Nashville Symphony 2018/19 Press Kit

About the Nashville Symphony One of Tennessee’s largest and longest-running nonprofit performing arts

organizations, the Nashville Symphony has been an integral part of the Music City sound since 1946. Led by music director Giancarlo Guerrero, the 83-member ensemble performs more than 150 concerts annually, with a focus on contemporary American orchestral music through collaborations with composers including Jennifer Higdon, Terry Riley and Aaron Jay Kernis. The orchestra is equally renowned for its commissioning and recording projects with Nashville-based artists including bassist Edgar Meyer, banjoist Béla Fleck, singer-songwriter Ben Folds and electric bassist Victor Wooten.

The Nashville Symphony is in one of the most productive periods in its 70-plus year history. Recent years have seen consistent growth in ticket sales and fundraising, a string of GRAMMY® awards and nominations, and national and international acclaim for its performances and recordings. The Symphony continues to play a key role in Nashville’s artistic and cultural community, having recently spearheaded the Violins of Hope Nashville initiative in the spring of 2018. This community-wide effort, centered around a collection of instruments played by Jewish musicians during the Holocaust, engaged tens of thousands of Middle Tennesseans and represented one of the largest initiatives ever organized around the Violins of Hope.

The Nashville Symphony is one of the most prolific recording orchestras in the U.S., with 30 releases on Naxos, the world’s largest independent classical label. Encompassing a wide range of repertoire, from Beethoven to Bernstein to Joan Tower, these recordings have garnered 13 GRAMMY® Awards and 24 nominations. Award-winning recordings include Tower’s Made in America, Stephen Paulus’ Three Places of Enlightenment and Michael Daugherty’s Metropolis Symphony and Tales of Hemingway. Released in 2015, the orchestra’s recording of Ben Folds’ Piano Concerto debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Classical and Classical Crossover charts, and stayed in the Classical Crossover Top 20 in the first year of its release. Education and community engagement have been at the core of the Nashville Symphony’s mission since its founding. Each year the organization reaches more than 60,000 children and adults with more than 20 free or low-cost programs, including Young People’s Concerts for K-12 students; sectional lessons with band and orchestra students; and free Community Concerts. In 2016, the Nashville Symphony launched Accelerando, an initiative designed to prepare young musicians from underrepresented ethnic communities for collegiate study and professional orchestra careers. Currently, 16 participating students receive individual instrument instruction, performance opportunities, and guidance on applying to colleges and conservatories, all offered free of charge.

Schermerhorn Symphony Center, the orchestra’s home since 2006, is considered one of the world’s finest acoustical venues. Named in honor of former music director Kenneth Schermerhorn and located in the heart of Nashville’s booming downtown, the building boasts distinctive architecture incorporating motifs and design elements that pay homage to the history, culture and people of Middle Tennessee. Within its intimate “shoebox” design, the 1,800-seat Laura Turner Concert Hall contains several unique features, including soundproof windows, the 3,500-pipe Martin Foundation Concert Organ, and an innovative mechanical system that transforms the hall from theater-style seating to a ballroom configuration.

In addition to its classical and education programming, the Nashville Symphony performs and presents a wide variety of music, including pop, rock, jazz, country and family concerts. The Schermerhorn has become an in-demand venue for artists including Sheryl Crow, Tony Bennett, Diana Ross, Alabama, Frankie Valli and Boyz II Men, all of whom have performed with the Nashville Symphony. The orchestra also performs at Nashville’s Ascend Amphitheater.

For more information, visit NashvilleSymphony.org

NASHVILLE SYMPHONY BY THE NUMBERS Founded: 1946Musicians: 83Chorus members: 150Recordings: 33Commissions and co-commissions: 37World premieres: 36GRAMMY® Awards: 13GRAMMY® nominations: 24Annual performances: 156Annual audience reach*: 538,067Annual education and community engagement reach*: 65,300 Annual education and community engagement service hours*: 64,000

*Figures reflect Nashville Symphony’s completed 2017/18 season

A multimedia presentation of Carmina Burana in collaboration with Nashville Ballet, featuring updated choreography by Paul Vasterling and an original film by British filmmaker Duncan Copp as part of an epic performance showcasing the full Nashville Symphony & Chorus and the Blair Children’s Chorus on May 31-June 3, 2019.

All Nashville Symphony Family Series concerts are sensory friendly to accommodate audience members with autism and other disabilities that cause sensory sensitives. Concerts feature flexible seating, raised house lights, closed captioning, quiet spaces near the concert hall and helpful info for kids and parents to maximize their concert experience. In addition, the Nashville Symphony provides sensory-friendly resources for its key education performances, including Young People’s Concerts.

Featured soloist appearances include Emanuel Ax, James Ehnes, Gil Shaham, Behzod Abduraimov, Juho Pohjonen, Alban Gerhardt, Chee Yun, Simon Trpčeski, Jean-Yves Thibaudet and Cynthia Millar; as well as pops series performances by Martina McBride, Kirstin Chenoweth, Dennis DeYoung and The Mavericks; and jazz series appearances by Jon Batiste, Pink Martini and the Branford Marsalis Quartet.

Presentation highlights at Schermerhorn Symphony Center include three National Geographic LIVE speaker events and book tour appearances by Academy Award-winning actress Reese Witherspoon and renowned photographer Annie Liebovitz.

Four new live recordings:

• John Adams – Harmonielehre (October 4-7, 2018)

• Aaron Jay Kernis – Symphony No. 4, “Chromelodeon” (Feb. 21-23, 2019) Nashville Symphony Co-commission

• Tobias Picker – The Encantadas (March 8-9, 2019)

• Christopher Rouse – Supplica and Concerto for Orchestra (April 11-13, 2018)

Two new releases on Naxos:

• John Harbison – Requiem (October 2018)

• Jonathan Leshnoff – Starburst, Symphony No. 4 and Guitar Concerto (May 2019)

Seven Middle Tennessee students have been selected for the Accelerando music education initiative, bringing the total number of students to 16.

Nashville Symphony will host the League of American Orchestras’ 2019 National Conference, June 3-5, 2019.

2018/19 season highlights

The Nashville Symphony is one of the most active recording orchestras in the United States, with more than 30 internationally distributed recordings. To date, these releases have earned 13 GRAMMY® Awards and 24 GRAMMY® nominations.

Nashville Symphony Recordings

Highlights include:

Ticheli, Warnaar & Ranjbaran – Wind Concertos (Naxos, 2018) Terry Riley – The Palmian Chord Ryddle / At the Royal Majestic (Naxos, 2017)

Jennifer Higdon – All Things Majestic (Naxos, 2017) GRAMMY® winner: Best Classical Compendium Best Contemporary Classical Composition

Michael Daugherty – Tales of Hemingway (Naxos, 2016) GRAMMY® winner: Best Classical Compendium Best Instrumental Solo Best Contemporary Classical Composition Ben Folds – So There (New West Records, 2015) Featuring Concerto for Piano and Orchestra (Nashville Symphony co-commission) No. 1 on Billboard Classical and Classical Crossover Charts Joan Tower – Violin Concerto (Naxos, 2015) GRAMMY® nominee: Best Contemporary Classical Composition Stephen Paulus – Three Places of Enlightenment (Naxos, 2014) GRAMMY® Award: Best Classical Compendium

Roberto Sierra – Sinfonía No. 4 (Naxos, 2013) GRAMMY® nominee: Best Contemporary Classical Composition

Béla Fleck – The Impostor (Decca/Deutsch Grammophon, 2013) Featuring “The Impostor” Concerto for Banjo and Orchestra (Nashville Symphony co-commission)

Joseph Schwantner – Chasing Light… (Naxos, 2011) GRAMMY® winner: Best Classical Instrumental Solo Michael Daugherty – Metropolis Symphony (Naxos, 2009) GRAMMY® winner: Best Orchestral Performance Best Classical Contemporary Composition Best Engineered Album (Classical) GRAMMY® nominee: Best Classical Album Best Instrumental Soloist with an Orchestra Joan Tower – Made in America (Naxos, 2007) GRAMMY® winner: Best Classical Album Best Orchestral Performance Best Classical Contemporary Composition

Additional Recordings:

Richard Danielpour – Songs of Solitude / War Songs (Naxos, 2016) GRAMMY® Nominee: Best Engineered Album, Classical and Best Contemporary Classical Composition

Live From Music City: The Best of Giancarlo Guerrero and the Nashville Symphony (Naxos, 2015)

Richard Danielpour – Darkness in the Ancient Valley (Naxos, 2013)

Astor Piazzolla – Sinfonia Buenos Aires (Naxos, 2010)

Maurice Ravel – L’Enfant et les Sortilèges (Naxos, 2009) GRAMMY® nominee: Best Classical Album

John Corigliano – A Dylan Thomas Trilogy (Naxos, 2008)

Leonard Bernstein – Dybbuk | Fancy Free (complete ballets) (Naxos, 2006)

George and Ira Gershwin, DuBose and Dorothy Heyward – Porgy & Bess (Decca, 2006)

Elliott Carter – Symphony No. 1 (Naxos, 2004) GRAMMY® nominee: Best Classical Album Best Instrumental Soloist with an Orchestra

Amy Beach – “Gaelic” Symphony (Naxos, 2003) GRAMMY® nominee: Best Instrumental Soloist Performance with Orchestra

George Whitefield Chadwick – Orchestral Works (Naxos, 2002) GRAMMY® nominee: Best Engineered Classical Album

Leonard Bernstein – West Side Story (Naxos, 2002)

Charles Ives – Symphony No. 2 (Naxos, 2000)

Howard Hanson – Orchestral Works, Vol. 1 (Naxos, 2000)

DAVE FELIPE Publicist & Communications Manager

Nashville Symphony 1 Symphony Place | Nashville, TN 37201

615.687.6565 dfelipe@nashvillesymphony.org NashvilleSymphony.org

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