Nashville Opera announces its upcoming season today, and the lineup pairs tried and true favorites with two compelling 20th century works. The season opens with Puccini’s iconic Madame Butterfly, featuring a return performance from Cuban-American soprano Elizabeth Caballero as Cio-Cio-San. Caballero has previously performed the title role in Daniel Catán’s Florencia en el Amazonas with Nashville […]
New Concert Series ‘Echo’ Will Showcase The Nashville Parthenon’s Serious Reverb
Listen / Standing at a towering 41 feet, 10 inches, the golden statue of Athena in Nashville’s Parthenon is said to be the tallest indoor sculpture in the Western Hemisphere. Surrounded by huge stone columns and Tennessee pink marble floors, the Parthenon is certainly a sight, but a new concert series is set to […]
With ‘A Thousand Thoughts,’ Kronos Quartet Looks Back On Nearly 50 Years Of Making Music
Listen / Before he founded Kronos Quartet, before the ensemble would go on to stretch the notion of what a quartet could be, before they would collaborate with some of the biggest names in classical music (earning 11 Grammy nominations along the way), violinist David Harrington heard a piece of music that would change everything.
A New Folk Opera Gives Voice to Generations of Appalachian Women
Listen / A few years ago, when composer Rachel Grimes was helping some family members move, she suddenly found herself with a lot of stuff to sort through. Among the personal items and family photos, she found something that completely shocked her: a bill of sale for a woman and her three children from 1824. […]
Nashville Ballet Announces 2019-2020 Season
On the heels of their groundbreaking production of Lucy Negro, Redux, Nashville Ballet has announced their upcoming season. Once again, the company seeks to showcase its range, mixing classic offerings—including Prokofiev’s Romeo & Juliet and the annual favorite Nashville’s Nutcracker— with the envelope-pushing work that has become a Nashville Ballet hallmark over the years. […]
Duo Igudesman And Joo Want Us To Take Classical Music Less Seriously
Listen / When you attend a classical concert, there’s generally an agreed upon code of etiquette: sit quietly; try not to cough; clap at the appropriate times. But one classical duo has made it their mission to loosen up audiences by bringing comedy into the concert hall.
Your First Look At The 2019-20 Nashville Symphony Classical Series
The upcoming 2019-20 Nashville Symphony Classical Series will highlight the talent of featured soloists like Garrick Ohlsson, Bomsori Kim and the symphony’s own Jun Iwasaki, while the series closes with a performance from celebrated pianist Daniil Trifonov.
Three Black Women Hold The Power In Nashville Ballet’s ‘Lucy Negro Redux’
Listen / A new work set to premiere at Nashville Ballet this week tells the story of Black Luce, also known as Lucy Negro — a known brothel owner in Elizabethan England thought to be the lover of William Shakespeare. And the three women at the center of the ballet say her character feels personal.
Notes In The Margin: ‘Crooked River City: The Musical Life Of Nashville’s William Pursell’
Listen / When he moved to Nashville in 1960, Bill Pursell was a classically trained pianist and composer who found his way into the studios on Music Row during the rise of the Nashville Sound. As he was working with some of country music’s biggest names, including Chet Atkins and Patsy Cline, Pursell was moonlighting […]
How Handel’s ‘Messiah’ Became An American Christmas Tradition
Listen / Nothing announces the holiday season quite as gloriously as the “Hallelujah” chorus from George Frideric Handel’s Messiah.
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