One of the most staggering aspects of the experience of grief is the unrelenting march of time. Your life seems to come to a screeching halt, but the outside world will continue to spin, the sun will rise and your neighbors will take out their garbage on trash day. This “inexorability of the passage of […]
Two Nashville Performances Blur The Line Between Classical And Pop
In the span of just a few days, the Nashville Ballet and ALIAS Chamber Ensemble are offering a pair of variations on a theme: exploring the way classical music can interact and interweave with other sounds and genres.
Chris Thile, Edgar Meyer And Yo-Yo Ma Found Common Ground In Bach (In A Barn)
A mandolinist, a cellist and a double bassist walk into a barn. No, this isn’t the beginning of some terribly bad joke, but it is how Chris Thile, Edgar Meyer and Yo-Yo Ma came together to record music of J.S. Bach. Their new album Bach Trios was released earlier this month. While a barn isn’t […]
Nashville In Harmony To Sing The Tragedy, Triumph And Beauty Of WWII Codebreaker Alan Turing’s Life
This weekend, a group of Nashville ensembles will present the U.S. premiere of a work they think of not as a performance, but an invitation to activism. British composer James McCarthy’s oratorio, Codebreaker, illuminates key moments from the life of Alan Turing. The groundbreaking computer scientist broke Germany’s Enigma Code during World War II and […]
Seven Classical Pieces for Holy Week
The tradition of writing liturgical music began centuries ago, when the main employer of European composers was the Christian church. Since then, an abundance of music has been created to commemorate the Biblical events leading up to the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. Composers approach musical retellings of Christianity’s most important holiday from a variety […]
In Collaboration Between Blair And Serafin String Quartets, Two Friends And Violinists Reunite
Playing in a string quartet isn’t easy. “You hear so many stories of how it goes wrong,” says Kate Ransom, violinist for the Serafin Quartet and one of the group’s founding members. “It’s such a delicate balance, you have to work so intimately together” she continues, citing a laundry list of moving parts that keep Serafin […]
Romantic Era Meets Rock in Nashville Symphony’s Performance of ‘Brahms v. Radiohead’
What do 19th century Romantic-era composer Johannes Brahms and modern alt-rockers Radiohead have in common? A lot more that you might think, according to Steve Hackman. The young conductor, composer and all-around musician has been making a name for himself in recent years with his orchestral “mash-ups,” which seek to synthesize well known and well […]
Sounds of Spring: A Seasonal Playlist for the Vernal Equinox
Today marks the vernal equinox, and for the Northern Hemisphere, the first day of spring. With the turn of the season comes warmer weather (at least, in theory), the first buds on the trees and blooms on the ground, afternoon thunderstorms and choruses of chirping birds. If you’re smitten with this season, you aren’t alone: […]
A Timeline of Seven Female Composers You Might Not Know
In 1940, prominent American psychologist and educator Carl Seashore published an article in Music Educators Journal titled “Why No Great Women Composers?” It was a marked improvement over 19th century academic writings that detailed the general inferiority of the female gender. However, Seashore blamed the absence of women in composition on what he described as […]
Nashville Rep Playwright Nate Eppler Makes Shortlist For National ‘New Play’ Award
Nashville playwright Nate Eppler’s comedy about a tabloid queen who used to be a champion figure skater is on the shortlist for American Theatre Critics Association’s New Play Award.
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