SEPTEMBER| OCTOBER | NOVEMBER | Movies at the Bijou

Sufjan Stevens—SOLD OUT

Friday, November 5, 8 p.m.

Sufjan Stevens mixes autobiography, religious fantasy, and regional history to create folk songs of grand proportions. A preoccupation with epic concepts has motivated two state records (Michigan & Illinois), an electronic album for the animals of the Chinese zodiac (Enjoy Your Rabbit), a five-disc Christmas box set (Songs for Christmas), and, more recently, a programmatic tone poem with film accompaniment for the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway (The BQE). Stevens most recently appeared in Knoxville as a guest performer with Clogs during the 2010 Big Ears Festival. He is said to be working on a new album with members of The National.

$35, plus applicable service fees

Knoxville Symphony Orchestra Chamber Classics 75th Anniversary Celebration

Sunday, November 7, 2:30 p.m.

Celebrate the KSO's 75th anniversary with the season-opener of Chamber Classics. Lucas Richman conducts performances of Glazunov's Trois Morceaux, Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, K.466 and Symphony No. 39, and Sibelius' Valse Triste. Slade Trammell is featured on piano. Patrons are encouraged to park for free at the State Street garage and ride the shuttle, which runs to the Bijou from 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. and back to the garage until about 5:15 p.m., allowing patrons the opportunity to attend post-concert chats.

Season tickets are on sale now at the KSO box office, 865-291-3310, Option 4. Single tickets go on sale soon.

Punch Brothers featuring Chris Thile

Tuesday, November 16, 8 p.m.

The arrangements the Punch Brothers’ second Nonesuch album, Antifogmatic range from intimate to boisterous and back; genre-wise, the band once again ventures where no string band has ever gone before. The spare opening track “You Are” contrasts percussive guitar riffs with lyrical string parts that dance around Thile’s sweet upper register as he spins a tale of romantic emancipation; occasionally, the other instruments give way to reveal the throb of the bass. The band also engages in some unexpectedly beautiful harmony singing, smoothing out the compelling melodic twists and turns of “Welcome Home.” “Me and Us” and “Woman and the Bell” both have a dream-like quality; the former, in fact, was inspired by those jumbled, thought-filled moments before sleep sets in, and the instrumentation keeps pace with the ever-shifting imagery. In contrast, “Don’t Need No” and “Rye Whiskey” are foot-stomping barroom boasts and “Next to the Trash” is the closest the band gets to traditional bluegrass, even as the lyrics tug the piece in a more surreal direction. Judging from their most recent album, this will be a “don’t miss” show.

$19.50, plus applicable service fees

SEPTEMBER| OCTOBER | NOVEMBER | Movies at the Bijou