éliane Radigue and Annea Lockwood, along with relative newcomer Catherine Lamb, in a series of concerts performed by Nate Wooley, Yarn/Wire, and the JACK Quartet. In addition, the Mivos Quartet will perform a concert of Steve Reich’s complete string quartets, including Different Trains.
After a thrilling and exuberant nine-show marathon in 2022, iconoclastic composer John Zorn will celebrate his 70th birthday with eight new programs, including a rare appearance by the explosive Painkiller, his trio with bassist/producer Bill Laswell and ex-Slayer drum maestro Dave Lombardo, and culminating with an all-star realization of Zorn’s classic game piece, Cobra.
