The last time Zuill Bailey played with the Nashville Symphony, he gave a Grammy-winning performance. It’s an experience the virtuoso cellist describes as “capturing lightning in a bottle.”
Composer John Harbison on Grief, Time and Recording His Requiem with the Nashville Symphony
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 […]
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 […]
Nashville Symphony Kicks Off First-Ever Composer Lab Fellowship
The Nashville Symphony will play music by a young composer from California’s Bay Area this weekend, in a performance that kicks off an intensive, season-long relationship with the artist. 24-year-old Gabriela Smith was one of five composers chosen to take part in a workshops at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center last year. The Nashville Symphony offered […]
Arts Voices: Blair School Dean Sees Renewed Vitality In Classical Music
Mark Wait is Dean and Professor at the Blair School of Music, Vanderbilt University, where he holds the Martha Rivers Ingram Dean’s Chair. There are many reasons to relish living in Nashville, and one of the best is Nashville Public Radio’s Classical 91.1. Here we have a great cultural resource, one that is available to all of us, […]
Young Classical Musicians Taking Stage All Around Nashville
Spring is the season for hearing talented young musicians at their best. It’s when honor bands and choirs meet, when music majors ending their college careers perform senior recitals, and when competitions identify budding soloists.
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