About the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra Formed in 1935 by founding music director, Bertha Walburn Clark, The Knoxville Symphony Orchestra enters its 2024-25 season as the oldest continuously performing orchestra in the Southeast and one of Knoxville’s cultural jewels. The KSO performs nearly 200 concerts each season and reaches over 200,000 audience members across the Greater Knoxville Region. With a dedication to community outreach and education, the KSO is proud to bring over 70% of those performances to venues and stages beyond the concert hall in local libraries, schools, parks, daycares, hospitals, churches, and other community centers in East Tennessee. Over the years, the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra has been shaped by a strong sense of civic pride a