It's been about three months since the Big Ears festival announced its first round of performers in the 2019 lineup.
On Tuesday, the lineup released included Spiritualized, Frisell, Giddens, Mercury Rev and The Comet is Coming among several other bands and musicians.
The festival is set for March 21-24, 2019 in downtown Knoxville.
Festival tickets are already on sale. You can get more information here.
In the coming weeks, more Big Ears 2019 programming will be announced including 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.
"Community engagement typically includes 50+ panels, workshops, and performances that are free and open to the public."
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.
"Big Ears 2019 presents one of the first productions of TRIPTYCH, a multimedia project that explores the legacy of provocative New York photographer, Robert Mapplethorpe," the website said.
It combines large-scale projections of his work with new music by The National’s Bryce Dessner and interpretations of Monteverdi’s madrigals by stunning vocal ensemble Roomful of Teeth, TRIPTYCH includes the writings of Essex Hemphill and Mapplethorpe’s longtime mutual muse, Patti Smith.
"Under the direction of the brilliant Daniel Fish, TRIPTYCH arrives in Knoxville almost exactly 30 years after Mapplethorpe’s untimely death."
The Nashville Ballet presents the first performance of Lucy Negro Redux outside of its hometown premiere, a program based around the hypothetical life of Shakespeare’s “Dark Lady”.
Lineup as of Sept. 25, 2018:
Acme
Alvin Lucier
Avishai Cohen Quartet
Bill Frisell & Thomas Morgan
Bill Frisell and the Mesmerists featuring Tony Scheer
Kenny Wollesen and the films of Bill Morrison
Brooklyn Rider
Carl Stone
Carla Bley Trios with Andy Sheppard and Steve Swallow
Carla Kihlstedt
Clarice Jensen + Jonathan Turner: For This From That Will Be Filled
Coupler
Dejohnette Coltrane Garrison
Derek Gripper
Dragnet Girl with live score by Coupler
Evan Parker/Matt Wright Trance Map+
Ever Present Orchestra featuring Stephen O’Malley and Oren Ambarchi perform the works of Alvin Lucier,
Harold Budd
International Contemporary Ensemble
Irreversible Entanglements
Jerusalem In My Heart
Jlin
Joan La Barbara
Joan La Barbara performs works by Alvin Lucier
Joan La Barbara: Voice is the Original Instrument
Joep Beving
Kara-Lis Coverdale
Kayhan Kalhor & Brooklyn Rider
Kim Kashkashian
Lonnie Holley
Lonnie Holley and The Messthetics
Mary Halvorson’s Code Girl
Mathias Eick Quintet
Matt Wilson’s Honey & Salt
Mercury Rev
Meredith Monk & Vocal Ensemble Cellular Songs Concert
Nief-Norf
Nik Bärtsch’s Ronin
Nils Frahm
Peter Gregson
Rachel Grimes: The Way Forth
Rafio Bhatia: Breaking English
Ralph Towner
Rhiannon Giddens and Francesco Turrisi
Richard Thompson: Killed In Action
Roomful Of Teeth
Schlippenbach Trio
Shai Maestro Trio
Sons of Kemet
Spiritualized
Sun Of Goldfinger
The Art Ensemble Of Chicago
The Comet Is Coming
The Messthetics
The Nashville Ballet: Lucy Negro Redux choreography by Paul Westerling with music by Rhiannon Giddens & Francesco Turrisi and poetry by Caroline Randall
Theo Bleckmann: Berlin - Songs of Love and War, Peace and Exile
Theo Bleckmann: Hello Earth! The Music of Kate Bush
Thumbscrew
Tim Berne's Snakeoil
Triptych: On the work of Robert Mapplethorpe, featuring Roomful Of Teeth, composed by Bryce Dressner, Libretto by Korde Arrington Tuttle, featuring the work of Patti Smith & Essex Hemphill, directed by Daniel Fish
Wadada Leo Smith solo: Reflections and Meditations on Monk
Wadada Leo Smith's NDA, performing "Divine Love" with Bobby Naughton and Dwight Andrews
Yves Tumor
Here's a look at the closing notes at last year's festival:
