Listen / Will Griffin has been a quiet, constant voice on Nashville Public Radio for 33 years. He’s held nearly every hosting role at the station — Morning Edition, All Things Considered and, most recently, as a host at 91Classical. He retires this week.
Nashville Symphony’s Final Performance With The Violins of Hope to Feature Verdi’s ‘Defiant’ Requiem
Over the course of his imprisonment in the Theresienstadt concentration camp, musician Rafael Schächter gathered a chorus of singers to perform Giuseppi Verdi’s Reqiuem—first in secret, and finally for a performance in front of high-ranking Nazi officials— over a dozen times. For many of the performers, including Schächter, it would be the last music they would […]
Experience A Diverse Array of Local Performers (All At Once) With Oz Arts Nashville’s “MusiCircus”
“You won’t hear anything: you’ll hear everything,” is how avant-garde musician John Cage described his events known as Musicircus. First performed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Musicircus began as an invitation for artists to come together in a space and perform whatever they chose, simultaneously. If you missed those original happenings half a century ago, […]
With Modern Masters, Nashville Ballet Brings World Renowned Choreographers to Local Audiences
This weekend, Nashville Ballet will debut Modern Masters, a new initiative designed to bring the work of the world’s finest choreographers to Middle Tennessee audiences. The program includes works by George Balanchine, Jiří Kylián and Christopher Wheeldon— and while these names might be unfamiliar to the ballet novice, Nashville Ballet company member Judson Veach emphasized just how […]
Nashville Opera Unveils 2018-19 Season
The Nashville Opera’s next season draws from three centuries of music making and runs the gamut of operatic storytelling, from fanciful escapism to serious treatment of pressing social issues. Here’s a look at what’s on offer: October 4 & 6 La Traviata by Giuseppe Verdi The season opens with a bittersweet masterpiece, Verdi’s adaptation of […]
Guitarist Jason Vieaux to Make Nashville Symphony Debut With Most Challenging Music of His Career
Over the course of the last six months, Grammy-winning guitarist Jason Vieaux estimates he’s spent well over 150 practice hours preparing for his debut with the Nashville Symphony this weekend. “This is the most time I’ve ever spent on any piece of music, ever, in my 25-year career as a performer,” Vieaux told us over […]
Black Violin To Bring Defiance Of Music And Racial Stereotypes To Nashville Performance
On the cover of Black Violin’s 2015 album Stereotypes is a violin, shattered and artfully arranged in a new, angular shape. It’s a fitting visual for what the duo has been doing together for nearly 15 years: defying expected conventions about what music can sound like, and who can play it. A blend of classically-informed […]
Composer Jonathan Leshnoff on Jewish Spirituality, Tenacity and Writing for the Violins of Hope
A city-wide initiative featuring performances, lectures and community discussions about the Holocaust will culminate this weekend as Giancarlo Guerrero conducts the Nashville Symphony and the Violins of Hope, instruments played by Jewish musicians in concentration camps during WWII. The program is anchored by the world premiere of Jonathan Leshnoff’s Symphony No. 4, a piece the Nashville Symphony commissioned […]
Intersection’s “From the Ancient Valley” Celebrates Global and Local Kurdish and Persian Culture
Nashville is home to nearly 15,000 Kurdish residents, a population bigger than any other city in the United States. Most have found refuge here, having fled wars and dictatorships since the 1970s. This vibrant community was one point of inspiration for Kelly Corcoran, artistic director of Nashville’s contemporary chamber ensemble Intersection. This Friday and Saturday, Intersection […]
Dancing One Survivor’s Story, Nashville Ballet Joins A Chain of Holocaust Memory-Keepers
When a ballet about the Holocaust was first suggested to Stephen Mills, Artistic Director and choreographer for Ballet Austin, it struck him as the “worst idea ever.” It wasn’t until he met Naomi Warren, who survived three concentration camps while her family did not, that Mills felt moved to create Light / The Holocaust and […]
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