A PUBLICATION OF THE NASHVILLE SYMPHONY
GUERRERO CONDUCTS PÉTROUCHKA APR. 9 & 10 | BLUEGRASS MASS APR. 21
BEN RECTOR: SYMPHONIES ACROSS AMERICA APR. 24 & 25 | MO WILLEMS’ BECAUSE APR. 26
THE MIRACULOUS MANDARIN AND MUSIC OF BATES MAY 1 TO 3 | AND MORE!
As I continue reflecting on memorable milestones from my 28 years with the Nashville Symphony, I naturally return to one transformative moment: our move into Schermerhorn Symphony Center and the Laura Turner Hall nearly twenty years ago.
Opening this magnificent hall expanded our horizons in ways we could scarcely imagine at the time. Schermerhorn Symphony Center allowed us to dream bigger. For the first time in our history, we were fully in control of our own artistic calendar and destiny. We gained the flexibility to program boldly, host events at scale, and welcome audiences into a home designed specifically and acoustically for symphonic music.
Artistically, the hall opened new doors as well. After moving into Schermerhorn, we presented our first liveto-film event with The Wizard of Oz . It felt especially fitting, just as Dorothy’s world transforms into color when she arrives in Munchkinland, so too did our orchestra enter a new era upon landing in our permanent home, where the room’s brilliant acoustics made every note of music sound like it was being heard in color. Some initially wondered whether audiences would embrace the idea of watching a film outside a traditional cinema, but they quickly discovered what makes these performances extraordinary: experiencing a beloved movie while your Nashville Symphony performs the score live is unlike any other cinematic experience.
The building also enabled us to grow institutionally. In a single year’s time, our annual ticket revenues tripled as we opened the hall, and our fundraising capacity increased dramatically as well, allowing us to present signature events that have become cornerstones of our community. With the support of many volunteers for the past twenty years, the Nashville Symphony Guild’s Fashion Show evolved—almost instantly upon moving into Schermerhorn—into the spectacular celebration it is today. Our Symphony Ball also moved from the Loews Vanderbilt Plaza Hotel into the Laura Turner Hall, where its fundraising potential and impact seemed limitless. These two events have raised millions over the years to support our free Music Education and Community Engagement Programs.
Even before the building was complete, a sign on the construction fence proclaimed, “Every Child. Every Grade. Every Year.” That message reflected our unwavering commitment to music education. Over time, we learned that while reaching large numbers of students broadly is important, deep investment in individual students can create life-changing impact. That insight led to the founding of Accelerando in 2016
Accelerando is an intensive music education program designed to prepare gifted young musicians for collegiate study and professional careers. Through instruction, mentorship, performance opportunities, and college guidance, the program provides a pathway to excellence for students who might otherwise lack access. Since its inception, Accelerando graduates have gone on to study at the country’s leading conservatories and music schools on music scholarships totaling in the millions of dollars and averaging more than $100,000 per student.
As Accelerando approaches its 10 th anniversary, we face a pivotal moment. The foundation funding that has sustained this program for the past decade concludes this year. On March 31, we kicked off a spring campaign of support for Accelerando that will culminate with a ten year celebration on June 9. I invite you to be a part of this campaign and hope you will consider contributing and continuing this powerful legacy of opportunity and impact. Scan the QR code below to instantly make your contribution today.
Finally, I encourage you to renew or subscribe to our 2026/27 season , the first under our new Music Director, Leonard Slatkin . It’s a season in which you will Be Moved . and Be Amazed . But most of all, you’ll want to Be. Here. You can secure your seats today at NashvilleSymphony.org/SeasonTickets.
Thank you for your continued support and for all you do to strengthen your Nashville Symphony. I look forward to seeing you at Schermerhorn Symphony Center this month.
Warmest regards,
Alan D. Valentine | President & CEO
The Nashville Symphony inspires and engages a diverse and growing community with extraordinary live orchestral music experiences.
615.687.6400
info@NashvilleSymphony.org NashvilleSymphony.org
Video cameras, recording devices, and flash photography are strictly prohibited in the concert hall or in any other space where a performance or rehearsal is taking place. Cameras with a detachable lens may only be used pending approval from the artist and the venue and will be subject to rules and restrictions. For more information, please contact the Nashville Symphony's Communications office PHOTOGRAPHY & VIDEO POLICY
Music Advisor
NATHAN ASPINALL Resident Conductor
FIRST VIOLIN*
Peter Otto, Concertmaster
Walter Buchanan Sharp Chair
Erin Hall, Acting Associate Concertmaster
Gerald C. Greer, Acting Assistant Concertmaster
Tianpei Ai
Isabel Bartles
Francesca Bass
Beverly Drukker
Dawn Gingrich
Anna Lisa Hoepfinger
John Maple
Kirsten Mitchell
Ashley Odom
SECOND VIOLIN*
Jung-Min Shin, Principal
Lucia Nowik, Acting Assistant Principal
Likai He
Daniel Kim
Charissa Leung
Louise Morrison
Laura Ross
Johna Smith
Jeremy Williams
VIOLA*
Daniel Reinker, Principal
Shu-Zheng Yang, Assistant Principal
Michelle Lackey Collins
The Drs. Mark & Nancy Peacock Chair
Christopher Farrell
Anthony Parce
Melinda Whitley
Clare Yang
Music Director Laureate
Chorus Director
Kevin Bate, Principal James Victor Miller Chair
Una Gong, Assistant Principal
Anthony LaMarchina, Principal Cello Emeritus
Stephen Drake
Bradley Mansell
Keith Nicholas
Lynn Marie Peithman
Xiao-Fan Zhang
BASS*
Joel Reist, Principal
Glen Wanner, Assistant Principal
Matthew Abramo
Evan Bish
Kevin Jablonski
Katherine Munagian
FLUTE
Érik Gratton, Principal Anne Potter Wilson Chair
Leslie Fagan, Assistant Principal
Gloria Yun, Norma Grobman Rogers Chair
PICCOLO
Gloria Yun, Norma Grobman Rogers Chair
OBOE
Titus Underwood, Principal ◊
Christopher Gaudi, Acting Principal +
Ellen Menking, Assistant Principal
Kate Bruns +
ENGLISH HORN
Kate Bruns+
CLARINET
Danny Goldman, Acting Principal +
Katherine Kohler, Assistant Principal ◊
Spencer Prewitt
Acting Assistant Principal +
Daniel Lochrie
E-FLAT CLARINET
Katherine Kohler
BASS CLARINET
Daniel Lochrie
BASSOON
Julia Harguindey, Principal ◊
Asha Kline, Acting Principal +
Gil Perel, Acting Assistant Principal
Nicole Haywood Vera Tenorio +
CONTRABASSOON
Nicole Haywood
Vera Tenorio +
HORN
Leslie Norton, Principal
The Dr. Anne T. & Peter L. Neff Chair
Beth Beeson
Patrick Walle, Associate Principal/3rd Horn ◊
Radu V. Rusu, Acting Associate Principal/ 3rd Horn
Hunter Sholar
Anna Spina, Acting Assistant Principal/ Utility Horn +
TRUMPET
William Leathers, Principal Patrick Kunkee, Co-Principal Alexander Blazek
TROMBONE
Paul Jenkins, Principal
Anthony Cosio-Marron, Assistant Principal
BASS TROMBONE
Chance Gompert
TUBA
Chandler Currier, Principal
TIMPANI
Joshua Hickman, Principal
PERCUSSION
Sam Bacco, Principal
Richard Graber, Assistant Principal
HARP
Licia Jaskunas, Principal
KEYBOARD
Robert Marler, Principal
LIBRARY
Renee Ann Pflughaupt, Principal Librarian
Amelia Van Howe, Librarian
ORCHESTRA PERSONNEL
Pavana Stetzik, Director of Orchestra Personnel
Sarah Figueroa, Manager of Orchestra Operations
Internationally acclaimed conductor Leonard Slatkin is Music Director Laureate of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO), Directeur Musical Honoraire of the Orchestre National de Lyon (ONL), Conductor Laureate of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra (SLSO), Principal Guest Conductor of the Orquesta Filarmónica de Gran Canaria (OFGC), and Artistic Consultant to the Las Vegas Philharmonic (LVP). He maintains a rigorous schedule of guest conducting and is active as a composer, author, and educator.
The 2025/26 season includes engagements with the National Symphony Orchestra (Ireland), Manhattan School of Music Symphony Orchestra, SLSO, USC Thornton Symphony, LVP, Taiwan Philharmonic, KBS Symphony Orchestra (Seoul), Gunma Symphony Orchestra, NHK Symphony Orchestra (Tokyo), Nashville Symphony, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, Warsaw Philharmonic, Franz Schubert Filharmonia (Barcelona), ONL, Prague Symphony Orchestra, Filarmonica George Enescu (Bucharest), OFGC, and Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin.
Slatkin has received six GRAMMY® Awards and 35 nominations. Naxos recently reissued Vox audiophile editions of his SLSO recordings featuring the works of Gershwin, Rachmaninov, and Prokofiev. Other Naxos recordings include Slatkin Conducts Slatkin a compilation of pieces written by generations of his family—as well as works by Saint-Saëns, Ravel, Berlioz, Copland, Borzova, McTee, and Williams. A recipient of the National Medal of Arts, Slatkin also holds the rank of Chevalier in the French Legion of Honor. He has been awarded the Prix Charbonnier from the Federation of Alliances Françaises, Austria’s Decoration of Honor in Silver, and the League of American Orchestras’ Gold Baton. His debut book, Conducting Business (2012), for which he received the ASCAP Deems Taylor Special Recognition Award, was followed by Leading Tones (2017) and
Classical Crossroads: The Path Forward for Music in the 21st Century (2021). His latest books are Eight Symphonic Masterworks of the Twentieth Century (spring 2024) and Eight Symphonic Masterworks of the Nineteenth Century (fall 2024), part of an ongoing series of essays that supplement the scorestudy process, published by Bloomsbury.
Slatkin has held posts as Music Director of the New Orleans Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra, SLSO, National Symphony Orchestra, DSO, and ONL, and he was Chief Conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra. He has served as Principal Guest Conductor of London’s Philharmonia and Royal Philharmonic, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, and the Minnesota Orchestra.
He has conducted virtually all the leading orchestras in the world, including the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic, Bayerischer Rundfunk (Munich), Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (Amsterdam), Orchestre de Paris, Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, and Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as all five London orchestras.
Slatkin’s opera conducting has taken him to the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Washington National Opera, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Santa Fe Opera, Vienna State Opera, Stuttgart Opera, and Opéra Bastille in Paris.
Born in Los Angeles to a distinguished musical family, he began his musical training on the violin and first studied conducting with his father, followed by Walter Susskind at Aspen and Jean Morel at Juilliard. He makes his home in St. Louis with his wife, composer Cindy McTee. For more information, visit leonardslatkin.com.
Australian Conductor
Nathan Aspinall has led orchestras across the globe and is widely admired for his thoughtful, nuanced interpretations and powerful performances. His collaborative approach to performing with fellow musicians has resulted in ongoing partnerships and deep relationships with the orchestras with whom he performs.
Nathan currently serves as Resident Conductor with the Nashville Symphony and this season will lead the orchestra in multiple programs including his fourth appearance on the classical subscription series with a program of Berlioz, Ligeti and the Britten Violin Concerto with Benjamin Beilman. In previous seasons Nathan has conducted acclaimed performances with the Nashville Symphony in dynamic repertoire including symphonies of Prokofiev, Tchaikovsky, Dvorak and Sibelius and last season led a special all Ravel program to mark the 150th anniversary of the composers birth.
Aspinall has performed around the world, leading the orchestras of Minnesota, Detroit, St Louis, Atlanta, Sydney and the MendelssohnOrchesterakademie of the Gewandhausorchester
in Leipzig. He has assisted many of today’s leading conductors including Stéphane Denève, Jakub Hrůša, Nathalie Stutzmann, Thomas Søndergård, and Simone Young.
Nathan was a conducting fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center with the Boston Symphony Orchestra where he was mentored by Andris Nelsons, Thomas Adès and Giancarlo Guerrero. He is also a recipient of the Robert J. Harth Conducting Prize at the Aspen Music Festival.
A strong believer that music is for everyone, Nathan is passionate about orchestras reaching an ever-widening audience. At the Nashville Symphony, he spearheads education and community initiatives, the commissioning of new projects and curates community programing. Supporting future generations of musicians, Nathan is an advocate for music education and outreach and has led performances and masterclasses for conservatories, universities and youth orchestras around the country. Festival appearances include the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, Oregon Bach Festival and the Tanglewood Music Center Conducting Seminar. He studied orchestral conducting with Hugh Wolff at New England Conservatory in Boston and music performance at the University of Queensland
Appointed as Chorus Director of the Nashville Symphony in 2016 , Dr. Biddlecombe has raised the bar of excellence for Nashville’s premier choral ensemble through intense musical preparation, diverse programming, and communitybuilding. He also serves as Professor of Choral Studies and Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education at Vanderbilt University’s Blair School of Music, where he directs the Vanderbilt Sixteen and teaches courses in choral conducting and music education.
His work with the Nashville Symphony has included chorus preparation for many of the repertoire’s most revered masterworks. Notable performances have included two Mahler symphonies, Bernstein’s Symphony No. 3 “Kaddish”, and Requiems by Mozart and Verdi. He has prepared the chorus for two major
world-premiere recordings, John Harbison’s Requiem (rel. 2018, Naxos) as well as the upcoming release of Gabriela Lena-Frank’s Conquest Requiem and Antonio Estevez’s Cantata Criolla. He has conducted the chorus and orchestra in performances of Haydn’s Creation, Handel’s Messiah , Vivaldi’s Gloria , and the annual Voices of Spring concert.
Tucker is a veteran teacher and advocate for music education. He frequently conducts scholastic honor choirs throughout the United States, with international engagements in England, Scotland, China, and the Czech Republic. Dr. Biddlecombe is a graduate of SUNY Potsdam and Florida State University, where he completed studies in choral conducting and music education with Daniel Gordon and André Thomas, respectively. He resides in Nashville with his wife Mary Biddlecombe, director of the Blair Academy at Vanderbilt, and Artistic Director of Vanderbilt Youth Choirs.
THURSDAY & FRIDAY, APRIL 9 & 10, 2026, AT 7:30 PM
GIANCARLO GUERRERO, conductor
ALESSIO BAX, piano
JOHANNES BRAHMS
Piano Concerto No. 2
Allegro non troppo
Allegro appassionato
Andante
Allegretto grazioso
Alessio Bax, piano
INTERMISSION
IGOR STRAVINSKY
Pétrouchka (1947)
The Shrove-Tide Fair
Pétrouchka's Cell
The Moor's Cell
The Shrove-Tide Fair (Towards Evening)
THANK YOU TO OUR CLASSICAL SERIES SPONSOR
This concert will last approximately 1 hour, 45 minutes, including a 20-minute intermission.
TJohannes Brahms
Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat major, Op. 83
Composed: 1881
his program spans two contrasting worlds—and two contrasting kinds of storytelling: Johannes Brahms’s expansive Romantic eloquence and Igor Stravinsky’s sharp-edged theatrical imagination.
For Brahms, the path to that eloquence was hard won. He spent many years wrestling with his tempestuous First Piano Concerto before finally unveiling it to the public in 1859. More than two decades separate that work—his first orchestral composition to be performed—from the premiere of its successor. By then, he could draw on the experience with large-scale orchestral forms he had gained from writing his first two symphonies and Violin Concerto.
This score’s epic scale makes Brahms’s characteristically ironic description of it as “a tiny, tiny piano concerto with a tiny, tiny wisp of a scherzo” all the more pointed. The work unfolds on a grand canvas. Brahms began sketching material while traveling in Italy in the spring of 1878, gathering ideas he had set aside from his initial plans for the Violin Concerto. After trying it out at a private event, he appeared as soloist for the public premiere in Budapest in 1881. Brahms dedicated the score to Eduard Marxsen (1806–1887), a pianist-composer who had been an important teacher and mentor during his youth.
In the late 1870s, Brahms spent several summers in Pörtschach, in the Wörthersee region of southern Austria, where he found renewed creative energy and worked on the Second Symphony and the Violin Concerto, among other compositions. He rhapsodized that “the melodies fly so thick you must watch out not to step on one.” The Second Piano Concerto belongs to this same burst of extraordinary productivity. If Brahms had important things to prove with the First Piano Concerto, the Second basks in confidence securely achieved. Nowhere is the distance he had traveled more apparent than in the contrast between these two works. Unusually expansive, the Second is cast in four movements rather than the conventional three. Its abundant lyricism and, for Brahms, unusually sunny character disguise just how demanding the solo part really is.
The Second becomes a vehicle for pianistic artistry of almost superhuman scope, yet it also grants unusually prominent roles to individual orchestral instruments. The result is not a contest between soloist and orchestra but a richly symphonic collaboration.
Instead of giving the first word to the soloist, Brahms begins with a solitary horn. Its broad, spacious call evokes the landscape that had fueled his creativity in Pörtschach, like a question posed into open air. The piano’s entrance answers with sweeping grace and confidence, establishing the vast horizon against which the first movement proceeds.
Though moments of agitation arise—even fierce, cadenza-like outbursts from the piano—the prevailing character is one of engaged and mutually respectful dialogue between soloist and orchestra. The adventurous development section begins with a minor-key transformation of the horn theme, while the spellbinding coda refracts the main idea in radiant new light.
Marked Allegro appassionato, the “tiny, tiny wisp of a scherzo” that ensues surges with restless, stormdriven energy. In its darker D minor coloring, it recalls the mood of Brahms’s First Piano Concerto.
Like the opening movement, the Andante begins not with the piano but with a solo cello, its melody warmly supported by the strings. The piano embellishes rather than takes the lead, leaving the main theme to the orchestra; without trumpets and timpani, the sound feels more intimate. In the central interlude, the piano converses closely with two clarinets, almost like chamber music.
The finale is strikingly varied, as plentiful in ideas as the first movement is concentrated. In the coda, Brahms shifts the meter and accelerates the tempo. Soloist and orchestra merge for the ebullient conclusion.
In addition to solo piano, scored for 2 flutes (2nd doubling piccolo), 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani, and strings
BIgor Stravinsky
Pétrouchka (1947 version)
Composed: 1910-11
efore June 1910, Igor Stravinsky was simply one of several “promising” young Russian composers with a flair for brilliant orchestral color, cultivated under the guidance of his teacher, Nikolai RimskyKorsakov. Everything changed when the ingenious (and ruthless) impresario Serge Diaghilev decided to take a chance on the ambitious twenty-something year old. D iaghilev commissioned Stravinsky to
write a fresh score for his fledgling Ballets Russes, the Paris-based company that had been electrifying Western audiences with stars from the Russian Imperial Ballet—among them Michel Fokine and the legendary Vaslav Nijinsky, whose tempestuous relationship with Diaghilev added its own drama.
Stravinsky’s first collaboration with Diaghilev produced The Firebird, a lavish folkloric spectacle that became a sensation in Paris. At 28, Stravinsky suddenly found himself one of the most talked-about new composers in Europe. Even before he had finished The Firebird, another idea was taking root. He later recalled dreaming “a scene of pagan ritual in which a chosen sacrificial virgin danced herself to death”— the germ of what would become The Rite of Spring. But another revolution came first. After preliminary work in the summer of 1910, Stravinsky set Rite aside to pursue what he initially imagined as “an orchestral piece in which the piano would play the most important part.” In his autobiography he describes how this projected concert work gradually evolved into the ballet we know as Petrushka (Pétrouchka in French). Like Rite and other theater works of this period, it would later enjoy a parallel life in the concert hall.
Stravinsky’s first sketches—as always, conceived at the keyboard—conjured an animated puppet. He envisioned Petrushka (“little Peter”), a tricksterjester figure from Russian folk tradition, akin to the Pulcinella of commedia dell’arte (or Punch in the English version). From this fanciful scenario, drawing on the Russian puppet tradition, Stravinsky fashioned one of his most daring early experiments in harmony, orchestral coloration, and film-like collage effects.
The music of those first sketches became the lament of the unhappy puppet in the second scene, “Petrushka’s Room.” Its musical signature is the striking sound of C major colliding with F-sharp major—the so-called “Petrushka chord.” Sounded together, these notes create a disorienting sonority that feels suspended between two incompatible worlds.
At first, Stravinsky still imagined a concert piece with piano at its center rather than a theatrical work. But when Diaghilev visited him that summer at his Swiss Riviera residence, he persuaded the composer that this “theme of the puppet’s sufferings” should become a ballet for the upcoming season. The puppet became a potent symbol of the story’s in-between quality—poised between human and mechanical.
Unlike The Firebird , which came with a readymade plot, Petrushka’s narrative grew out of music already composed. Stravinsky and Diaghilev sketched the scenario, later refined by Alexandre Benois (the score’s dedicatee and designer of the sets).
The result was a “burlesque in four scenes” set during Carnival celebrations in early-19th-century St. Petersburg. Stravinsky composed most of the score in Switzerland, though a nostalgic Christmas visit to St. Petersburg nourished his imagination. At the 1911 Paris premiere, Nijinsky danced the title role with choreography by Fokine. Diaghilev had engineered another multimedia sensation, and Stravinsky’s music was again a triumph—controversial, though not yet riotous.
Petrushka’s popularity soon led to multiple versions, including concert suites and piano arrangements. In 1947, for both artistic and financial reasons—including the opportunity to secure a new copyright—Stravinsky issued a revised edition. He streamlined certain aspects of the orchestration and expanded the piano part. This is the version that Maestro Guerrero has chosen for this performance.
The Shrovetide Fair—a bustling Carnival celebration before the austerity of Lent—unfolds as a collage of festive confusion, with the Petersburg crowd jostling amid competing sights and sounds. Stravinsky’s episodic structure is energized by constantly shifting rhythms, orchestral colors, and asymmetrical patterns—a technique akin to cinematic jump cuts.
Street performers and vendors flash past before the Magician commands attention, charming his puppets to life with a flute cadenza. Among them are three figures who will dominate the drama: Petrushka, the Ballerina, and the Moor. They burst into the bright yet angular Russian Dance, one of many references to vernacular or pseudo-popular idioms woven into the score.
A tension-building drum roll—a recurring link between scenes—leads to Petrushka’s room. Here the puppet, painfully aware of his own awkwardness and rejection, veers between defiance and despair, his anguish punctuated by biting trumpet blasts. Another drum roll ushers us into the Moor’s room, home to Petrushka’s swaggering rival for the Ballerina’s attention.
Stravinsky presents the music in short, sharply defined bursts of color. A trumpet solo gives way to a surreal waltz for flute, trumpet, and bassoon, depicting the Ballerina’s flirtation with the Moor. Contradictory textures overlap freely, unconcerned with conventional cohesion.
The final scene returns to the Fair as evening falls, presenting a motley procession: the Wet Nurses (to an old Russian folk song), the Peasant and Bear (announced unmistakably by the tuba), the Gypsy Girls, the Coachmen—whose heavy accents foreshadow The Rite of Spring—and the Masqueraders. The puppets grow further entangled in their personal drama, culminating in the Moor’s fatal attack on Petrushka with his saber. After the crowd departs, the puppet’s ghost returns in mocking defiance to terrify the Magician. Stravinsky was especially proud
ALESSIO BAX, piano
Combining exceptional lyricism and insight with consummate technique, Alessio Bax is without a doubt “among the most remarkable young pianists now before the public” (Gramophone). He catapulted to prominence with First Prize wins at both the 2000 Leeds International Piano Competition and the 1997 Hamamatsu International Piano Competition and is now a familiar face on five continents as a recitalist, chamber musician, and concerto soloist. He has appeared with nearly 200 orchestras, including the New York, London, Royal, and St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestras, the Boston, Baltimore, Dallas, Cincinnati, Seattle, Sydney, and City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestras, and the Tokyo and NHK Symphony in Japan, collaborating with such eminent conductors as Marin Alsop, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Sir Andrew Davis, Hannu Lintu, Fabio Luisi, Sir Simon Rattle, Ruth Reinhardt, Yuri Temirkanov, and Jaap van Zweden.
As a renowned chamber musician, Bax has collaborated with Lisa Batiashvili, Joshua Bell, Ian Bostridge, Lucille Chung, James Ehnes, Vilde Frang, Steven Isserlis, Daishin Kashimoto, François Leleux, Sergei Nakariakov, Emmanuel Pahud, Lawrence Power, Jean-Guihen Queyras, Paul Watkins, and Tabea Zimmermann, among many others.
In March 2026, Bax was named founding Artistic Director of the London Chamber Music Festival at Sinfonia Smith Square. Since 2017, he has been the Artistic Director of the Incontri in Terra di Siena Festival, a Summer Music Festival in the Val d’Orcia region of Tuscany. Bax appears regularly in festivals
of the details in these final minutes, illustrating Petrushka’s death with shrieking woodwinds and gooseflesh tremolos.
Scored for 3 flutes ( 3 rd doubling piccolo), 2 oboes, English horn, 3 clarinets (3rd doubling bass clarinet), 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, celesta, piano, harp, and strings
− Thomas May is the Nashville Symphony's program annotator.
such as Seattle, Bravo Vail, Salon-de-Provence, Le Pont in Japan, Great Lakes, Verbier, Ravinia, Music@Menlo, Aspen, and Tanglewood.
In 2009, Bax was awarded an Avery Fisher Career Grant, and four years later he received both the Andrew Wolf Chamber Music Award and the Lincoln Center Award for Emerging Artists.
Bax’s most recent album releases are Forgotten Dances and Debussy & Ravel for Two with Lucille Chung. His celebrated Signum Classics discography also includes Italian Inspirations ; Beethoven’s Hammerklavier and Moonlight Sonatas (a Gramophone Editor’s Choice); Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto; Bax & Chung, a duo disc with Lucille Chung; Alessio Bax plays Mozart , recorded with London’s Southbank Sinfonia; Alessio Bax: Scriabin & Mussorgsky (named “Recording of the Month ... and quite possibly ... of the year” by MusicWeb International); Alessio Bax plays Brahms (a Gramophone Critics’ Choice); Bach Transcribed ; and Rachmaninov : Preludes & Melodies (an American Record Guide Critics’ Choice). Recorded for Warner Classics, his Baroque Reflections album was also a Gramophone Editor’s Choice. He performed Beethoven’s Hammerklavier Sonata for Daniel Barenboim in the PBS-TV documentary Barenboim on Beethoven: Masterclass, available on DVD from EMI.
At the age of 14, Bax graduated with top honors from the conservatory of Bari, his hometown in Italy, and after further studies in Europe, he moved to the United States in 1994. He has been on the piano faculty of Boston’s New England Conservatory since the fall of 2019 and serves as co-artistic director of the Joaquín Achúcarro Foundation for emerging pianists.
Bax lives in New York City with pianist Lucille Chung and their daughter, Mila.
GIANCARLO GUERRERO
Giancarlo Guerrero is a six-time GRAMMY® Awardwinning conductor whose imaginative programming and “curatorial and interpretive creativity” (Chicago Tribune) draw out of his orchestras “exceptionally powerful and enchanting performances” (BBC Music Magazine). 2025 marks Guerrero’s first season as Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Grant Park Music Festival in Chicago. Guerrero also took on the role of Music Director of Sarasota Orchestra in the 2025/26 season.
Guerrero is currently Music Director Laureate with the Nashville Symphony, following sixteen years as Music Director. During his tenure in Nashville, he championed the works of prominent American composers through commissions, recordings, and world premieres. Under Guerrero’s direction, the Nashville Symphony released twenty-one commercial recordings, which have garnered thirteen GRAMMY® nominations and six GRAMMY® Awards.
In recent seasons, Guerrero has led prominent North American orchestras including the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra and the San Francisco, Boston, Baltimore, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, and Detroit Symphonies. Internationally, he has worked with orchestras in Bilbao, Frankfurt, London, Paris, São Paulo, and Sydney.
Guerrero previously held posts as Music Director of the NFM Wrocław Philharmonic, Principal Guest Conductor of both The Cleveland Orchestra, Miami Residency and the Gulbenkian Symphony in Lisbon, Music Director of the Eugene Symphony, and Associate Conductor of the Minnesota Orchestra.
Born in Nicaragua, Guerrero immigrated during his childhood to Costa Rica, where he joined the local youth symphony. He studied percussion and conducting at Baylor University and earned his master’s degree in conducting at Northwestern. Guerrero is particularly engaged with conducting training orchestras and has worked with the Curtis School of Music, Colburn School in Los Angeles, The Juilliard School, National Youth Orchestra (NYO2), and Yale Philharmonia.
FRIDAY & SATURDAY, APRIL 17 & 18, AT 7:30 PM | SUNDAY, APRIL 19, AT 2 PM
NASHVILLE SYMPHONY | JUSTIN FREER, conductor
Directed by Chris Columbus
Produced by David Heyman
Written by Steve Kloves
Based on “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets” by J.K. Rowling
Starring:
Daniel Radcliffe
Rupert Grint
Emma Watson
Kenneth Branagh
John Cleese
Robbie Coltrane
Warwick Davis
Richard Griffiths
Richard Harris
Jason Isaacs
Alan Rickman
Fiona Shaw
Maggie Smith
Julie Walters
Music by John Williams
Cinematography by Roger Pratt
Edited by Peter Honess
Produced by Heyday Films, 1492 Pictures
Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures
Justin Freer President/Founder/Producer
Brady Beaubien Co-Founder/Producer
Chief XR Officer / Head of Publicity & Communications
Andrew P. Alderete
Director of Operations Andrew McIntyre
Senior Marketing Manager Brittany Fonseca
Senior Social Media Manager Si Peng
Worldwide Representation WME
Music Preparation JoAnn Kane Music Service
Sound Remixing Justin Moshkevich, Igloo Music Studios
This concert will last approximately two hours, 58 minutes, including a 20 -minute intermission.
All characters and elements © & ™ Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. Publishing Rights © JKR.
In a career spanning more than six decades, John Williams has become one of America’s most accomplished and successful composers for film and for the concert stage, and he remains one of our nation’s most distinguished and contributive musical voices. He has composed the music and served as music director for more than one hundred films, including all nine Star Wars films, the first three Harry Potter films, Superman, JFK, Born on the Fourth of July, Memoirs of a Geisha, Far and Away, The Accidental Tourist, Home Alone, and The Book Thief. His 50-year artistic partnership
with director Steven Spielberg has resulted in many of Hollywood’s most acclaimed and successful films, including Schindler’s List, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, Jaws, Jurassic Park, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, the Indiana Jones films, Munich, Saving Private Ryan, The Adventures of Tintin, War Horse, Lincoln, The BFG, The Post, and The Fabelmans. His contributions to television music include scores for more than 200 television films for the groundbreaking, early anthology series Alcoa Theatre, Kraft Television Theatre, Chrysler Theatre, and Playhouse 90, as well as themes for NBC Nightly News (“The Mission”), NBC’s Meet the Press, and the PBS arts showcase Great Performances. He also composed themes for the 1984,
1988, and 1996 Summer Olympic Games, as well as the 2002 Winter Olympic Games. He has received five Academy Awards and 53 Oscar nominations, making him the Academy’s most-nominated living person and the second-most nominated person in the history of the Oscars. He has received seven British Academy Awards (BAFTA), twenty-five GRAMMY®s, four Golden Globes, five Emmys, and numerous gold and platinum records. In 2003, he received the Olympic Order (the IOC’s highest honor) for his contributions to the Olympic movement. He received the prestigious Kennedy Center Honors in December of 2004. In 2009, Williams was inducted into the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, and he received the National Medal of Arts, the highest award given to artists by the United States Government. In 2016, he received the 44th Life Achievement Award from the American Film Institute—the first time in their history that this honor was bestowed upon a composer. In 2020, he received Spain’s Princess of Asturias Award for the Arts as well as the Gold Medal from the prestigious Royal Philharmonic Society in the UK, and in 2022 he was awarded an honorary knighthood of the British Empire as one of the final awards approved by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
In January 1980, Williams was named nineteenth music director of the Boston Pops Orchestra, succeeding the legendary Arthur Fiedler. He currently holds the title of Boston Pops Laureate Conductor which he assumed following his retirement in December 1993 after fourteen highly successful seasons. He also holds the title of Artist-in-Residence at Tanglewood. Williams has composed numerous works for the concert stage, among them two symphonies, and concertos commissioned by several of the world’s leading orchestras, including a cello concerto for the Boston Symphony Orchestra, a bassoon concerto for the New York Philharmonic, a trumpet concerto for The Cleveland Orchestra, and a horn concerto for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. In 2009, the Boston Symphony premiered his concerto for harp and orchestra entitled “On Willows and Birches”, and in the same year, Williams composed and arranged “Air and Simple Gifts” especially for the first inaugural ceremony of President Barack Obama.
In 2021, Williams premiered his second violin concerto with the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood along with soloist Anne-Sophie Mutter, for whom he composed the work.
American composer/ conductor Jusitn Freer was born and raised in Huntington Beach, California. He has established himself as one of the West Coast’s most exciting musical voices and is a highly sought-after conductor and producer of film music concerts around the world. Freer began his formal studies on trumpet, but quickly turned to piano and composition, composing his first work at eleven and giving his professional conducting debut at sixteen.
Continually composing for various different mediums, he has written music for world-renowned trumpeters Doc Severinsen and Jens Lindemann and continues to be in demand as a composer and conductor for everything from orchestral literature to chamber music around the world.
He has served as composer for several independent films and has written motion picture advertising music for some of 20th Century Fox Studios’ biggest campaigns including Avatar, The Day the Earth Stood Still, and Aliens in the Attic. As a conductor, Freer has appeared with some of the most wellknown orchestras in the world including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, London
Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, and the Philadelphia Orchestra. He is also one of the only conductors to have ever conducted in both the ancient Colosseum and Circus Maximus in Rome.
Renowned wind conductor and Oxford Round Table Scholar Dr. Rikard Hansen has noted that, “In totality, Freer’s exploration in musical sound evoke moments of highly charged drama, alarming strife and serene reflection.”
Freer has been recognized with numerous grants and awards from organizations including ASCAP, BMI, the Society of Composers and Lyricists, and the Henry Mancini Estate. He is the Founder and President of CineConcerts, a company dedicated to the preservation and concert presentation of film, curating and conducting hundreds of full length music score performances live with film for such wide ranging titles as Rudy, Gladiator, The Godfather, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, It’s A Wonderful Life, and the entire Harry Potter film franchise.
Freer earned both his B.A. and M.A. degrees in Music Composition from UCLA, where his principal composition teachers included Paul Chihara and Ian Krouse. In addition, he was mentored by legendary composer/conductor Jerry Goldsmith.
TUESDAY, APRIL 21, 2026, AT 7:30 PM
NASHVILLE SYMPHONY CHORUS
TUCKER BIDDLECOMBE, chorus director
CHARLES BUTLER , banjo
JACOB JOLLIFF, mandolin
JERRY KIMBROUGH, guitar
CRAIG NELSON, bass
GABE TERRACCIANO, violin
SCAN TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE BLUEGRASS BAND
SHAWN KIRCHNER
Heavenly Home Alleluia
Angel Band
Unclouded Day
RANDALL THOMPSON
Alleluia
TRADITIONAL, ARR. ALICE PARKER
Hark I Hear the Harps Eternal
TRADITIONAL, ARR. ALICE PARKER
Wondrous Love
TRADITIONAL, ARR. ALICE PARKER
Swing Low Sweet Chariot
TRADITIONAL, ARR. ALICE PARKER
Saints Bound for Heaven
ELAINE HAGENBERG
Alleluia
INTERMISSION
CAROL BARNETT
The World Beloved: A Bluegrass Mass
David B. Thomas , chorus p resident | Ally Hard, p resident elect
Lucy Alegria
Dana Amindaneshpour
Mary Biddlecombe
Maddie Brasher
Stephanie Breiwa
Julia Brown
Miranda Burnett
Megan Calgaro
Bethany Cárdenas
Angela Carr Forsythe
Sara Jean Curtiss
Katie Doyle
Amy Frogge
Gillian Garnowski
Kelli Gauthier
Grace J. Guill
Ally Hard
Emily Harrison
Heaven Howard
Vanessa Jackson
Amy Jarman
Jiana Kevilus
Megann Knapp
Leda Knowles
Ashleyn Lagerberg
Jean Miller
Abigail Orr
Emily Packard
Lucia Palladino
Angela Pasquini
Nicole Rivera
Veronica Selby
Sana Selemon
Kristine Smith
Renita J. Smith-Crittendon
Megan Starkey
Alexis Alduenda
Tessa Berger
Taylor Bradley
Sydney Braunstein
Joyce Brittain
Sarah Bronchetti
Vinéecia Buchanan
Cathi Carmack
Sara Chang
Kelsey Christian
Lisa Cooper
Brianna Corbett
Carla Davis
Kat Dennis
Bethany DiSantis
Peggy Lin Duthie
Michele East
Becky Evans-Young
Sierra Frazier
Peyton Garrison
Elizabeth Gilliam
Bevin Gregory
Alyson Haley
Leah Handelsman
Emily Sharnick
Amanda Hopkins
Mallory Howard
Sidney Hyde
Jung Ae Kim
Stephanie Kraft
Brittany McDonald
Kirsten McGlone
Alisha Menard
Thomas Andrew Butler
Stephen Calgaro
Daniel Capparella
Taylor Chadwick
Vincent Davis
Vic Esparza Morales
Joe A. Fitzpatrick
Andrew Galea
Peter Groenwald
Alan Henderson
Kory Henkel
James E. Howell
Gunnar Hudson
Ron Jensen
Ben Kahan
David Lowe
Damon Maida
Joshua Mellor
Dan Arterburn
Michael Beckhart
Christian Bumpous
Carson Burch
Mitch Crain
Dustin Derryberry
Kyle Duckworth
Mark Filosa
Stuart Garber
Timothy Goodenough
Duane Hamilton
Andrew Hard
Jonah Hathaway
Jason Jedlička
Jacob Laan
John Legan
Ryan Li
Bill Loyd
Zayne Lumpkin
Rob Mahurin
Andy Miller
Chris Mixon
Devin Mueller
Dale Nickell
Ryan Norris
Chris Riggins
Derrick Rohl
Kevin Salter
AJ Sermarini
Zach Shrout
Daniel Sissom
Marie Stennett
Angela Stenzel
Clair Susong
Leigh Sutherland
Marva Swann
Cassidy Van Amburg
Katherine Wehrenberg
Sylvia R. Wynn
McClain Kitchens Ziegler
Eva María Monroy
Madalynne Putz
Stacy L. Reed
Naudimar Ricardo Arnosa
Bonnie Ritchie
Gray Shiverick
Deanna Talbert
Clara Warford
Eddie Smith
Larry Smith
Carlos Solano
Nathan Stroud
Mark Sullivan
Alex Tinianow
Nathan Wildes
Jonathan Yeaworth
Phil Zuehlke
Steve Myers
Alec Oziminski
Steve Prichard
Nate Pylant
Michael Rahimzadeh
Austin Reid
Raphael Reyes
Zachary Sheinfeld
Dan Silva
Merv Snider
Larry Strachan
Josh Sulkin
David B. Thomas
Nic Townsend
Miles Troxler
Addison Waege
C. Brian Warford
Quinn Welder
Eric Wiuff
David Wyckoff
Jeff Burnham , accompanist * recognizes section leaders and officers
FRIDAY & SATURDAY, APRIL 24 & 25, 2026, AT 7:30 PM
ENRICO LOPEZ-YAÑEZ, conductor
Fifteen years after starting his career writing songs and touring in his Honda Accord on the weekends, Ben Rector found himself at home and at the piano in March 2020. The alchemy of life’s big questions, more downtime than he’d had in a decade, and those now all-too-familiar “unprecedented times” resulted in his career album: The Joy of Music. The project includes a breathtaking short film (featuring seven songs brought to life with stunning cinematography), inviting listeners and viewers to visit a dream world that communicates Rector’s creative process and his reckoning with his
job as an artist. He is led through the film’s chapters by his new friend Joy, a muppet monster he created with Jim Henson’s Creature Shop. In this fantastic and dream-like landscape we see and hear Rector overcome a deep-seated fear of failure, dancing, and singing his way through the journey of rediscovering the joy of music.
Ben Rector has amassed more than a billion streams across all platforms, has performed on numerous late night and morning TV shows including Conan, The Today Show, Jimmy Kimmel, Live With Kelly And Ryan, The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, and as a celebrity mentor on American Idol alongside Ryan Tedder, Jewel, Brian McKnight, Jason Aldean, and more. His records have topped numerous Billboard charts, with his last two records landing at #1 on Billboard's US Folk and #2 on Billboard's US Rock and US Indie charts. Rector has built a dedicated touring base, regularly selling out theaters and amphitheaters across the country, including three consecutive nights at the legendary Ryman Auditorium in Nashville.
ENRICO LOPEZ-YAÑEZ
Enrico Lopez-Yañez has quickly established himself as one of the nation’s leading conductors of popular music and become known for his unique style of audience engagement. Lopez-Yañez holds the titled positions of Principal Pops Conductor of the Detroit and Pacific Symphonies, Principal Conductor of Dallas Symphony Presents, and Principal Guest Conductor of Pops at the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. He previously served as Principal Pops Conductor of the Nashville Symphony for eight seasons.
As a trailblazer in the symphonic world, Lopez-Yañez has premiered dozens of orchestral collaborations with artists including Dolly Parton, Kelsey Ballerini, Portugal. The Man, The Mavericks, Tituss Burgess, and The War & Treaty. Lopez-Yañez has collaborated with a broad spectrum of artists including: Nas, Patti LaBelle, Itzhak Perlman, Kenny Loggins, Stewart Copeland, Toby Keith, Gladys Knight, Ben Folds, and more. As an active composer/arranger his works have been performed by orchestras across North America including the Atlanta Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, National Symphony, Phoenix Symphony, Seattle Symphony, and Toronto Symphony, among many others.
Lopez-Yañez was the recipient of the 2023 “Mexicanos Distinguidos” Award by the Mexican government, an award granted to Mexican citizens living abroad for outstanding career accomplishments in their field. As an advocate for Latin music, he has arranged and produced shows for Latin Fire, Mariachi Los Camperos, and The Three Mexican Tenors, and collaborated with artists including Aida Cuevas, Arturo Sandoval, and Lila Downs.
As Artistic Director and Co-Founder of Symphonica Productions, LLC, Lopez-Yañez curates and leads programs designed to cultivate new audiences. Symphonica’s productions have been performed by major orchestra across North America including the Baltimore Symphony, Florida Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony, North Carolina Symphony, Phoenix Symphony, Seattle Symphony, Toronto Symphony, and many more.
As a producer, composer, and arranger, LopezYañez’s work can be heard on numerous albums including the UNESCO benefit album Action Moves People United and children’s music albums including The Spaceship that Fell in My Backyard, winner of the John Lennon Songwriting Contest, Hollywood Music and Media Awards, Family Choice Awards and Kokowanda Bay, winner of a Global Media Award as well as a Parents’ Choice Award where Lopez-Yañez was lauded for his “catchy arrangements” (Parents’ Choice Foundation).
SUNDAY, APRIL 26 AT 3 PM
NASHVILLE SYMPHONY
ERNESTO ESTIGARRIBIA MUSSI, conductor
BRYSON FINNEY, narrator
THANK YOU TO OUR FAMILY SERIES SPONSOR
This concert will last approximately 50 minutes.
All Family Series concerts have the following sensory friendly supports available. Ask an usher or visit the information kiosk in the Main Lobby for more information!
• Flexible seating areas
• Booster seats
• No shushing in the concert hall—it’s OK to make noise!
• Closed captioning
• American Sign Language interpreting
• Fidget toys
• Noise-cancelling headphones
• Quiet spaces
• Social stories, maps, and more!
Learn more at NashvilleSymphony.org/SensoryFriendly
The concertmaster will arrive to help the orchestra tune their instruments.
Then, the conductor will arrive!
HERBERT CHAPPELL
Paddington Bear's First Concert
MONTGOMERY Because
The conductor will turn around and the orchestra will stand up. You can clap for the orchestra if you liked the music!
CLASSICAL
Opening Weekend: Celebrating 20 Years at Schermerhorn
SEP 11 TO 13, 2026
POPS
Ketih Lockhart's The Golden Age of Pops
OCTOBER 8 & 9, 2026
CLASSICAL Mozart & Marsalis
OCTOBER 16 & 17, 2026
MOVIE
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban™ In Concert
NOV 6 TO 8, 2026
FAMILY
How America Found Its Sound NOV 15, 2026
SPECIAL EVENT
Home Alone In Concert
DEC 4 TO 6, 2026
CLASSICAL
Final Alice & Britten's Young Person's Guide
JAN 8 & 9, 2027
MOVIE
The Wizard of Oz In Concert FEB 5, 2027
CLASSICAL
Scheherazade & Saint-Saens
MAR 19 TO 21, 2027
SPECIAL EVENT
Bach's Birthday: From Brandenburg to Magnificat
MAR 19 TO 21, 2027
POPS
John Williams: The Sound of a Generation
APR 15 & 16, 2027
FAMILY
Philharmonia Fantastique
APR 18, 2027
FRIDAY & SATURDAY, MAY 1 & 2, 2026, AT 7:30 PM
SUNDAY, MAY 3, 2026, AT 2 PM
GIANCARLO GUERRERO, conductor
FLEUR BARRON, mezzo-soprano
NIKOLAI RIMSKY-KORSAKOV
Russian Easter Overture, Op. 36
MASON BATES
Passage for mezzo-soprano, orchestra & laptop | Live Recording Fleur Barron, mezzo-soprano
INTERMISSION
MASON BATES
The Rhapsody of Steve Jobs | Live Recording
BÉLA BARTÓK
Suite from The Miraculous Mandarin, Op. 19
THANK YOU TO OUR CLASSICAL SERIES SPONSOR
This concert will last approximately 1 hour, 30 minutes, including a 20-minute intermission. To ensure the highest quality recording, please keep noise to a minimum.
ANikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Russian Easter Overture, (Op. 36)
Composed: 1887-88
g ainst a backdrop of upheaval in the Russian Empire, a circle of young composers gathered in St. Petersburg under the leadership of Mily Balakirev. Known as “the Mighty Five,” they sought an authentic expression of the Russian “soul,” often drawing on folk and liturgical sources.
Rimsky-Korsakov, the youngest of the group, began as a naval officer before turning decisively toward music. Though Balakirev opposed conservatory training, Rimsky later immersed himself in rigorous study after joining the Saint Petersburg Conservatory at twenty-seven. The result was a rare synthesis: nationalist fervor joined with masterly orchestration.
Composed in the late 1880s, Russian Easter Overture (Rimsky called it The Bright Holiday) reflects both sides of his formation. It draws on themes from the Russian Orthodox liturgy while showcasing the brilliantly colored orchestration for which he became renowned. Though not personally religious, Rimsky was fascinated by the holiday’s older, legendary layers—the way ancient folk customs and seasonal rituals lingered beneath the Orthodox celebration, especially in the transition from the somber mystery of Holy Saturday to the exuberant celebration of Easter morning.
The Overture opens with solemn woodwind sonorities and chant-like themes from the Orthodox liturgy. In the Allegro, a trumpet intones what Rimsky described as the “voice of the Archangel,” soon giving way to dance-like bell figures and animated passages suggesting the reading of the Gospel. The work moves toward a blazing conclusion, its orchestral palette expanding into jubilant brass and ringing bells.
Scored for 3 flutes (3rd doubling piccolo), 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, harp, and strings.
OMason Bates
Passage
Composed: 2017
ne of the most widely performed American composers of his generation, Mason Bates is familiar to Nashville audiences. In 2024, the Nashville Symphony performed his Nomad Concerto for violin and orchestra, written for Gil Shaham—part of an ongoing collaboration that continues with these performances. Whether writing for the opera stage, the concert hall, or shaping a dance event through his DJ alter ego, Bates understands his creative role to be that of a storyteller.
Well before turning to opera, Bates had established a national reputation through major orchestral commissions and residencies. Across his work, he advances classical traditions into a contemporary, technologically informed idiom that speaks to the experiences of audiences in the digital age.
His debut full-length opera, The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs, premiered in 2017 and went on to win a GRAMMY® Award for Best Opera Recording. More recently, his opera The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay—based on Michael Chabon’s Pulitzer Prize–winning novel—opened the Metropolitan Opera’s current season to notable acclaim, further extending his presence on the national stage.
He has served as composer-in-residence with major American orchestras and, from 2015 to 2020, was the inaugural composer-in-residence at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts—an institution founded in the spirit of President Kennedy’s conviction that the arts are vital to the life of a nation. During his residency there, Bates found inspiration in the visions of both JFK and Walt Whitman for Passage, scored for orchestra and mezzo-soprano.
The work interweaves excerpts from Whitman’s “Passage to India,” later incorporated into Leaves of Grass, with clips from Kennedy’s speeches about the American space program—most prominently the May 25, 1961 address to Congress announcing the “Moonshot.” Bates became fascinated by the idea of bringing together “two voices from totally different perspectives, but both looking into the heavens.”
Whitman addresses the planet as a “vast Rondure, swimming in space,” while JFK frames space travel as a national aspiration. Though Kennedy never references Whitman directly, Bates discovered resonant echoes between poet and president. Together, the
interwoven texts depict “Whitman looking at American exploration as an important element in our nation’s consciousness and JFK’s speeches about accomplishing this aspirational mission.” Musically, he extends that idea: “The ghost of JFK echoes behind the soloist’s voice, trailing her throughout the piece—with a moment in the middle where they come together.”
Bates had previously incorporated samples from the first American spacewalk into his 2009 work
The B-Sides, but here the recorded presidential voice becomes an expressive partner to the soloist. For the vocal writing, he focused on the warmth and depth of the mezzo-soprano register, treating the piece almost like a concerto for voice.
Whitman’s imagery of travel and forward motion animates much of the score. There is considerable word painting throughout—for example, bustling rhythms in the strings that place us inside a train crossing the American plains. Surging gestures suggest steamships and medieval navigators. At the center, Whitman’s vision of the “vast Rondure” and JFK’s invocation of the unknown converge in an ambient passage of ethereal chords, capturing a shared sense of awe.
“The orchestra is a great medium for exploring big topics,” Bates has said. “In the face of the intractable issues we face today, whether climate change or social inequity, it’s inspiring to me to see how JFK approached a pressing issue and said, ‘Let’s do it! Let’s go to the moon!’ And we did it.” In Passage, poetry
FLEUR BARRON, mezzo-soprano
Singaporean-British mezzo
Fleur Barron won a 2025 GRAMMY® Award for Best Opera Recording in the title role of Saariaho’s Adriana Mater , with the San Francisco Symphony under Esa-Pekka Salonen.
Highlights of the current season include leading roles at the Salzburg Festival with Esa-Pekka Salonen and Peter Sellars, Teatro dell’Opera di Roma with Peter Sellars, and Maggio Musicale; symphonic collaborations with Kirill Petrenko and the Berlin Philharmonic, Nathalie Stutzmann and both the Atlanta Symphony and Bavarian Radio Symphony, Semyon Bychkov and the Czech Philharmonic, and Giancarlo Guerrero and the Nashville Symphony. A prolific recitalist, Fleur recently co-founded Trio Afiori with clarinettist Anthony McGill and pianist Gloria Chien, which has a debut United States recital tour,
and presidential rhetoric intertwine in a meditation on aspiration—and on the enduring impulse to look beyond the horizon.
The work unfolds in a single, continuous span, opening in a hushed, “dreamy, blurry” atmosphere before gathering momentum. Notice how the mezzosoprano’s lyrical setting of Whitman contrasts with— and at times overlaps—the archival recordings of JFK’s voice, creating an echo across time.
As the text turns to images of travel and connection— railroads, steamships, the spanning of oceans—the orchestra becomes more propulsive, with bustling rhythms and bright percussion suggesting motion and forward drive. Midway through, an expansive, suspended section evokes the vastness both Whitman and Kennedy contemplate. The piece culminates in a surge of orchestral brilliance, with ringing brass and heightened energy underscoring the shared sense of aspiration.
Scored for 3 flutes ( 2 nd doubling piccolo), 2 oboes ( 2 nd doubling English horn), 2 clarinets in A, 2 bassoons ( 2 nd doubling contrabassoon), 4 horns in F, 3 trumpets in C, 2 trombones, bass trombone, tuba, 3 percussionists, laptop, harp, piano/celesta, strings, and solo mezzo-soprano.
including Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.
Mahler's music is a major backbone of Fleur's artistic identity, in particular the cycles Das Lied von der Erde and the Kindertotenlieder, which she has recently toured with both Daniel Harding and Semyon Bychkov, among others. She is also closely associated with French repertoire and has performed and recorded Ravel's Shéhérazade, Trois Poèmes de Mallarmé, and his opera L'Heure Espagnole with the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra and Ludovic Morlot. Other highlights of recent seasons include Claude Vivier’s Wo bist du Licht and Stravinsky’s Pulcinella with her mentor Barbara Hannigan and the London Symphony Orchestra, and Schönberg's Vier Lieder Op. 22 with Vladimir Jurowski and the RundfunkSinfonieorchester Berlin.
Fleur Barron’s recording catalogue extends from Purcell to Saariaho with labels such as Deutsche Grammophon and Pentatone. She holds degrees from Columbia University (B.A. Comparative Literature) and Manhattan School of Music.
WMason Bates
The Rhapsody of Steve Jobs
Composed: 2021
hen he died at the age of 56 in 2011, Steve Jobs had already assumed an almost mythical stature. With librettist Mark Campbell, Mason Bates transformed that legacy into The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs, premiered by Santa Fe Opera in 2017 and later taken up by companies nationwide. Rather than a conventional biography, the opera explores the contradictions of its subject—visionary brilliance alongside vulnerability and relationships.
Moving between the 2007 iPhone launch and his own memorial service, the opera traces Jobs’s arc from garage tinkerer and tech revolutionary to a man forced, through love and spiritual counsel, to confront his mortality—an outward revolution mirrored by an inward evolution.
Bates has remarked that what drew him to Jobs’s story was the role he played in transforming human communication. In the opera, Bates expands traditional orchestral resources with electronic elements that heighten its sense of velocity and technological sheen. Against this charged, electro-acoustic environment, he sets contrasting musical identities: the buoyant energy associated with Steve Wozniak, Apple’s co-founder; the meditative aura surrounding his spiritual advisor Kōbun Chino Otogawa; and the lyrical grounding of Laurene, his wife and moral counterweight. These interacting sound worlds shape a portrait not of an icon alone, but of a man defined by relationships.
The Rhapsody of Steve Jobs, as Bates explains, “swirls together many key musical elements” from the opera into “a lively symphonic work [that] stays true to the kinetic surface of the opera, which uses an electroacoustic sound world to conjure the excitement of the early Information Age.” Rather than assembling a conventional suite with themes presented in sequence, he opted for “a rhapsodic approach that interweaves them—a kind of free remix that required considerable new material.”
“The anchoring theme is from the opening number ‘One Device,’ in which Steve Jobs mesmerizes the audience with the presentation of the first iPhone. This short motif is presented obsessively while a bustle of instruments accumulate around it, propelling us into the Overture of the opera. Between rondo-like reprises of the opening motif, we hear cameos of ‘Ma Bell’ (a swinging duet between Jobs and Steve Wozniak) and ‘Look Up, Look Out’ (Laurene Powell Jobs’s closing aria, which implores the audience to connect beyond devices). The coda brings us back to the opening product launch with a pulsing build of material that, like the cult-like following of Jobs himself, is both exuberant and frenetic.”
Scored for 3 flutes ( 3 rd doubling piccolo), 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, harp, and strings.
The Nashville Symphony is a leader in championing new music. Your donations allow us to dedicate resources to record new orchestral music including the Mason Bates pieces in this program. Together, we are leaving a profound impact on the American repertoire.
Via phone: 615.687.6494
Via mail: One Symphony Place Nashville, TN 37201
Online: NashvilleSymphony.org/DonateNow
LBéla Bartók Suite from
The Miraculous Mandarin
Composed: 1918-19; orchestrated 1924
ike Rimsky-Korsakov, Béla Bartók drew deeply on folk traditions as a source of renewal. Through his pioneering research into Hungarian and other Eastern European folk music, he helped reshape the language of modern composition. Yet the “pantomime-ballet” The Miraculous Mandarin reveals another side of his imagination: it plunges into a stark urban drama of violence and obsessive desire, matched by music of ferocious intensity and startling orchestral color.
When the work premiered in Cologne in 1926, it provoked such scandal that the mayor banned further performances. In 1927, Bartók fashioned a suite that omits the final scene of the pantomime and concludes with a specially composed ending, allowing the music to stand independently in the concert hall.
The Expressionist scenario was written by fellow Hungarian author Menyhért Lengyel, who would later become a Hollywood screenwriter; indeed, the ballet moves with almost cinematic intensity. Set in a seedy urban neighborhood, the ballet unfolds as a kind of Freudian allegory of desire. It follows three thugs who force a young woman to lure strangers into their apartment so they can be beaten and robbed.
Her first two victims—a shabby old man and a shy young student—are easily dispatched. The third is a mysterious Mandarin, a wealthy Chinese man. Despite the work’s avant-garde qualities, Lengyel relied on an ugly stereotype of Asians. After the thugs attempt to murder him by suffocation, stabbing, and hanging, the Mandarin remains freakishly unharmed. Only when the young woman finally embraces him does he begin to bleed and die.
Even without staging, Bartók’s music is so extraordinarily graphic that the listener can envision the action. He achieves this through his highly imaginative exploitation of all his orchestral resources, including “special effects” such as flutter-tonguing, unusual tunings, and even quarter-tones.
The opening erupts in a vivid rush of sound, immediately establishing a decadent urban scene. In the brass, Bartók evokes the rude chaos of traffic. Sinuous clarinet solos accompany each of the young woman’s seductive “decoy” dances. Sliding trombones signal the appearance of a penniless old man, while a young student lured into the apartment is characterized by a timid oboe and English horn.
The Mandarin’s arrival is announced by a simple folk-like theme in the brass, its stark outline intensified by harsh, dissonant harmonies. An atmosphere of tense, ironic sensuality—listen for the distorted waltz—builds as the young woman dances for him. Furious chase music in the strings spirals outward to draw in the full orchestra.
Scored for 3 flutes (3rd doubling piccolo), 3 oboes (3rd doubling English horn), 3 clarinets and bass clarinet, 3 bassoons and contrabassoon, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, celesta, harp, piano, organ, and strings.
− Thomas May is the Nashville Symphony's program annotator.
GIANCARLO GUERRERO
Giancarlo Guerrero is a six-time GRAMMY® Awardwinning conductor whose imaginative programming and “curatorial and interpretive creativity” (Chicago Tribune) draw out of his orchestras “exceptionally powerful and enchanting performances” (BBC Music Magazine). 2025 marks Guerrero’s first season as Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Grant Park Music Festival in Chicago. Guerrero also took on the role of Music Director of Sarasota Orchestra in the 2025/26 season.
Guerrero is currently Music Director Laureate with the Nashville Symphony, following sixteen years as Music Director. During his tenure in Nashville, he championed the works of prominent American composers through commissions, recordings, and world premieres. Under Guerrero’s direction, the Nashville Symphony released twenty-one commercial recordings, which have garnered thirteen GRAMMY® nominations and six GRAMMY® Awards.
In recent seasons, Guerrero has led prominent North American orchestras including the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra and the San Francisco, Boston, Baltimore, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas and Detroit Symphonies. Internationally, he has worked with orchestras in Bilbao, Frankfurt, London, Paris, São Paulo, and Sydney.
Guerrero previously held posts as Music Director of the NFM Wrocław Philharmonic, Principal Guest Conductor of both The Cleveland Orchestra, Miami Residency and the Gulbenkian Symphony in Lisbon, Music Director of the Eugene Symphony, and Associate Conductor of the Minnesota Orchestra.
Born in Nicaragua, Guerrero immigrated during his childhood to Costa Rica, where he joined the local youth symphony. He studied percussion and conducting at Baylor University and earned his master’s degree in conducting at Northwestern. Guerrero is particularly engaged with conducting training orchestras and has worked with the Curtis School of Music, Colburn School in Los Angeles, The Juilliard School, National Youth Orchestra (NYO2), and Yale Philharmonia.
Accelerando offers exceptional musical training at no cost to qualifying Middle Tennessee students who exhibit the talent, potential, and ambition to pursue serious music study at the collegiate level. Learn More at NashvilleSymphony.org/Accelerando
Gifts of $50,000+
Anonymous
Mr. Russell W. Bates & Mr. Benjamin D. Scott
Mr. & Mrs. Jack O. Bovender Jr.
Mr. Michael Carter, Sr. & Mrs. Pamela Carter
Mr. & Mrs. Joseph Cavarra
Mr. & Mrs. Kevin W. Crumbo
Charmion Hearn
Mr. & Mrs. Rick Horne
Mrs. Martha Rivers Ingram
Donna & Ralph Korpman
Neil Krugman and Leona Pratt
Mr. & Mrs. Jonathan A. McNabb
Drs. Mark & Nancy Peacock
Mr. & Mrs. Keith B. Pitts
Mrs. Joan Rechter
Mr. & Mrs. James C. Seabury III
Dr. & Mrs. Mark B. Whaley
Gifts of $25,000 - $49,999
Anonymous
Dr. & Mrs. Carl C. Awh
Mr. & Mrs. Dennis Bottorff
Mrs. J. C. Bradford Jr.
Dorit Cochron
Mr. Jason P. Somerville & Mr. Eric Cook
Hilton & Sallie Dean
The Ann M. Duffer Family Foundation
Mrs. Leda Goldsmith
Andrew Horowitz
Mrs. and Mrs. David B. Ingram
Mr. and Mrs. R. Milton Johnson
Dr. & Mrs. George R. Lee
Mr. & Mrs. Lawrence Lipman
Mr. Mark E. Lopez & Mr. Patrick J. Boggs
Richard L. & Sharalena Miller
Mr. & Mrs. David K. Morgan
Mr. & Mrs. Rick Scarola
Mr. and Mrs. Christopher J. Simovich
Mr. and Mrs. James H. Todd
Mr. & Mrs. Joel Williams
Gifts of $15,000 - $24,999
Anonymous
Mr. & Mrs. Stephen M. Abelman
Dr. & Mrs. Frank H. Boehm
Ms. Lucie W. Cammack
Mr. & Mrs. Robert W. Chasanoff
Estate of Elizabeth F. Cormier
Nick & Connie Deidiker
Cathey & Wilford Fuqua
Mr. and Mrs. C. David Griffin
Mx. Morgan Karr & Gabriel Starner
Larry & Leiyan Keele
Ellen Harrison Martin & Gerald Martin Nadeau
Anne & Peter Neff
Victoria & William Pao
Mr. & Mrs. Philip M. Pfeffer
Sylvia Rapoport and Ronald Soltman
Will & Kellie Robinson
Drs. Warren & Elisabeth Sandberg
Michael & Grace Sposato
Christi & Jay Turner
Mr. & Mrs. William H. Wade
The Harris Widener Family Fund
Mrs. Jerry Williams
Gifts of $10,000 - $14,999
Virginia Adamson
Reed & Dianne Arvin
Sallie & John Bailey
The Nashville Symphony is deeply grateful to the following individuals who contributed between December 1, 2024 and February 28, 2026 to support the concert season and services to the community through their generous gifts to the Annual Fund, Endowment and support for Special Events.
Thomas Barrett & Belinda Berry
Branden Leslie Burkey
Ms. Heather C. Burroughs
Mr. & Mrs. Mike Cain
Mr. & Mrs. Pat Campbell
William and Sharon Cheek
Dr. & Mrs. André L. Churchwell
David & Starling Clark
Mr. & Mrs. Roy J. Covert
John Crosslin
Mr. & Mrs. Ralph W. Davis Jr.
Dr. Daniel Diermeier
Travis & Robin Dunn
Mr. & Mrs. Gerald M. Farina
Tommy & Julie Frist
Mr. & Mrs. Frederick Sutton Grace
Mr. Eric Greer
Mr. & Mrs. F. David Haas
Emily Humphreys
Yi and Henry Ingram
Mr. & Mrs. Steven L. Jackson
Mr. Robert J. Turner & Mr. Jay Jones
T.K. & Laura Kimbrell
Robin & Bill King
Sarah & Walter Knestrick
Mr. & Mrs. Denis Lovell
Erin L. Luper
Mr. & Mrs. David Manning
Mr. & Mrs. Lowell F. Martin
Mr. and Mrs. Robert A. McCabe Jr.
Jamison & Heather Monroe
Mr. & Mrs. Lee F. Noel
John & Meredith Oates
Mr. & Mrs. Laurence M. Papel
Mr. and Mrs. Bernard A. Pargh
Mr. W. Brantley Phillips, Jr. & Mrs. Joelle Phillips
Mr. Brett Ponton
Mr. & Mrs. Christopher R. Redlich Jr.
Paul & Gerda Resch
Jeanie Rittenberry
James L. & Victoria L. Rooney
Anne Russell
Mrs. J. Ronald Scott
Teresa Sebastian & Steven Tunis
Vivian & Justin Shields
Leon & Leslie Shivamber
Dr. Neil & Ruth Smith
Kenneth & Joan Sands
Mr. & Mrs. Mark Tillinger
Mr. and Mrs. James H. Todd
Alan D. & Jan L. Valentine
Bryce VanDiver
Mr. Richard J. Waldrop
Ms. Amanda Warner
Betty R. Waters
Mr. & Mrs. W. Ridley Wills III
Gifts of $5,000 - $9,999
Anonymous
Oran & Sara Aaronson
Ms. Teresa Broyles-Aplin & Mr. Don Aplin
Keith Arendsee
Mr. & Mrs. Jeremy Atack
Steven Attorri
Mrs. Janet Ayers
Brian & Beth Bachmann
Ms. Jane B. Bachmann
David & Stephanie Bailey
Sallie Ballantine Bailey
Frank & Dina Basile
Craig & Angela Becker
Ms. Betty C. Bellamy
Lewis & Denise Bellardo
Dr. and Mrs. Randy Bellows
Mr. & Mrs. Douglas Bennett Jr.
Laura Blackstock
Ms. Pamela Bollinger
Mr. & Mrs. Richard M. Bracken
Mr. & Mrs. Martin S. Brown Jr.
Mrs. Ann Bumstead
Joseph Burnett and Callie Khoury
Chuck & Sandra Cagle
Mr. and Mrs. Anthony Calderon
Jamie Brennan Capps
Mary Taylor Gallagher & Chris Cardwell
Anita & Larry Cash
Mr. & Mrs. Fred J. Cassetty
Jay & Ellen Clayton
Mr. and Mrs. George M. Clements
Mr. & Mrs. Charles W. Cook Jr.
Brian & Haden Cook
Kathy & Scott Corlew
David Coulam & Lucy A. Visceglia
Drs. Michael S. and Rowena D. Cuffe
Mr. & Mrs. J. Bradford Currie
Greg & Collie Daily
Mr. Ralph A. DeCuyper & Mr. Stephen Sirls
Mr. & Mrs. Robert S. Doochin
Mr. and Mrs. Burton Dye
Mr. Stephen R. Eaves
Jere & Linda Ervin
Laurie & Steven Eskind
Ms. Marilyn Falcone
Alice Fitzgibbon
Dr. & Mrs. Arthur C. Fleischer & Family
Mr. & Mrs. John J. Fletcher
Tom & Judy Foster
Bill & Tracy Frist
Ms. Marilyn L. Garcia
Dot & Luther Gause
John & Lorelee Gawaluck
Mrs. Allis D. Gilmor
Frank & Louise Grant
Jim & Paula Grout
John & Libbey Hagewood
Carolyn N. and Terry W. Hamby
Jim & Stephanie Hastings
Mr. & Mrs. J. Michael Hayes
Mr. & Mrs. Robert E. Henry
Gregory T. Hersh
Dr. & Mrs. Stephen L. Houff
Mr. & Mrs. John Huie
Kate and Hank Ingram
Rodney Irvin Family
Dr. & Mrs. Abdallah M. Isa
Donald L. Jackson
G. Brian Jackson & Roger E. Moore
Trent Janos & Carine D'Angelo
Angela Bostelman-Kaczmarek & Tom Kaczmarek
Ms. Diane Klaiber
Estate of Heloise Werthan Kuhn
Mr. Paul H. Kuhn, Jr.
Bradley & Megan Lawrence
Dr. Michelle Law
Mr. Joseph Y. Lee & Ms. Erica Fetterman
Sally M. Levine
Mr. and Mrs. Terry Logan
Samantha Breske Magee & Lucas Magee
Ms. Kathryn Martin
Matthews Family Charitable Fund
Mr. and Mrs. Dewitt Kerry McCluggage
Priscilla McKeehan
Mrs. Sharon L. McMahan
John & Crispin Menefee
Don Miggs and Lisa Debartolo Miggs
Joseph & Julia Moore
Bill & Cindy Morelli
Mr. Devin R. Mueller
James & Patricia Munro
Dr. & Mrs. Turner Nashe Jr.
Suzanne Noble
While we strive to recognize all our donors at the appropriate levels, mistakes can happen. If you believe an error has been made, please contact giving@nashvillesymphony.org.
Mrs. Gwen Noe
Mr. & Mrs. Larry D. Odom
Doria Panvini
Ms. Donna Pavlick
Alexandria Payton
Peggy & Hal Pennington
Mr. & Mrs. John S. Perry
Ms. Allison R. Reed & Mr. Sam Garza
Dr. Amy Robertson & Mr. Carl Marshall
Ms. Kathy R. Robbins
Ms. Melanie Robinson
John & Carol Rochford
Roseanne Rogers and Aashish Shah
Mr. & Mrs. David L. Rollins
Rebecca Rouland
Mr. Lawrence Rubin
Ms. Mary Frances Rudy
Kenneth & Joan Sands
Dr. Norm Scarborough & Ms. Kimberly Hewell
Mr. James Benjamin
Banwell Schiffbauer
Dr. & Mrs. Stephen Seale
Sheila Shields
The Shields Family Foundation
Mrs. Jay Shuman
Mr. Irvin Small
Mr. Cade Smith
Esther Smith
Ms. Maggie Smith
K.C. & Mary Smythe
Stephen Franklin Sparks
Clark Spoden & Norah Buikstra
W. Lee & Jane St. Clair
Mr. & Dr. Robert J. Stewart
Dr. Eric & Mrs. Julie Sumner
Dr. Steve A. Hyman &
Mr. Mark Lee Taylor
Ms. Meril Temlock
Owen Thorne
Ms. Janice E. Ticich
Martha Trammell
Mr. & Mrs. James F. Turner Jr.
Dr. Carroll Van West &
Dr. Mary Hoffschwelle
Tyler Walker
Larry W. Warden
Mrs. Lisa W. Wheeler
Mrs. Barbara Bransford White
Ms. Memorie K. White
Mr. Milton White
Dean & Donna Whittle
Mrs. Gail Williams
Mr. & Mrs. Randy Wright
Berje Yacoubian & Kathy Wade-Yacoubian
Shirley Zeitlin
Gifts of $3,000 - $4,999
Anonymous
Bill & Shelley Alexander
Dale & Julie Allen
Dr. & Mrs. Gregg P. Allen
Amy Andersson and Rich Bonaventura
Mr. and Mrs. William F. Andrews
David Baldwin & Melissa K. Moss
Meera Ballal
Dr. & Mrs. Jeffrey R. Balser
Mr. Joe E. Barlow
Ned Bates & Brigette Anschuetz
David & Holly Baulch
Michael V. and Sharry D. Beard
Mr. Lee A. Beaman
Mike & Kathy Benson
Mrs. Jean Bills
Celia Applegate & David Blackbourn
Anne Blake & Jud Rogers
Randolph & Elaine Blake
Dennis & Tammy Boehms
Mrs. Ellen L. Borchers
Jamey Bowen & Norman Wells
Robert & Barbara Braswell
Dr. Robert J. Brewer
Steve and Elizabeth Brubaker
Mr. & Mrs. Scott Bryant
Richard Burroughs
Mr. & Mrs. Barney D. Byrd
Benjamin Byrd and Lindsay Stevenson
Mr. & Mrs. John P. Campbell III
Ms. Katherine Cannata
Mr. & Mrs. Sykes Cargile
David L. Carlton
Crom & Kathy Carmichael
Mr. & Mrs. Thomas H. Carr
Mr. and Mrs. Clay R. Caroland III
Robin & Robert Carroll
Abby & Zane Cavender
Mr. & Mrs. Kenneth Chadwell
Berto and Karen Chalfant
David & Pam Chamberlin
Mr. Alex Chan & Ms. Jennie E. Stumpf
Erica & Doug Chappell
Charles A. Chase
Barbara & Eric Chazen
Ms. Carol J. Childress
Mr. & Mrs. Cooper Chilton
Catherine Chitwood
Cynthia R. Cohen
Ed & Pat Cole
Mrs. Nancy B. Cooke
Teresa Corlew & Wes Allen
Roger & Barbara Cottrell
Mr. & Mrs. Donald Counts
Paula & Bob Covington
Kelly Crockett
Mr. & Mrs. Justin Dell Crosslin
Mr. Charles Curtiss
Dr. and Mrs. Charles E. Daley III
Allen and Delphine Damon Household
Mr. M. Bradshaw Darnall III
Mrs. Anne Davis
Beatrice deVegvar
Myrtianne Downs and Robert McMahan
Kathleen Duer
Mr. and Mrs. Steve Dugas
Mr. & Mrs. Thomas Eck
Sherie Edwards
Mr. & Mrs. Charles Anthony Elcan
Drs. James & Rena Ellzy
Jason and Susan S. Epstein
Megan & Steven Epstein
Dr. & Mrs. Jeffrey B. Eskind
Mrs. Ethel T. Fennell
Mr. Brian T. Fitzpatrick
Drs. Ricardo Fonseca & Ingrid Mayer
Mr. & Mrs. Steven B. Franklin
Mrs. Karyn M. Frist
Dr. & Mrs. Robert A. Frist
Dr. & Mrs. Ronald E. Galbraith
Mr. & Mrs. Stuart Garber
Mrs. Virginia Ingram and Mr. Chris Garchitorena
G. Waldon & Renee Garriss
Carlene Hunt & Marshall Gaskins
Mr. Norman B. Gillis
Mr. & Mrs. Martin E. Gilmore
Mr. Leonard C. Glass Sr.
Andrew & Alene Gnyp
Jim Govekar
Mr. Harry W. Graves Jr.
Lisa & Douglas Gregg
Dr. & Mrs. Benjamin D. Griffin
Mr. Matthew T. Grimm
Karen & Daniel Grossman
Bob & Judy Gunter
Cuong Ly & Gina Guo
Stephen & Marilynn Halas
Mrs. Robbie J. Hampton
Mr. and Mrs. Tom Harrington
Mr. and Mrs. Aubrey Harwell Jr.
Mr. & Mrs. John Burton Hayes
Steve Hesson
Ms. Sylvia Hix
Aurelia L. Holden
Ms. Mary A. Hooks
Bill & Carolyn Hunter
Mr. & Mrs. Donald J. Israel
Mr. & Mrs. Clay T. Jackson
Mr. & Mrs. John F. Jacques
Elizabeth Jennings
The Nashville Symphony is dedicated to sharing live orchestral music experiences with communities across Middle Tennessee — at Schermerhorn Symphony Center and beyond. Your support helps send our musicians into schools, community centers, and parks throughout the region.
EASY WAYS TO GIVE SCAN THE QR CODE TO DONATE NOW!
via phone: 615.687.6494
via mail: One Symphony Place Nashville, TN 37201 Online: NashvilleSymphony.org/Donate
* denotes donors who are deceased
The Kirkland Foundation/Chris & Beth Kirkland
Mr. & Mrs. David J. Klintworth
Dr. & Mrs. Mike LaDouceur
Bobbie Jean Lamar
Mr. Edward Lanquist
Martha & Larry Larkin
Kevin & May Lavender
Mr. and Mrs. Gaylon M. Lawrence
Mr. and Mrs. Shawn Lehman-Grimes
John & Mary Leinard
Mr. & Mrs. Jeremy R. Lemmon
Ted & Anne Lenz
Douglas & Mizuho Leonard
Alice & John Lindahl
Mr. & Mrs. James C. Lundy Jr.
Mr. George Luscombe II
David & Sarah Mansouri
Joelle Maynard
Mr. Garry K. McGuire
Dr. Mark & Mrs. Theresa Messenger
Ingrid Meszoely MD
Mr. David K. Mitchell
Mr. & Mrs. S. Moharreri
Bill & Cindy Morelli
Mr. Wayne E. Morris
Dr. & Mrs. Kelvin A. Moses
Ms. Karen Mufarreh
Matt & Rhonda Mulroy
Mr. & Mrs. Patrick H. Murphy
Johnny Mutina & Earl Lamons
Michael & Patricia Nelson
Mr. & Mrs. Carl A. Neuhoff Jr.
Mr. Randall Newman
Mr. & Mrs. Robert J. Notestine
Ashley & Aaron Odom
Mr. & Mrs. Bond E. Oman
David & Pamela Palmer
Susan Holt & Mark Patterson
Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Ross Pepper
Dr. and Mrs. Philip Perdue
Melinda C. Phillips
Robert & Laura Pittman
Robert Pitz & Carol Armes
Mr. Jason E. Poole
Mr. & Mrs. Thomas F. Potter
Donna and Tom Priesmeyer
Mr. & Mrs. Gustavus A. Puryear IV
Mr. & Mrs. W. Edward Ramage
Neil & Ella Redkevitch
Ms. Petra Radova
Ms. Anna Reahl
Mr. Allen Reynolds
Mr. & Mrs. Don Ricketts
Jan Riven
Amy Robertson & Carl Marshall
Ms. Judith A. Robison
Anne Roos
Ms. Sara L. Rosson & Ms. Nancy Menke
Mr. Alexander Ruth Sr.
Karen W. Saul
Daniel Schafer & Melissa Rose
Dr. & Mrs. John Schneider
Mr. & Mrs. Hank Schomber
Teresa Sebastian and Steven Tunis
Mr. & Mrs. Todd Seifferth
The Honorable Wayne C. Shelton &
Mrs. Patty Shelton
Jennifer Shinall
Mrs. Judith F. Simmons
Mr. & Mrs. Kevin S. Smith
Nan E. Speller
Mr. & Mrs. Hans Stabell
Mr. & Mrs. Thomas H. Stearns
Mr. and Mrs. Thomas R. Steele
Barbara Newton & Kent Stewart
Robert & Virginia Stewart
Suzanne and Andrew Storar
Rachel Zamata Swanson
Mr. & Mrs. David B. Thomas Sr.
Mr. Jerry Thursby
Mr. and Mrs. Cromwell Tidwell III
Mila & Bill Truan
Patricia Parker and John Vayda
Larry & Brenda Vickers
Veronica Votypka Mclean
Mrs. Janet M. Wade
Mr. & Mrs. John E. Waggener Jr.
Kris & G. G. Waggoner
Mike & Elaine Walker
Dr. & Mrs. Mark Wathen
Sam R. McColl & Christy A. Watkins
Talmage M. Watts & Debra Greenspan Watts
Mrs. Lisa W. Wheeler
Mr. James L. White
Ms. Judith B. Wiens
Missy Williams
Mr. Lanny Willis
Mr. & Mrs. William M. Wilson
Ira & Elaine Work
Mr. & Mrs. D. Randall Wright
Ms. Pamela J. Wright
Mr. and Mrs. Darryl Yochem
Mr. Craig Zimberg and Ms. Tara Sawdon
Dr. & Mrs. Victor L. Zirilli
Micah Zuercher
And deepest thanks to all our donors who made gifts of any size. We’re so appreciative of you and your support!
It’s never too late to add your name to the list with a generous contribution to the Nashville Symphony Annual Fund. Your support makes this performance and many more possible. Visit NashvilleSymphony.org/Donate to give and see your name in lights soon.
OFFICERS
Mary Cavarra Board Chair
Pamela Carter
Immediate Past Board Chair
Teresa Sebastian Board Chair-Elect
Dr. Mark Peacock Vice Chair
Hank Ingram Vice Chair
Jonathan McNabb Treasurer
Emily Humphreys
Secretary
Steve Abelman
Grace Awh
Alec Blazek*
Teresa Broyles-Aplin
Alexis Caddell*
Dr. Andre Churchwell
Starling Davis Clark
Eric Cook
John Crosslin
Yuri Cunza
Nick Deidiker
Robert Dennis
Travis Dunn
Alan D. Valentine President & CEO + Indicates Young Leaders Intern * Denotes Non-Voting Member
Dr. Stephen Eaves
Catherine Grace
Brenda Griffin
Cesar Gueikian
Tonya Hallett
Michael Hayes
Likai He*
Vicki Horne
John Huie
Henry Ingram
Martha R. Ingram*◊
Neil Krugman
Dr. Trey Lee
OFFICERS
Courtney Orr Chair
Keeley Locke Immediate Past Chair
Hank Ingram Chair Emeritus
Branden Burkey Secretary
Trent Janos Development Chair
Virginia Adamson Governance Chair
Katherine Richardson Membership – Engagement Chair
Alex Wilhelm Membership – Recruitment Chair
Lindsay Stevenson Performance & Special Events Chair
Jasmine Greer Spirits of Summer Co-Chair
Alexandria Payton Spirits of Summer Co-Chair
Samantha Breske Magee
Rhonda Mulroy
Phylanice Nashe
Courtney Orr
Victoria Chu Pao
Anthony Parce*
Dr. Mark Peacock
Brett Ponton
Marielena Ramos
Christopher Redlich
Jeanie Rittenberry
Will Robinson Jim Rooney
Denotes Honorary Lifetime Member • Owen Board Fellow
Laura Ross
Dr. Kenneth Sands
Benjamin Scott
Michael Sposato
David Thomas Sr.
Jim Todd
Bryce VanDiver
Bill Wade
Gail Williams
Peter Witte*
DIRECTORS
Clay Brewer
Alexander Chan
Chelsea Curtis
Jason Eskind
Valentina Guidi
Gina Guo
Lizzie Hogan
Andrew Horowitz
Moragn Karr
Devin Mueller
Owen Thorne
Trey Watson
Thank you to our corporate and foundation partners for their generous support of our concert season and our education and community engagement activities. Partners from December 1, 2024 to February 28, 2026.
Accurate Healthcare
Actual Food
AllianceBernstein
COUNIHAN FAMILY FOUNDATION
American Endowment Foundation
Ann Hardeman and Combs L. Fort Foundation
Aventi Aviation Group
Beam Smile Design
BellSouth
Brian S. Biesman, M.D.
Brown Advisory
Brown Brothers Harriman
Bruce Pittman Inc.
Carolyn Smith Foundation
Castle Homes
Chad James
Christenberry Anderson Loomis
Family Foundation
Coca-Cola Bottling Company Consolidated
The Cockayne Fund Inc.
CoreCivic
Daniel A. Hatef M.D.
The Danner Foundation
DeLozier Plastic Surgery
Diamond Cellar
Dillard's Corporation
DRC Ventures
Earl Swensson Associates
Equitable Trust
WASHINGTON FOUNDATION, INC.
AND LOUIS TODD FAMILY FOUNDATION
WILLIAM STAMPS FARISH FUND
Ernest & Selma Rosenblum Fund
Ernst & Young
Fifth Third Bank
First Tennessee
FirstBank
Gilpin Facial Plastics
Goodin Lawncare
Gus Mayer
The Hendrix Foundation
Henry Laird Smith Foundation
The Heritage at Brentwood
The Hermitage Hotel
Hewlett Packard
Holland & Knight
Hub International
James Stephen Turner Family Foundation
Jewish Federation of Nashville and Middle Tennessee
KraftCPAs PLLC
Laroche Family Foundation
Lightning 100
M. Stratton Foster Charitable Foundation
The Mall at Green Hills
MedDev
The Memorial Foundation
Metropolitan Government of Nashville & Davidson County
Modern Woodmen of America
Nashville Center For Aesthetic Dentistry
Nashville City Club
Nashville Electric Service
Nashville Plastic Surgery Institute
Northern Trust
Oakwood Cleaners
The Palm Restaurant – Nashville
Patricia Marie Fine Jewelry
Private Edition
Publix Super Markets Charities
Regions Financial Corp
R. H. Boyd Publishing Corporation
Ryman Hospitality Properties Foundation
Samuel M. Fleming Foundation
Sebastian-Tunis Foundation
The Signatry
Soundtrack My Drink
Steinway Piano Gallery
StillWater
Style Blueprint
The Swanson Family Foundation
THNKS
Truist Financial
Turner Foundation, Inc.
UBS
Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Zuzu
Alan D. Valentine, President & CEO
Jeff vom Saal, COO
Amy Killett, CFO
Melinda C. Phillips, CDO
ARTISTIC ADMINISTRATION
Angelica Franzino -Brown , Vice President of Artistic Planning
Evann Brantley, Director of Artistic Operations
Abby Sams, Manager of Artistic Planning
Andrew Risinger, Organ Curator
Sherry D. Gibbs, Vice President of Communications
Alina Van Oostrom, Director of Digital Graphics
Randi Wilson, Graphic Design Associate
Jillian Neal, Senior Director of Development
Kimberly DePue, Development Officer
Byron Harvey II, Development Officer
Ashton Jennings, Senior Director of Corporate Partnerships
Serena Collins, Corporate Partnerships Assistant Meredithe Hyjek, Director of Development Events
Ross Bader, Director of Donor Relations & Volunteer Services
Robert Esposito, Assistant Director of Development Operations
Emma Rojo, Development Operations Specialist
Jennie Humann, Grants Manager
Victoria Leniar, Development Coordinator
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
Kimberly Kraft McLemore, Vice President of Education & Community Engagement & General Manager
Bryson Finney, Director of Learning
Kelley Bell, Director of Community Engagement
Karen Warren, Controller
Sheri Switzer, Senior Accountant
Bobby Saintsing, Payroll & Accounts Payable Manager
Trenton Leach, Senior Director of IT
Sherry D. Gibbs, Vice President of Communications
Luke Henry, Director of Customer Service
Julia Towner, Ticketing & Customer Service Specialist
Nathan Stone, Director of CRM & Ticketing Operations
Elise Boling, Ticketing Operations Specialist
Garrett Seeds, Ticketing & Sales Supervisor
Richard Byington, Sales Specialist
Misha Robledo, Group Sales Specialist
Orchestra Personnel
Pavana Stetzik, Director of Orchestra Personnel
Sarah Figueroa, Manager of Orchestra Operations
Production
Trey Franklin, Senior Lighting Director
Cameron Lambert, Audio Director
Brent Mitschke, Audio Engineer & Production Manager
Cameron Martin, Orchestra Stage Manager
Lacy Tier, Assistant Orchestra
Stage Manager
Kai Nakkim, Assistant Production Manager
VENUE MANAGEMENT
Eric Swartz, Vice President of Venue Management
John Sanders, Chief Technical Engineer
Kenneth Dillehay, Chief Engineer
Wade Johnson, Facility Director
Amber Arthur, Senior Event Manager
Abigail Imthurn, Event Supervisor
Kensi Bledsoe,Sales & Event Coordinator
Kamiljon Bouranov, Beverage Manager
Dominic Vulcano, Assistant Beverage Manager
Robert Gibbs , Director of Security
Tonesha Greer, Stage Door Receptionist
