Big Ears Festival — Knoxville’s shapeshifting, multi-dimensional, genre-defying celebration of music and arts — returns March 27 through 30, 2025, to downtown Knoxville, Tennessee, with another iconic gathering of many of the world’s most influential and visionary musical creators. Today, the festival announces its initial 2025 lineup (with more artists to be added in the coming months). Passes for the 2025 festival will be available to the general public Thursday, September 12, at 9 a.m. Eastern.
From the return of the deeply soulful and impossible-to-pigeonhole ANOHNI & the Johnsons — who helped launch Big Ears in 2009 — to multi-Grammy winning composer and bassist Esperanza Spalding, Lankum’s hauntingly beautiful brand of Irish folk,Tindersticks’ and múm’s atmospheric and ethereal indie rock; a multi-generational lineup of jazz innovators like Steve Coleman, Immanuel Wilkins, Kris Davis, Ambrose Akinmusire, and Sylvie Courvoisier; and distinctive singer-songwriters like Waxahatchee, Jessica Pratt, Rufus Wainwright, Michael Hurley, and Cassandra Jenkins; plus Indian music royalty Zakir Hussain and Anoushka Shankar are just a few of the highlights scheduled for Big Ears 2025.
Two of the most compelling and influential composers and instrumentalists operating in the nexus of jazz and classical music, 2024 Pulitzer Prize winner Tyshawn Sorey and the visionary 2013 Pulitzer Prize finalist, Wadada Leo Smith, will each present multiple programs during the festival weekend.
Big Ears will also present the North American premiere of Jonny Greenwood’s 133 Years of Reverb, an eight-hour piece for pipe organ performed by James McVinnie and Eliza McCarthy; Kate Soper’s “twenty-first century masterpiece” (The New Yorker) Ipsa Dixit, will have you rethinking what opera can be; and the Philip Glass Ensemble will revisit the composer’s 1974 masterpiece, Music in Twelve Parts, across two festival days.
New Age electronic music pioneer Steve Roach will make his Big Ears debut, while Bob Holmes and SUSS will curate a weekend-long, multi-artist exploration of ambient and Americana musical soundscapes.
Producer/DJ/electro-wizard King Britt returns for a second installment of his Blacktronika series, including avant-hip-hoppers Antipop Consortium, legendary Indian vocalist Asha Puthli, the super trio Free Form Funky Freqs, with Jamaaladeen Tacuma, Vernon Reid, and Calvin Weston, along with a surprise all-star band and more.
Several artists will return to the festival with new projects: Béla Fleck with his unconventional new trio, Bill Frisell with a new sextet, Arooj Aftab’s latest solo works, Joe Lovano’s electrifying Paramount Quartet, and Meshell Ndegeocello’sNo More Water: The Gospel of James Baldwin.
Did we mention that the legendary Taj Mahal will be there? Or that the Sun Ra Arkestra will be joining forces for a unique collaboration with Yo La Tengo — and, yes, each will play separately too!
The full line up of artists and programs can be found at bigearsfestival.org with new additions and details found each week in the festival’s newsletter.
Passes are on sale Thursday, September 12, at 9 a.m. Eastern, following a special presale for previous festival attendees starting Wednesday, September 11, at 9 a.m. Eastern.
Full Lineup (Alphabetical)
Adam Rudolph’s Sunrise Quartet * Adam Rudolph’s Hu Vibrational * Adam Rudolph & Tyshawn Sorey * [Ahmed] * Alabaster DePlume * Alan Sparhawk * Allison de Groot & Tatiana Hargreaves * Amaro Freitas Trio * Ambrose Akinmusire: Honey from a Winter’s Stone * Ambrose Akinmusure (Solo) * ANOHNI and the Johnsons * Anoushka Shankar * Antipop Consortium * Arooj Aftab * Asha Puthli * Astrid Sonne * Axiom 5 * Barry Altschul’s 3 Dom Factor * Beak> * Béla Fleck, Edmar Castañeda, Antonio Sánchez Trio * Bia Ferreira * Bill Frisell: In My Dreams * Brìghde Chaimbeul * Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino * Carlos Niño & Friends * Cassandra Jenkins * Chanel Beads * Chuck Johnson * Claire Chase * Clarice Jensen * clipping. * Cowboy Sadness * DakhaBrakha * Dan Weiss Even Odds Trio * David Grubbs * Dawn Richard & Spencer Zahn * Dedicated Men of Zion * EMEL * esperanza spalding * eucademix (Yuka Honda) * Explosions In The Sky * Fay Victor: Herbie Nichols SUNG * Fieldwork (Vijay Iyer / Steve Lehman / Tyshawn Sorey) * Flore Laurentienne * Free Form Funky Freqs (Jamaaladeen Tacuma / Vernon Reid / Calvin Weston) * Helado Negro * Ibelisse Guardia Ferragutti & Frank Rosaly MESTIZX * Immanuel Wilkins’ Blues Blood * Jeff Parker ETA IVtet * Jenny Scheinman: All Species Parade * Jessica Pratt * Joan as Police Woman * Joe Lovano’s Paramount Quartet with Julian Lage, Santi Debriano, and Will Calhoun * Joel Harrison’s Free Country * Joseph Keckler * Josh Johnson * Joy Guidry: AMEN * Jules Reidy * Julia Holter * June McDoom * Kahil El’Zabar Ethnic Heritage Ensemble * Kalia Vandever * Kelly Moran * Knoxville Opera Gospel Choir * Kokayi * Kris Davis Trio featuring Robert Hurst & Jonathan Blake * Lankum * Lara Somogyi * Les Claypool’s Bastard Jazz * Luke Stewart Silt Trio * Mabe Fratti * Macie Stewart * Magic Tuber Stringband * Maria Chavez + Victoria Shen + Mariam Rezaei * Marisa Anderson * Marissa Nadler * Mark Guiliana * Maruja * Mary Lattimore * Meshell Ndegeocello: No More Water – The Gospel of James Baldwin * Michael Hurley * Mike Reed’s Separatist Party featuring Ben LaMar Gay, Bitchin Bajas & Marvin Tate * ML Buch * Modney * múm * Nanocluster (Immersion | SUSS) * Nels Cline: Concentrik Quartet * The Nels Cline Singers * Peni Candra Rini * Phantom Orchard * Phil Cook * R.B. Morris & William Wright: The Mockingbird * Rachika Nayar * Rich Ruth * Rufus Wainwright * Sam Bush Band * Shelley Hirsch * SML * Squanderers * Steve Coleman and Five Elements * Steve Lehman Trio + Mark Turner: The Music of Anthony Braxton * Steven Schick * Steve Roach * Still House Plants * Sun Ra Arkestra * Sun Ra Arkestra & Yo La Tengo * Sunny War * Susan Alcorn * Sylvie Courvoisier Chimaera * Taj Mahal * Tara Clerkin Trio * Tarta Relena * Tessa Lark, Joshua Roman & Edgar Meyer * Tigran Hamasyan: The Bird of a Thousand Voices * Tilt * Tindersticks * Tortoise * Tyshawn Sorey, King Britt & Friends featuring Melz & Meshell Ndegeocello * Tyshawn Sorey Trio * Vijay Iyer & Wadada Leo Smith * Water Damage * Waxahatchee * William Basinski * Yaya Bey * Yo La Tengo * Zakir Hussain and Masters of Percussion * Zeena Parkins
Special Programming (Alphabetical)
Across the Horizon: Ambient & Americana Soundscapes
Curated by Bob Holmes & SUSS
Blacktronika: Afrofuturism in Electronic Music
Curated by King Britt
Jonny Greenwood’s 133 Years of Reverb (North American Premiere)
Performed by James McVinnie & Eliza McCarthy
Kate Soper’s Ipsa Dixit
Performed by Wet Ink Ensemble
Michael Rother: The Music of NEU! & Harmonia
Philip Glass Music in Twelve Parts (50th Anniversary)
Performed by the Philip Glass Ensemble
Tyshawn Sorey: Monochromatic Light (Afterlife)
Wadada Leo Smith: CREATE
RedKoral Quartet • Wadada Leo Smith Quartet • Orange Wave Electric • Revolutionary Love & More
Photo Credit: Mark Dershowitz
TheWaster.com | Knoxville
9.10.2024
