We’ve got some exciting videos to show you. We can spend all the time we want explaining the concept of MSO’s Opus One series to you, or you can just see for yourself.
Many thanks to Chad Barton and Patrick Churvis for their artistic vision and excellence in putting these videos together.
You’ve heard an orchestra. At the very least, you know what an orchestra is. It’s a group of very talented musicians playing great musical works from mostly dead guys. Maybe to you these musicians resemble stuffy penguins on stage with a passion-ridden conductor flapping his or her arms around. Worst of all — you’re not allowed to cough. Or speak. Or text. If you do any of these things, chances are an irate person will find a way to trip you when you’re on the way to the bathroom during the insufficient 15 minute intermission.
We are those musicians. We love playing our dead-guy music.
But we’re much more than that.
Here at the Memphis Symphony Orchestra, we balance our “stuffy” dead-guy music with something completely innovative and hip: cross-cultural, inter-musical, poly-art forms, often paired with a guest artist completely out of the classical music genre. We defy the idea of ‘high art’ and ‘low art’. To us, the Opus One series is a breath of fresh air allowing us to expand our boundaries and smash the barriers separating classical musicians from “other musicians”.
We are Opus One.
Opus One: Al Kapone & UDig Dancers
Photo credit: Melissa Anderson Sweazy
We break away from our traditional concert halls for venues in downtown places like The New Daisy Theater, the Rumba Room, and Stop 345. Wear whatever you want. When you come to hear us and experience the art we have to offer you, we want you to discuss it, hang out with your friends while you enjoy the music, and drink some beer.
We’ve got some really exciting concerts coming up this year. Our first concert is with rapper Al Kapone. Thursday, November 10 at 7:30 p.m., hear an amazing hip-hop rapper perform with Opus One and the UDig Dance Company. (Seriously, have you ever seen a rapper perform with an orchestra?!) Later on this year we have the privilege of performing with Marcela Pinilla, a talented Latin-jazz singer, and Lucero, a Memphis-based folk rock band. View our website here for more information.
As you explore our website and our blog, remember:
This is not your typical experience.
OpusOneMemphis 
