KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Spring is finally here, meaning it's time to ring it in with the 2019 Big Ears festival!
The eclectic and critically-acclaimed East Tennessee festival features more than 100 performances from local and regional artists and runs through Sunday from March 21-24, 2019 in downtown Knoxville.
The festival got off to an early start Wednesday night at the Tennessee Theatre with a performance by the Nashville Ballet.
You can get more information about the festival here.
Big Ears 2019 will include the second edition of its all-night, 12-hour drone concert and a series of panels and workshops.
Each year, the festival supports more than 100 performers of music, film, and art over four days.
The Big Ears film festival was recently dubbed one of the 25 coolest film festivals in the United States.
Knoxville native Yves Tumor is also someone to keep an eye... or ear out at this year's festival.
The festival said "an experimental answer to SXSW” will return under the direction of Paul Harris and Darren Hughes of Knoxville’s Public Cinema.
In 2019, Big Ears presents more than 10 distinct special programs that are unique to the festival altogether or are in some of their earliest performances.
- ABSTRACT BLACK
- ABSÎNT (AURORA NEALAND, BILL FRISELL, TIM BERNE, DAVID TORN)
- ACME
- ALIEN FLOWER SUTRA
- ALTERED STATESMAN
- ALVIN LUCIER
- AMIRTHA KIDAMBI’S ELDER ONES
- THE ART ENSEMBLE OF CHICAGO
- ARTIFACTS TRIO
- AVEY TARE
- AVISHAI COHEN QUARTET
- BÉLA FLECK
- BÉLA FLECK & EDMAR CASTAÑEDA
- BILL FRISELL & THOMAS MORGAN
- BILL FRISELL AND THE MESMERISTS FEATURING TONY SCHERR, KENNY WOLLESEN AND THE FILMS OF BILL MORRISON
- BILL FRISELL’S HARMONY FEATURING PETRA HADEN, HANK ROBERTS & LUKE BERGMAN
- BLACK DUCK
- B|_ANK
- BROOKLYN RIDER
- CAPS
- CARL STONE
- CARLA BLEY TRIOS WITH ANDY SHEPPARD AND STEVE SWALLOW
- CARLA KIHLSTEDT
- CARNIVAL OF SOULS WITH LIVE SCORE BY MERCURY REV'S CLEAR LIGHT ENSEMBLE FT. STEVE SHELLEY, TIM BERNE, BEN NEILL, MIMI GOESE, JIM SCLAVUNOS, JESSE CHANDLER, JONATHAN AND GRASSHOPPER
- CHRIS ELDRIDGE
- CLARICE JENSEN + JONATHAN TURNER: FOR THIS FROM THAT WILL BE FILLED
- COLUMBIA ICEFIELD
- THE COMET IS COMING
- COUPLER
- DARK INSIDE THE SUN
- DAVID TORN
- DEJOHNETTE COLTRANE GARRISON
- DEREK GRIPPER
- DRAGNET GIRL WITH LIVE SCORE BY COUPLER
- EVAN PARKER / MATT WRIGHT TRANCE MAP+
- EVER PRESENT ORCHESTRA FEAT. STEPHEN O’MALLEY AND OREN AMBARCHI PERFORM THE WORKS OF ALVIN LUCIER
- FIRE!
- GABRIEL KAHANE
- GIRI & UMA PETERS
- HAROLD BUDD
- HAWKTAIL
- IAN CHANG
- IE
- INTERNATIONAL CONTEMPORARY ENSEMBLE
- IRREVERSIBLE ENTANGLEMENTS
- JACOB CLARK
- JERUSALEM IN MY HEART
- JLIN
- JOAN LA BARBARA PERFORMS WORKS BY ALVIN LUCIER
- JOAN LA BARBARA: VOICE IS THE ORIGINAL INSTRUMENT
- JOEP BEVING
- JON MUELLER
- KARA-LIS COVERDALE
- KAYHAN KALHOR
- KAYHAN KALHOR & BROOKLYN RIDER
- KIERAN KANE AND RAYNA GELLERT
- KIM KASHKASHIAN
- KIM KASHKASHIAN AND ROBERT LEVIN
- KRISTÍN ANNA VALTÝSDÓTTIR
- KTL
- KUKANGENDAI
- LARRY GRENADIER
- LONNIE HOLLEY WITH NELSON PATTON
- LONNIE HOLLEY AND THE MESSTHETICS
- MAKAYA MCCRAVEN
- MARY HALVORSON'S CODE GIRL
- MARY LATTIMORE
- MATHIAS EICK QUINTET
- MATT NELSON
- MATT WILSON'S HONEY & SALT
- MERCURY REV
- MEREDITH MONK & VOCAL ENSEMBLE CELLULAR SONGS CONCERT
- THE MESSTHETICS
- MIMI GOESE & BEN NEILL
- MOOR MOTHER
- MOSAIC INTERACTIVE
- MOUNTAIN MAN
- NASHVILLE BALLET: LUCY NEGRO REDUX CHOREOGRAPHY BY PAUL VASTERLING WITH MUSIC BY RHIANNON GIDDENS & FRANCESCO TURISI AND POETRY BY CAROLINE RANDALL WILLIAMS
- NATE WOOLEY
- NIEF-NORF
- NIK BÄRTSCH’S RONIN
- NILS FRAHM
- OREN AMBARCHI
- PARKER / SCHLIPPENBACH / LYTTON TRIO
- PETER ASKIM
- PETER GREGSON
- PUNCH BROTHERS
- RACHEL GRIMES: THE WAY FORTH
- RAFIQ BHATIA: BREAKING ENGLISH
- RALPH TOWNER
- RHIANNON GIDDENS AND FRANCESCO TURRISI
- RICHARD THOMPSON: KILLED IN ACTION
- ROBERT LUNDBERG
- ROOMFUL OF TEETH
- SERPENTWITHFEET
- SETH HOPPER
- SHAI MAESTRO
- SHANE PARISH
- SIMA CUNNINGHAM
- SONS OF KEMET
- SPIRITUALIZED
- ST. JOHN’S CHOIR: ARVO PÄRT’S PASSIO
- SUN OF GOLDFINGER (DAVID TORN, TIM BERNE, CHES SMITH)
- TASHI DORJI & TYLER DAMON DUO
- TATSUYA NAKATANI
- THEO BLECKMANN: BERLIN - SONGS OF LOVE AND WAR, PEACE AND EXILE
- THEO BLECKMANN: HELLO EARTH! THE MUSIC OF KATE BUSH
- THIS IS NOT THIS HEAT
- THIRD MAN BOOKS PRESENTS CAROLINE RANDALL WILLIAMS, KENDRA DECOLO, CIONA ROUSE
- THUMBSCREW
- TIM BERNE’S SNAKEOIL
- TIM STORY PRESENTS THE ROEDELIUS CELLS
- TRIPTYCH (EYES OF ONE ON ANOTHER), FEATURING ROOMFUL OF TEETH, COMPOSED BY BRYCE DESSNER, LIBRETTO BY KORDE ARRINGTON TUTTLE, FEAT. THE WORK OF PATTI SMITH & ESSEX HEMPHILL, DIRECTED BY DANIEL FISH, PRODUCED BY ARKTYPE / THOMAS O. KRIEGSMANN
- UNCLE EARL
- VERY VERY HOT EVIL
- VIJAY IYER AND CRAIG TABORN
- WADADA LEO SMITH SOLO: REFLECTIONS AND MEDITATIONS ON MONK
- WADADA LEO SMITH’S NDA, PERFORMING “DIVINE LOVE” WITH BOBBY NAUGHTON AND DWIGHT ANDREWS
- YUNOHANA VARIATIONS WITH YOSHIMIO, SUSIE IBARRA, AND ROBERT AKI AUBREY LOWE
- YVES TUMOR
- 12-HOUR DRONE ALL NIGHT FLIGHT: DREAMS OF THE WHIRLWIND