Photo by Briana Scroggins

Sasha Bynum, 5, of Knoxville, plays in the water during the Knoxville Opera Company’s festival.

Photo by Briana Scroggins

Wesley Martinez, 8, holds a balloon sword that he got from the Shriners, while watching swordplay by members of the Society of Creative Anacronism on Saturday at the Rossini Italian Street Fair. Bill McNutt, foreground left, has been practicing the rapier for five years

Photo by Briana Scroggins

Sarah Asinger, 10, of Charlotte, N.C., flips on a Euro Bungy during the Rossini Italian Street Fair.

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The rapiers clashed along with the cymbals Saturday as opera lovers and others lined the streets of downtown Knoxville for the Knoxville Opera Company's eighth annual Rossini Italian Street Fair.

"I love the food, I love the atmosphere - it's just general, all-around fun," said Blake Adrian, a junior at the University of Tennessee who showed up with his brother Clark and sister Sasha. "I used to do some opera back home in Murfreesboro, but we came out today just to spend the afternoon."

Police estimated a total of about 70,000 people attended the daylong festival, organized as a way to spread the word about opera to East Tennessee's masses.

"We're thrilled at the great weather and thrilled that we have tens of thousands of people downtown today," said Brian Salesky, the opera company's conductor and general director. "It's just a great day. We would like people to understand opera is for everybody. You can come in your shorts and T-shirts if you like, especially on a day like today. This is a popular art form. It was never intended to be for an elite class."

Saturday's event included performances at four stages around downtown, fencing demonstrations by local members of the Society for Creative Anachronism, a children's entertainment area, and productions of Ruggiero Leoncavallo's "Pagliacci" at the Tennessee Theatre and Mozart's "Don Giovanni" at the Bijou Theatre. The opera productions continue today.

The street fair, which wrapped up Saturday night, boasted about 150 artisans and food vendors, Salesky estimated.

"The street fair was originally organized as kind of an afterthought," he said. "It took on a life of its own."

Members of the SCA offered the crowd a glimpse into everyday life during the Renaissance and other eras portrayed in some of the best-known operas.

Joel Davis goes by the name Jack Marvell when in character and wields a mean rapier, the sword favored by Renaissance-era gentlemen and rogues.

"This is a civilian weapon," he said, demonstrating. "You'll find these things in Shakespeare and the good Three Musketeers movies, for example. It marked a transition from the relatively cut-oriented style of the Middle Ages. Here, the point is deadly."

Today's performance of "Pagliacci" begins at 2:30 p.m., with "Don Giovanni" beginning at 8 p.m.

Matt Lakin may be reached at 865-342-6306.

© 2009, Knoxville News Sentinel
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