A PUBLICATION OF THE NASHVILLE SYMPHONY
MARCH 2026
CARNIVAL OF THE ANIMALS MAR. 8 | AN AMERICAN IN PARIS MAR. 12 TO 14 | DOLLY PARTON’S THREADS: MY SONGS IN SYMPHONY MAR. 19 TO 21 | HOLST’S THE PLANETS MAR. 27 TO 29
DISTANT WORLDS: MUSIC FROM FINAL FANTASY APR. 1 & 2 | AND MORE!
March arrives as a season of renewal, bringing fresh energy and new beginnings to your Nashville Symphony.
Last month, we shared the exciting news that Leonard Slatkin has been named the 8th Music Director of the Nashville Symphony. Leonard is not only one of the most respected conductors of our time, but he is also a true American treasure. Since the time he spent as the orchestra’s Artistic Advisor while we were celebrating the opening of Schermerhorn Symphony Center 20 years ago, to our present-day collaborations with him, Maestro Slatkin has been a longtime friend of our orchestra and a trusted artistic partner. His musicianship, leadership, vision, and generosity of spirit have helped shape who we are today, and I am confident he will continue to build on the rich legacy of the orchestra as we move into our next chapter.
As Music Director, we will also see much more of Leonard on the podium over the next three seasons. Maestro Slatkin will conduct six of our fourteen Classical Series concerts—and more—during the 2026/27 season, providing an exciting opportunity for our musicians and audiences alike.
On a personal note, Leonard’s appointment ensures that we move forward with clarity, momentum, and a deep commitment to artistic excellence. As my own retirement approaches this July, it is especially reassuring to know that I will leave the institution in such capable hands – artistically strong and thoughtfully positioned for the future.
This spirit of renewal continued last month with the announcement of our 2026/27 Classical and Family series , and this month, we announce the remainder of our 2026/27 programming, including our Pops and Movie series , along with our Presentations and several additional Special Concerts These programs reflect the artistry, imagination, and accessibility that define the Nashville Symphony, and I encourage you all to renew and subscribe now to secure your seats for a season of concerts that I am certain will leave you moved and amazed.
Thank you for your continued support and for being part of this exciting season of renewal. I look forward to all that lies ahead, and to seeing you at Schermerhorn Symphony Center throughout the 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 POLICY
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
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.
SUNDAY, MARCH 8 AT 3 PM
KELLY CORCORAN, conductor
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!
BACH
"Allegro" from Keyboard Concerto in A major, BWV 1055
Shih-Man Wang, harpsichord
WILLIAMS
"Hedwig's Theme" from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
SAINT-SAËNS
Carnival of the Animals
I. Introduction and Royal March of the Lion
II. Hens and Roosters
III. Horses of the Tartary (Fleet Animals)
IV. Tortoises
V. The Elephant
IV. Kangaroos
VII. Aquarium
VIII. People With Long Ears
IX. The Cuckoo in the Depths of the Forest
X. Aviary
XI. Pianists
XII. Fossils
XIII. The Swan
XIV. Finale
SAINT-SAËNS
Finale from Symphony No. 3 in C minor, Opus 78 (Organ Symphony)
The conductor will turn around and the orchestra will stand up. You can clap for the orchestra if you liked the music!
THURSDAY, FRIDAY & SATURDAY, MARCH 12, 13 & 14 , AT 7:30 PM
ANDREW GRAMS, conductor
CLAYTON STEPHENSON, piano
TAN DUN
Internet Symphony (“Eroica”)
Allegretto
Dolce Molto
Allegro
Allegro Vivace
AARON COPLAND
Our Town
CAROLINE SHAW
The Observatory
INTERMISSION
MAURICE RAVEL
Piano Concerto in G major Allegramente
Adagio assai
Presto
Clayton Stephenson, piano
GEORGE GERSHWIN
An American in Paris
THANK YOU TO OUR CLASSICAL SERIES SPONSOR
The Lawrence S. Levine Memorial Concert.
This concert will last approximately 1 hour, 30 minutes, including a 2 0-minute intermission.
TTan Dun Internet Symphony (“Eroica”)
Composed: 2008
an Dun, one of the most internationally prominent composers of his generation, has described the Internet as “an invisible Silk Road, joining different cultures from around the world—East or West, North or South.” That image captures not only the spirit of Internet Symphony (“Eroica”) but also the arc of the composer’s own life and career: one shaped by cultural exchange, migration, and the belief that music thrives through connection rather than isolation.
Born in 1957 in China’s Hunan province, Tan Dun came of age during the Cultural Revolution, when access to formal musical training was severely restricted, and he was sent to work in an agricultural commune. After the reopening of Beijing’s Central Conservatory in 1977, he emerged as part of a new generation of composers encountering Western classical and modernist traditions for the first time. That encounter would soon carry him beyond China’s borders.
In 1986, Tan moved to the United States to study at Columbia University and settled in New York, becoming part of the first major wave of Chinese composers to immigrate to the country in the late 20th century—a generation whose work fundamentally expanded the global horizons of American concert music. His career since has unfolded on an unusually wide canvas, encompassing opera, orchestral music, film scores, and large-scale multimedia projects.
That expansive outlook lies at the heart of Internet Symphony (“Eroica”), a work jointly commissioned by Google and YouTube for the YouTube Symphony Orchestra—an ambitious experiment that inaugurated the first large-scale, online collaborative orchestra. Musicians from more than 70 countries auditioned by submitting video performances of Tan Dun’s score online, with finalists chosen through a combination of professional jury evaluation and public voting.
The project culminated in a high-profile live concert at Carnegie Hall in 2009, creating “a classical music phenomenon,” as Tan put it, “bringing together musical heroes from all corners of the globe.”
Within this program, Tan Dun’s use of found sounds from auto parts resonates with Gershwin’s iconic taxi horns, suggesting how composers across generations have drawn the sounds of modern life into the orchestral imagination—sometimes for local color, sometimes to rethink what an orchestra can be.
Although Internet Symphony (“Eroica”) unfolds in just five minutes, Tan divides the music into four brief movements, creating a compressed, kaleidoscopic form rather than a traditional symphonic argument. He also expands the orchestra’s sound world with unconventional elements such as brake drums and hubcaps. Embedded within the score is a phrase from the opening theme of Beethoven’s Eroica Symphony (No. 3)—a deliberate nod to a work that itself remapped the potential for what a symphony could be, here reframed for the digital age.
Scored for piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, English horn, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, trombone, tuba, timpani, 5 percussionists, harp, and strings.
Our Town
Composed: 1940
fter an early period of experimenting with modernist idioms and jazz-inflected symphonic writing, Aaron Copland began, in the 1930s and 1940s, to cultivate a style marked by clarity, restraint, and direct emotional appeal. This shift was not a retreat from sophistication but a conscious reorientation. The social realities of the Great Depression sharpened his desire to communicate more directly with a broad public.
That impulse aligned closely with the kinds of projects Copland increasingly embraced. Ballet, theater, and film—collaborative genres rooted in narrative—offered an ideal setting for the development of what would become his distinctive “American sound.” Beginning with Billy the Kid (1938) and continuing through Rodeo and Appalachian Spring, Copland refined a musical language of deliberate simplicity, marked by spacious textures, clear rhythms, and harmonies that carry emotional weight without calling attention to themselves.
Our Town emerged from that same philosophy. Copland first composed the music in 1940 as incidental score for Sam Wood’s film adaptation of Thornton Wilder’s Pulitzer Prize–winning play of 1938, a moving portrait of life in a fictional New Hampshire town near the turn of the 20th century.
Copland later arranged portions of the film score— including the title music, scenes in the churchyard,
and moments depicting daily life in the quasi-mythic Grovers Corners—into a short concert suite, which he dedicated to his younger friend Leonard Bernstein.
Copland noted that he was expected to provide music that would “translate the transcendental aspects of the story,” adding that he aimed for “clean and clear sounds” and relied on “straightforward harmonies and rhythms that would project the serenity and sense of security of the story.”
Scored for 2 flutes (3rd flute ad lib.), oboe (2nd oboe ad lib.), English horn, 3 clarinets ( 3rd doubling bass clarinet), 2 bassoons, 3 horns, 3 trumpets, 2 trombones, tuba, percussion, and strings.
TCaroline Shaw
The Observatory Composed: 2019
rained as a violinist and singer as well as a composer, Caroline Shaw is celebrated for a body of work that moves fluidly between concert music, chamber performance, vocal writing, and experimental collaboration. The Observatory, which she dedicates to the conductor Xian Zhang, grew from a moment of reflection during a visit to Los Angeles, when Shaw hiked up to Griffith Observatory while composing the piece.
Looking out over the city below and the sky above, Shaw began thinking about scale: the relationship between everyday human patterns and the vastness of the universe. That perspective was sharpened by conversations with her friend Kendrick Smith, a cosmologist whose research involves, in her words, “developing ways of looking at ways of looking at ways of looking at nn(ways of looking at) the universe. (Maybe that is also what music can be.)”
Caroline Shaw has provided this commentary: “The Observatory features some very large chords, and some very large spaces. Motives appear in diminution and augmentation simultaneously, like objects in orbit at different phases. Patterns in the foreground occasionally yield to patterns hovering in the background (including brief references to Strauss’s Don Juan , Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto
No. 3, Sibelius’s Symphony No. 2, Brahms’s Symphony No. 1, and to the arpeggios played on chimes to summon audiences to their seats at formal orchestra concerts). There is celebration and criticism of systems, amid moments of chaos and of clarity. The very large chords return at the end, but their behavior is not the same as when we began.”
Scored for piccolo and 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, 2 percussionists, piano, and strings.
IMaurice Ravel Piano Concerto in G major Composed: 1929-31
t wasn’t until late in his career that Maurice Ravel succeeded in the challenge of writing a concerto for his own instrument; as it happened, he produced two concertos, working on them side by side. The origins of the Piano Concerto in G major go back to sketches from 1914, and the work ranks among the French artist’s finest masterpieces.
Inspired by his 1928 tour of the United States, Ravel began composition in earnest the following year to showcase his own pianistic skills. But another commission soon intervened: the Piano Concerto for the Left Hand, written for Paul Wittgenstein, who had lost his right arm in the First World War after being shot by a Russian soldier and was now resuming his career by commissioning new repertoire for the left hand alone.
Once the Wittgenstein project was completed, Ravel returned to the Concerto in G. But as a result of his deteriorating health, he decided against playing the solo part himself and asked his friend Marguerite Long to give the premiere in Paris in 1932, with Ravel on the podium. The work also featured on the program of the very last public concert he would conduct, in November 1933.
Ravel’s deep admiration for Mozart is especially evident in this music; so is his enchantment with American jazz, which he encountered during his four-month North American tour—especially via George Gershwin’s Concerto in F, which made a strong impression on him. As the more “classical” of his two piano concertos, the G major blends Mozart’s melodic poignancy, the sparkle of Saint-Saëns, and folklike simplicity, all touched by jazz-inflected
rhythms and harmonies filtered through Ravel’s unmistakably refined style.
The innocent wonder of childhood, recalling a kind of paradise for Ravel, also leaves its mark. The first sound, a little crack of a whip faintly evoking a circus spectacle, calls us to attention, after which Ravel gives the first theme—delightfully—to the piccolo, enhancing the atmosphere of childlike fantasy. Though scored for a chamber-sized orchestra, the movement offers a kaleidoscopic range of colors: woodwind chatter, harp flourishes, and sudden rhythmic detours.
Mozartian grace comes to the fore in the Adagio assai, a slow movement carrying the gentle trace of a nostalgic waltz. Without actually quoting Mozart, Ravel achieves a similar deceptive simplicity in the piano’s long opening solo and in the graceful pacing of the woodwinds’ entrances. Of this unforgettable
American pianist Clayton Stephenson’s love for music is immediately apparent in his joyous charisma onstage, expressive power, and natural ease at the instrument.
Hailed for “extraordinary narrative and poetic gifts” and interpretations that are “fresh, incisive and characterfully alive” (Gramophone), he is committed to making an impact on the world through his music-making.
Clayton started piano lessons at age seven, and the next year was accepted into The Julliard School’s Music Advancement Program—a full scholarship program for disadvantaged students—where he lingered to watch student recitals and fell in love with music. Clayton practiced on a synthesizer at home until he found an old upright piano on the street. For the next six years that would be his practice piano, until, at the age of 17, he received a new piano from the Lang Lang Foundation.
He credits the generous support of community programs with providing him musical inspiration and resources along the way. As he describes it, the “Third Street Music School jump-started my music education; the Young People’s Choir taught me phrasing and voicing; Juilliard’s Music Advancement Program introduced me to formal and rigorous piano
melody, Ravel remarked: “How I worked over it bar by bar! It nearly killed me!” The English horn, in particular, becomes a haunting partner as the soloist weaves silken embroidery around its line.
The whip crack returns for the brief final movement, where Ravel resumes the funhouse spirit of the first movement—this time amped up into a glittering toccata with jazzy inflections from the E-flat clarinet, trombone slides, trumpet fanfares, and nimble percussion. The soloist navigates dizzying, acrobatic patterns until, with mischievous abruptness, Ravel repeats the four chords that set the movement spinning, punctuated by a final bang from the bass drum to draw the curtain.
In addition to solo piano, the score calls for piccolo, flute, oboe, English horn, 2 clarinets, E-flat clarinet, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, trumpet, trombone, timpani, percussion, harp, and strings.
training, which enabled me to get into Juilliard PreCollege; the Morningside Music Bridge validated my talent and elevated my self-confidence; the Boy’s Club of New York exposed me to jazz; and the Lang Lang Foundation brought me to stages worldwide and transformed me from a piano student to a young artist.”
Highlights of his 2025/26 season included a performance of Brahms's Concerto No. 2 with the Cincinnati Orchestra, performances of Gershwin’s Concerto in F with the Philadelphia Orchestra at the Saratoga Arts Festival, Festival Internazionale Palermo, Boston Pops, and Sarasota Orchestra. He will play Ravel's Concerto in G with the Nashville and Portland Symphonies as well as the Stuttgart Philharmonic. In addition, he gives recitals at the Jacobins Festival, Concertgebouw, Isabella Gardner Museum, and Crystal Bridges Museum. Clayton finishes his season in spring 2026 on tour with the Stuttgart Philharmonic in Italy.
Clayton Stephenson graduated from the HarvardNew England Conservatory (NEC) dual degree program in spring 2023 with a BA in economics from Harvard and a Masters degree in piano performance from NEC under Wha Kyung Byun. In addition to being the first Black finalist at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 2022, he has been a recipient of a 2024 Avery Fisher Career Grant, won the inaugural Nina Simone Piano Competition in 2024, and received a Sphinx Medal of Excellence in 2025.
An American in Paris
Composed: 1928
s the nation approaches its 250th anniversary, George Gershwin’s music offers a vivid reminder of how quickly American sound began to travel—and transform—abroad. His sudden ascent onto the international concert stage came just over a century ago with Rhapsody in Blue, a work that blurred the lines between jazz and classical music and captured the public’s imagination almost overnight. So impressed was Walter Damrosch—then leading what would soon become the New York Philharmonic—that he commissioned Gershwin to write a piano concerto, resulting in the Concerto in F. A second orchestral commission followed soon after, yielding An American in Paris, which Gershwin described as a “rhapsodic ballet” evoking “the impression of an American visitor in Paris as he strolls about the city and listens to various street noises and absorbs the French atmosphere.”
Though largely self-taught as a composer, Gershwin immersed himself in European musical traditions during a mid-1920s visit to Paris, where he formed a friendship with the older French composer Maurice Ravel. The title of this work might be read as a playful metaphor for Gershwin’s own artistic journey—an American engaging with European classical forms— but the composer was careful to emphasize that his aim was impressionistic rather than programmatic, leaving listeners free to experience the music in their own way.
Unlike Rhapsody in Blue, which was orchestrated by another hand, An American in Paris was fully scored by Gershwin himself. In pursuit of authentic urban color, he even brought back four taxi horns from Europe to use at the premiere, ensuring that the instrumental palette reflected the specific sounds of the city that inspired the piece.
Brisk, striding rhythms immediately set the scene. Snatches of French popular melodies alternate with more relaxed episodes, and a lyrical exchange between solo violin and celesta suggests leisurely café life. A blues-influenced trumpet line then emerges, expressing a kind of homesick yearning before building to an ardent climax. After another solo violin passage, echoes of a Charleston recall life back home with a celebratory air.
Gershwin himself explained that this sequence—the blues interlude giving way to renewed engagement with Parisian life—reflects the imagined experience of the “homesick American, having left the café and reached the open air,” who ultimately sheds his melancholy and takes up his role as an eager observer of the city’s vibrant rhythms. As the opening material returns and the blues theme reappears one last time, the music leads us back into the electric bustle of Paris lights and street life.
Scored for 3 flutes (3rd doubling piccolo); 2 oboes and English horn; 2 clarinets and bass clarinet; 2 bassoons; alto, tenor and bass saxophones; 4 horns; 3 trumpets; 3 trombones; tuba; timpani; percussion; celesta; 4 taxi horns (tuned to A, B, C and D), and strings.
− Thomas May is the Nashville Symphony's program annotator.
ANDREW GRAMS
With a distinctive blend of intensity, enthusiasm, and technical precision, American conductor Andrew Grams has earned a reputation for his dynamic performances, deep connection with audiences, and commitment to long-term orchestral development. Winner of the 2015 Conductor of the Year award from the Illinois Council of Orchestras, Grams has led prestigious ensembles across the United States, including the Chicago Symphony, Detroit Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, Dallas Symphony, and Houston Symphony.
In 2013, Grams was appointed Music Director of the Elgin Symphony Orchestra following an international search, where he cultivated a loyal following over his eight-season tenure. His charismatic conducting style, combined with his approachable demeanor, made him a beloved figure among Elgin's audiences.
An esteemed international presence, Grams has conducted numerous orchestras abroad, including the symphonies of Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and Vancouver, Orchestre National de France, Hong Kong Philharmonic, BBC Symphony Orchestra in London, and symphonies across Australia and New Zealand, including those in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Tasmania, and Western Australia. He has also worked with the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra and Het Residentie Orchestra in The Hague. Grams has led celebrated productions of George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker with New York City Ballet and conducted the premiere of the Norwegian National Ballet’s new
production of The Nutcracker in Oslo. In September 2023, he conducted the ARD Competition Finals with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, and in September 2024, he made his highly anticipated BBC Proms debut with Chineke! Orchestra, earning widespread acclaim.
A passionate educator, Grams has worked with emerging talent at leading institutions including the New World Symphony, Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Curtis Institute of Music, Shepherd School of Music at Rice University, Cleveland Institute of Music, Indiana University, Manhattan School of Music, Roosevelt University, National Orchestral Institute at the University of Maryland, and the Amsterdam Conservatorium.
Born in Severn, Maryland, Grams began his musical journey studying violin at the age of eight. He earned a Bachelor of Music in Violin Performance from The Juilliard School in 1999, followed by a conducting degree from the Curtis Institute of Music in 2003, where he studied with Otto-Werner Mueller. Grams also attended the American Academy of Conducting at Aspen in 2003 and 2004, where he worked with renowned conductors David Zinman, Murry Sidlin, and Michael Stern. From 2004 to 2007, he served as Assistant Conductor of The Cleveland Orchestra under Franz Welser-Möst, returning for several engagements thereafter.
In addition to his conducting career, Grams is an accomplished violinist. From 1998 to 2004, he was a member of the New York City Ballet Orchestra, serving as acting associate principal second violin in 2002 and 2004. He has also performed with esteemed ensembles such as the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Brooklyn Philharmonic, and New Jersey Symphony.
THURSDAY, FRIDAY & SATURDAY, MARCH 19, 20 & 21 AT 7:30 PM
ENRICO LOPEZ-YAÑEZ, conductor
DAVID HAMILTON, arranger
KATELYN DRYE, vocalist
HOLLIE HAMMEL, vocalist
JULIE WILLIAMS, vocalist
DAVID HAMILTON, Keys
DEREK DRYE, acoustic guitar/dobro/lap steel/vocals
LINDSEY MILLER, electric/acoustic guitar
DEAN BERNER, banjo/mandolin
GARY LUNN, bass guitar
A Dolly Parton/Schirmer Theatrical/Sony Music Publishing Co-Production
All songs written by Dolly Parton, unless otherwise noted Arrangements by David Hamilton
ALL MUSIC UNDER EXCLUSIVE LICENSE FROM SONY MUSIC PUBLISHING TO SCHIRMER THEATRICAL LLC UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED.
BETTER GET TO LIVIN’ UNDER LICENSE FROM SONY MUSIC PUBLISHING AND BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT ISLANDS IN THE STREAM UNDER LICENSE FROM UNIVERSAL MUSIC PUBLISHING GROUP
THREADS OVERTURE arranged by David Hamilton TWO DOORS DOWN MY TENNESSEE MOUNTAIN HOME
BLUE SMOKE THE BRIDGE
BETTER GET TO LIVIN’ co-written with Kent Wells JOLENE
IF YOU HADN’T BEEN THERE BACKWOODS BARBIE EAGLE WHEN SHE FLIES LIGHT OF A CLEAR BLUE MORNING
INTERMISSION
THREADS ENTR’ACTE arranged by David Hamilton
HERE YOU COME AGAIN written by Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann
ISLANDS IN THE STREAM written by Barry, Robin & Maurice Gibb
COAT OF MANY COLORS
TRAVELIN’ THRU BABY I’M BURNIN’
I WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU
Betsey Perlmutter
Creative Director & Producer, Schirmer Theatrical
David Hamilton
Arranger & Orchestrator
Dolly Parton
Songwriter & Executive Producer
Robert Thompson
Producer, Schirmer Theatrical
Adam Grannick
Director of Video & Animation
Laura Cooksey & David Wise
Vocal Coaching & Casting, Ten Two Six Music Group
Adam Weisman & Dustin Knock
Technical Services, Black Ink Presents
Paul Bevan Sound Design
Ali Meah
Logo Design, NoisyBird Media
Zach McNees
Post-Production Sound Mixing
Dolly Parton is the most honored and revered multi-hyphenate of all time and was recently inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Her current album Rockstar made history by scoring the biggest album debut sales week of her seven-decade career and earning her six #1s on the Billboard charts: Top Rock Albums, Top Rock & Alternative Albums, Top Country Albums, Top Album Sales, Top Current Album Sales, and Independent Albums. The landmark album also claimed the #3 spot on the Billboard 200 chart, her highest position ever. Achieving 27 RIAAcertified gold, platinum, and multi-platinum awards, she has had 26 songs reach #1 on the Billboard country charts—a record for a female artist. Parton is the first artist to have topped Billboard's Adult Contemporary, Christian AC Songs, Hot Country Songs, Christian Airplay, Rock Digital Songs, Country Airplay, and Dance/Mix Show Airplay radio charts. Parton became the first country artist honored as GRAMMY ® MusiCares Person of the Year given out by NARAS. She has 49 career Top 10 country albums, a record for any artist, and 120 career-charted singles over the past 50+ years. On October 17, 2023, she released her second New York Times best-seller coffee table book in a trilogy called Behind The Seams: My Life in Rhinestones. The first of the series was bestselling coffee table book Songteller: My Life in Lyrics
In 2014, the RIAA recognized her impact on recorded music with a plaque commemorating more than 100 million units sold worldwide. She has amassed eleven GRAMMY ® Awards and 52 nominations, including the Lifetime Achievement
Todd Ellis Producer, Sony Music Publishing
Alex Kosick
Associate Producer, Schirmer Theatrical
Stephen Lamb Copyist
Evie Miller
Artistic Operations Assistant, Schirmer Theatrical
Emily Yoon Vice President, Wasserman Music
Alex Fisher & Kerigan Medeiros Wasserman Music, Booking Agency
Rachel Poston & Michelle Szeto-Piras
Marketing Services
Award, 10 Country Music Association Awards, including Entertainer of the Year; five Academy of Country Music Awards, including a nod for Entertainer of the Year; four People's Choice Awards; and three American Music Awards. In 1999, Parton was inducted as a member of the coveted Country Music Hall of Fame.
Dolly has the largest fan base of all measured music artists in the YouGov database at #1 with 198 million. She has the #1 Q Score of all performers, solo and group. Dolly is one of only 25 celebrities in the E-poll database to have an E-score of 100 and has maintained that perfect rating for eight years. She recently won Best Brand Award, Celebrity, Influencer and Fashion at the 2023 Licensing International Excellence Awards.
To date, Parton has donated more than 255 million books to children around the world with her Imagination Library. Her children's book, Coat of Many Colors, was dedicated to the Library of Congress to honor the Imagination Library's 100 millionth book donation. In March of 2022, Parton released the book Run Rose Run which she co-authored with James Patterson which sat at # 1 on the New York Times best-sellers List for five weeks, a record for this decade. She also released an accompanying album of the same name with original songs inspired by the book which reached #1 on three charts simultaneously: Country, Americana/Folk and Bluegrass Albums. From her “Coat of Many Colors” while working “9 to 5,” no dream is too big and no mountain too high for the country girl who turned the world into her stage.
KATELYN DRYE
Katelyn Drye is a singer, songwriter, and lover of all things Dolly. She is exactly one-half of the country duo, The Dryes, alongside her husband Derek. Recognized by Country Living Magazine as “The new hot country duo to watch” after premiering on season 22 of NBC’s “The Voice” (Team Blake), The Dryes have accumulated over 12 million global streams, catching the attention of USA Today, Rolling Stone, People, American Songwriter, and Billboard, among others. Their sassy single “Dolly Would” is the anthem to a longtime hero, Dolly Parton which together with their alluring, soulful track “House on Fire” reached #1 on CMT’s 12 Pack Countdown. Their summer single, “Daydrinkin’”, charted on iTunes on release day and has garnered over five million views across social media, while their newest single “Ain’t God Good” reflects on the goodness found in and out of the difficult times we all face in life.
HOLLIE HAMMEL
Hollie Hammel is a Los Angeles-based singer, songwriter, producer, and background vocalist. Originally from Nashville, she earned a Bachelor of Arts in Music Education from Belmont University. During her decade in Music City, Hollie toured and recorded with celebrated artists such as Joss Stone, Sara Evans, Hans Zimmer, Brandi Carlile, and more. Her talents have also been featured on projects for Disney, where she lends her voice and likeness to several beloved characters in Harmonious (streaming on Disney+), as well as recordings played in Disney Parks around the world.
Now splitting her time between Los Angeles and Nashville, Hollie is deeply passionate about fostering creative communities in both cities. When not collaborating with other artists, she dedicates herself to writing, recording, and producing her own original music.
Tonight, Hollie is deeply honored to join the symphony in celebrating the legendary Dolly Parton, paying tribute to one of music’s, and her own personal, cherished icons.
JULIE WILLIAMS
CMT Next Women of Country and Billboard Country Rookie Julie Williams is turning heads in Nashville’s Americana music scene with her compelling blend of country storytelling, soft-yet-powerful vocal performance, and indie folk production. A member of the Black Opry Revue, Julie was named in Rissi Palmer’s Color Me Country Class of 2021, featured on Wide Open Country’s list of “10 Country Acts Poised for a Breakout Year in 2023,” and her single “Southern Curls” was covered by CMT, “PBS NewsHour,” and numerous music publications. Building her career on the road, Julie has captivated audiences at festivals such as Newport Folk Festival, CMA Fest, Tortuga Music Fest, High Water Festival, and AmericanaFest, and has shared the stage with acts across genres, including Jason Isbell, Allison Russell, Mt. Joy, Devon Gilfillian, Brittney Spencer, and Will Hoge. An activist at heart, Julie launched Green Room Conversations, a series of performances and speaking engagements on college campuses to raise awareness of sexual harassment in the music industry. In October 2024, Julie released her EP. Tennessee Moon, that was featured in Billboard, Nashville Scene, and Entertainment Tonight, and listed on NPR music critic Ann Power’s list of best albums released by Nashville artists in 2024. In May, Julie released her new 90s country-inspired song “The Women Who Made Me.” With a music video featuring country icon Trisha Yearwood and Julie’s mom, the song is a love letter to all of the strong women who made Julie who she is.
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE MUSIC AND ARTISTS FEATURED IN DOLLY PARTON’S THREADS
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).
FRIDAY & SATURDAY, MARCH 27 & 28 , AT 7:30 PM
SUNDAY, MARCH 29, AT 2:00 PM
NASHVILLE SYMPHONY
TITO MUÑOZ, conductor
TIMOTHY MCALLISTER, saxophone
A la busca del más allá (In search of the beyond)
JAMES LEE III
Abiding Legacy: Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Orchestra | World Premiere
I. Resilience
II. Remembered among the stars… III. Resolute Dream
Timothy McAllister, saxophone
INTERMISSION
GUSTAV HOLST
The Planets
Mars, the Bringer of War Venus, the Bringer of Peace Mercury, the Winged Messenger Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age Uranus, the Magician Neptune, the Mystic
THANK YOU TO OUR CLASSICAL SERIES SPONSOR
This concert will last approximately one hour, 55 minutes, including a 2 0-minute intermission.
Rodrigo
A la busca del más allá (In search of the beyond)
Composed: 1976
oaquín Rodrigo remains one of the most recognizable figures in 20th-century Spanish music, best known for the Concierto de Aranjuez, the work that forever linked his name with his birthplace and placed the city of Aranjuez on the world’s musical map. Born in 1901 and blinded by diphtheria at the age of three, Rodrigo fashioned a remarkable career that extended far beyond composition. He was also an accomplished pianist, writer, critic, broadcaster, lecturer, teacher, academician, and prominent advocate for the blind, serving in administrative roles on their behalf.
The year 2026 marks the 125th anniversary of Rodrigo’s birth, an occasion being commemorated in Spain with renewed attention to his legacy. In Aranjuez, the city council has launched new cultural and touristic routes dedicated to Rodrigo, an especially fitting tribute given the enduring association between the composer and the city that inspired his most famous work.
Rodrigo’s body of work reflects not only Spanish musical traditions but also a lifelong engagement with poetry, philosophy, and the inner life. While he is often remembered for the distinctive lyricism of his guitar works, his orchestral output reveals a composer of striking imagination and intellectual breadth.
Rodrigo’s international stature brought him into sustained contact with audiences and institutions in the United States, where his music was frequently performed. In 1976, during the American Bicentennial celebrations, he received a commission that resulted in A la busca del más allá (In Search of the Beyond), written for the Houston Symphony Orchestra. Composed late in his career, the work stands as one of Rodrigo’s boldest orchestral statements, marked by an expressive ambition that may surprise listeners familiar only with his earlier scores.
Rodrigo described A la busca del más allá as a symphonic poem, albeit “with a clearly abstract character,” since the piece lacks the kind of “specific programme or principal theme customary in works of this genre.” Rather than present a literal narrative, the music invites the listener to contemplate the idea of the “beyond” as an open, evocative space.
Rodrigo provided this commentary on the piece: “A long roll on cymbals opens and closes the work, fading into the distance, intended to arouse in the listener the mystery of the beyond. Then the orchestra introduces within a few bars two themes which appear frequently throughout the work, melodic apparitions which are sometimes interrupted by brief and rapid sections. Generally; the orchestral writing is very clear; with the exception of those very rapid motifs made a little more intricate by atonal allusions.
The composer employs the entire resources of the great symphony orchestra though some parts use small combinations of instruments such as, for example, flute, harp, xylophone, and celesta. The work concludes pianissimo as if lost in space, in the ‘beyond.’”
Scored for piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, English horn, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, harp, celesta, and strings.
JJames Lee III
Abiding Legacy: Concerto for Alto
Saxophone and Orchestra
Composed: 2025
ames Lee III’s music is shaped by an unusually wide horizon—one that draws on faith, history, language, and a belief in music as a moral and expressive force. Over the past decade, he has emerged as a distinctive orchestral voice among composers of his generation, admired for an approach that balances clarity with emotional immediacy and engages questions of memory, identity, and aspiration.
Lee’s catalogue now encompasses more than 80 works across chamber, choral, and orchestral genres, with major American orchestras playing a central role in commissioning and premiering his music—a trajectory reflected in his recent composer-in-residence appointment with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.
These concerns come into especially clear focus in Abiding Legacy, his new saxophone concerto, inspired by the life of astronaut, physicist, and saxophonist Ronald Erwin McNair (1950–86), whose tragic death in the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster cut short a remarkable career.
The concerto has become a particularly fertile form for Lee, offering a space where individual voice and collective expression meet; his works in the genre include concertos for instruments ranging from flute, violin, and piano to the bayan (a Russian button
accordion). Abiding Legacy marks his first concerto for saxophone. The work was commissioned by and written for the saxophone virtuoso Timothy McAllister, himself the son of a NASA engineer, and marks the 40th anniversary of the fateful Challenger mission. Ronald McNair’s story embodies multiple strands of American aspiration: as an African American growing up in segregated South Carolina, he rose to the forefront of scientific discovery, guided by a commitment to education and mentorship and a belief in the arts as an essential partner to intellectual life. Lee does not attempt to narrate McNair’s biography literally. Instead, Abiding Legacy offers a threemovement musical reflection on qualities that defined him—what Lee has described as “courage, creativity, and excellence”—casting the saxophone as both protagonist and witness.
“The first movement (‘Resilience’) is loosely organized in sonata form and is a musical narrative on Dr. McNair’s journey from a segregated town in South
TIMOTHY MCALLISTER saxophone
Today’s most celebrated classical saxophonist Timothy McAllister is an acclaimed soloist, soprano chair of the GRAMMY® Award-winning PRISM Quartet, and champion of contemporary music credited with over fifty recordings and two hundred premieres of new compositions by eminent and emerging composers worldwide. McAllister has appeared with more than forty of the world's most prominent orchestras in over twenty countries, from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra to the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the Proms. Following his premiere of John Adams’s Saxophone Concerto with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra under the baton of the composer, he performed the Concerto and Adam's City Noir on the 2015 GRAMMY® Awardwinning recording with the St. Louis Symphony and David Robertson. His recent recordings of Kenneth Fuchs's Saxophone Concerto, Rush , with JoAnn Falletta and the London Symphony Orchestra and his reprise of City Noir with the Berlin Philharmonic under Gustavo Dudamel both appeared on 2019 GRAMMY® Award-nominated albums, with the
Carolina to becoming a NASA astronaut—a powerful symbol of overcoming adversity and achieving dreams.
The second movement (‘Remembered among the stars…’) includes melodies in homage to Dr. McNair within an imagined musical soundscape in outer space. I tried to allude to the fact that it was intended that Dr. McNair play his saxophone in space in a live feed with a band on Earth as part of Jean-Michel Jarre’s Rendez-Vous project [a then-forthcoming album by the French composer and ambient-electronic music pioneer]. At points throughout this movement, melodies of longing can be heard in the saxophone and in subsequent conversations with other parts of the orchestra.
The last movement (‘Resolute Dreams’) is cast in a five-part rondo form. It is meant to convey a strong and unwavering ambition to achieve one’s dreams—a celebration of life and of Dr. McNair’s perseverance, determination, and commitment to science, education, excellence, and reaching for the stars—pun intended.”
In addition to solo alto saxophone, scored for 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, celesta, harp, and strings.
Fuchs winning for “Best Classical Compendium.” Recent performances included the China Premiere of the Adams' Saxophone Concerto with Edo de Waart and the Hong Kong Philharmonic and the Belgium Premiere of Guillaume Connesson's Saxophone Concerto: A Kind of Trane under Stéphane Denève and the Brussels Philharmonic, on the Deutsche Grammophon label.
As guest soloist, other recent engagements include the symphonies of Albany, Buffalo, Detroit, Houston, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Seattle, and St. Louis, among many others. In 2022, he premiered John Corigliano’s Triathlon: Concerto for Saxophonist and Orchestra with Giancarlo Guerrero and San Francisco Symphony to widespread acclaim. 2023 featured the United States premiere of Tyshawn Sorey’s Adagio (For Wadada Leo Smith) for alto saxophone and orchestra with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.
A widely-respected teacher of his instrument, McAllister is Professor of Saxophone at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre and Dance, and he appears at summer festivals and courses worldwide. He holds degrees from the University of Michigan, having studied with legendary saxophonist Donald Sinta.
GGustav Holst
The Planets
Composed: 1914-16
ustav Holst composed The Planets between 1914 and 1916, at a moment when European musical language itself was in flux. Recently struck by the revolutionary works of Stravinsky and Schoenberg, Holst absorbed their rethinking of rhythm, harmony, and orchestral color into a highly personal idiom. At the same time, he developed a fascination with astrology—not astronomy—as a symbolic framework. “These pieces were suggested by the astrological significance of the planets,” he explained, conceiving the suite not as a depiction of celestial bodies but as a sequence of psychological and expressive states. From its earliest performances, The Planets quickly escaped the orbit of the classical concert hall to become part of the broader cultural imagination, exerting a lasting influence on film music and other largescale orchestral traditions. Listeners have long been tempted to bring contemporary associations to the score. Early audiences linked the violence of “Mars, the Bringer of War” to the First World War, though Holst composed the movement in the summer of 1914, before the full brutality of the conflict had unfolded. Modern listeners, in turn, often hear echoes of a newly mechanized world shaped by unprecedented technological power.
Holst took liberties with traditional astrology by opening the suite with “Mars,” whose musical material he recognized as especially compelling. The sequence of the first three movements appears out of order, while the remaining four proceed according to planetary distance from the sun. Earth is omitted entirely, as the vantage point from which the other planets are observed.
“Mars, the Bringer of War” opens the suite with an implacable, uneven rhythmic pulse and stark orchestral sonorities that suggest an inhuman, mechanized force, building toward a brutally dissonant climax. “Venus, the Bringer of Peace” offers a contrasting world of calm, shaped by gently rocking harmonies and lyrical solos, while “Mercury, the Winged Messenger” flits by in a brief, mercurial scherzo of light textures and overlapping rhythms.
Placed at the center of the suite, “Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity” balances exuberance with gravity, culminating in a broad hymn-like theme. “Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age” unfolds as a slow, inexorable procession, moving from chill austerity to a hardwon sense of acceptance. “Uranus, the Magician” follows as a sardonic, march-like scherzo, driven by an incantatory motif and crowned by an organfueled climax. In “Neptune, the Mystic,” the music withdraws from overt gesture altogether, dissolving into hushed, shifting textures and fading into silence with the aid of a distant, wordless women’s chorus.
Scored for 4 flutes (3rd and 4th doubling piccolo, the 4th also doubling alto flute), 2 oboes and bass oboe, English horn, 3 clarinets, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, double bassoon, 6 horns, 4 trumpets, 3 trombones, tenor and bass tuba, 6 timpani, percussion, celesta, organ, 2 harps, and strings, plus a 6-part women’s choir (wordless, offstage, in “Neptune” only).
− Thomas May is the Nashville Symphony's program annotator.
TITO MUÑOZ
Praised for his versatility, technical clarity, and keen musical insight, Tito Muñoz is internationally recognised as one of the most gifted conductors of his generation. Following his ten-year tenure as the Virginia G. Piper Music Director of The Phoenix Symphony, which concluded in the 2023/24 season, he continues his association with the orchestra as Artistic Partner. In the 2025/26 season, he also takes up the role of Interim Principal Conductor at the Cleveland Institute of Music, becoming a guest member of its Orchestral Studies faculty.
He has appeared with many of North America’s leading orchestras, including those of Atlanta, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Dallas, Detroit, Houston, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Minnesota, New York, and Utah, as well as the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra, and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s—making his Carnegie Hall debut with the latter in a sold-out performance of Orff’s Carmina Burana in February 2024. Maintaining a strong international conducting presence, Tito has also worked with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony, SWR Symphonieorchester, Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken,
Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Orchestre National d’Île de France, Lucerne Festival Contemporary Orchestra, Lausanne Chamber Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony, Royal Philharmonic (London), Ulster Orchestra, Danish National Chamber Orchestra, Luxembourg Philharmonic, Orchestra of the Music Makers Singapore, Auckland Philharmonia, Sydney Symphony, Adelaide Symphony, São Paulo State Symphony, Opéra Orchestre National Montpellier, and Opéra de Rennes.
The 2025/26 season includes debuts with the New Jersey Symphony, Nashville Symphony, Antwerp Symphony, Jena Philharmonie, Nürnberger Symphoniker, and Komische Oper Berlin, alongside return appearances with SWR Symphonieorchester and the New York Philharmonic.
A committed advocate for contemporary music, Tito has led premieres and recordings of works by Christopher Cerrone, Kenneth Fuchs, Dai Fujikura, Michael Hersch, Adam Schoenberg, Mauricio Sotelo, and Francisco Coll. A passionate educator, he is also a regular guest at many of North America’s leading educational institutions, summer festivals, and youth orchestras. Born in Queens, New York, Tito began his musical training as a violinist in the city’s public schools.
WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY, APRIL 1 & 2 AT 7:30 PM
ERIC ROTH
conducting the NASHVILLE SYMPHONY
AMANDA ACHEN, soloist
© SQUARE ENIX. All Rights Reserved.
Conductor Arnie Roth is a GRAMMY® Award-winning artist well known in the world of video game music for his work with legendary composer Nobuo Uematsu and SQUARE ENIX LTD as Music Director, Producer and Conductor of “Distant Worlds: music from FINAL FANTASY,” “Dear Friends: music from FINAL FANTASY,” and “VOICES: music from FINAL FANTASY.” He was chosen to conduct a series of symphonic concerts based on the music themes of various video game series in Cologne with WDR Rundfunkorchester Köln, including Symphonic Fantasies, Symphonic Shades, and Symphonic Odysseys. Roth is equally at home in the areas of film and composition and was the winner of the Best Score Award at the 2003 DVD Premier Awards and nominated for an Emmy for his original song “Shine” from the Mattel movie Barbie in The Twelve Dancing Princesses. Roth has produced dozens of best-selling CDs on such labels as American Gramaphone, JVC, Mattel, Warner Bros., Sony, Koch, Razor & Tie, AWR Records, and SQUARE ENIX.
A harmonious blend of tradition and innovation defines Amanda Achen’s musical journey. She is a versatile soprano renowned for her "crystalline quality" and emotive performances, gracing stages worldwide in concert halls, jazz clubs, and iconic venues such as Radio City Music Hall, Tokyo Dome, and the Hollywood Bowl.
Recognized for her stylistic diversity, Amanda has risen to prominence in the gaming community thanks to her collaborations with Masayoshi Soken on FINAL FANTASY XIV and FINAL FANTASY XVI. She has also been featured in Studio Ghibli Symphony Concerts with Joe Hisaishi. Her voice has resonated in blockbuster films like Frozen II, Mulan, and Birds of Prey.
As a Twitch partner, Amanda has connected with her audience in real-time through FINAL FANTASY XIV gameplay, chats, and live musical performances, showcasing her dynamic talents. She has also composed original music as both a solo artist and with her jazz ensemble, Citizen Kitten.
FRIDAY, APRIL 3 AT 7:30 PM
NATHAN ASPINALL, conductor
JON NITE , songwriter
NATALIE HEMBY, songwriter
RIVERS RUTHERFORD, songwriter
For the second year in a row, this one-of-a-kind experience expands to Schermerhorn Symphony Center’s grand stage, where the musicians of the Nashville Symphony join forces with The Bluebird Cafe to bring you Bluebird at the Symphony.
Since 1982, Nashville’s iconic Bluebird Cafe has celebrated the artistry of songwriters, offering an intimate, acoustic environment that pulls back the curtain on the “Heroes Behind the Hits.” Over four decades, countless artists and songwriters have launched their careers at The Bluebird, giving audiences an exclusive front-row seat to the creative process.
Bluebird at the Symphony offers an unforgettable fusion of Nashville’s rich songwriting tradition and the unparalleled talent of the musicians of the Nashville Symphony, showcasing the songwriting soul of Music City in a new way. Witness the creativity of the songwriters, enhanced by the grandeur of world-class musicians of the Nashville Symphony, as timeless songs come to life like never before.
NITE
Born in Amarillo, Texas, Jon Nite is a GRAMMY ® Award nominated, CMA and ACM award winning singer/ songwriter who has written 18 number one songs and 30 top country hits. Jon has earned three CMA Triple Play awards for writing three #1 songs in a single calendar year.
Jon’s songs include NSAI song of the year “Break Up in the End” by Cole Swindell “Whatever She’s Got” by David Nail, “‘Knocking Boots,’ ‘Strip it Down,’ and ‘What She Wants Tonight’” by Luke Bryan, “Living” and “Tip it on Back” by Dierks Bentley, “Smoke” by A Thousand Horses, “We Were Us” and “Break on Me” by Keith Urban, “Beachin” by Jake Owen, "Noise" by Kenny Chesney, “Think A Little Less” by Michael Ray, “If I Told You” by Darius Rucker, “Boy” by Lee Brice, “I Hope” by Gabby Barrett, and many more.
NATALIE HEMBY
You love her songs, now discover her voice.
Since signing her first publishing deal at 19, Nashville’s Natalie Hemby has become one of most successful and sought after songwriters in music, with countless hit songs recorded by artists such as Kacey Musgraves, Maren Morris, Sheryl Crow, Miranda Lambert, Lady Gaga, Yola, Dierks Bentley, Rag'n'Bone Man, Lady A, Kelly Clarkson, Little Big Town, and Labrinth, to name a few. Now, she’s offering her own voice to her prolific storytelling with the release of her brilliant sophomore album Pins and Needles
Written by Hemby with songwriters including Miranda Lambert, Brothers Osborne, Aaron Raitiere, Daniel Tashian, and others. Produced by her husband and collaborator Mike Wrucke, the album explores the full range of Hemby's musical gifts, spanning influences from Tom Petty to Sheryl Crow and the early 90’s rock and roots she was raised on.
Pins and Needles marks Hemby’s first new music since joining forces with Brandi Carlile, Maren Morris, and Amanda Shires as The Highwomen to release their critically acclaimed self-titled album in 2019. As a result, Hemby earned a Country Song of
the Year GRAMMY®, following her first GRAMMY® win for Best Song Written for Visual Media for Lady Gaga’s “I’ll Never Love Again” from A Star Is Born, among five career nominations.
Hemby has also been recognized by the ACM, CMA, CMT, and NSAI Awards for her prodigious and versatile contributions to songwriting.
RIVERS RUTHERFORD
With a name like Rivers Rutherford, it's no surprise this soulful storyteller and recent Nashville Songwriter's Hall of Famer was destined to become one of music's most talented and accomplished singer-songwriters. Having grown up in the shadow of Elvis's Graceland homestead in Memphis, Rutherford came out of the gates swinging at 21 years old, landing his first cut with American legends Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, and Kris Kristofferson (aka The Highwaymen). What followed were a dozen #1 hits, multiple GRAMMY®s, CMA, and ACM nominations, and more than 20 ASCAP awards, including both of the coveted awards for Country Song Of The Year and Songwriter Of The Year, all of which have firmly established Rutherford's position within the upper echelon of Nashville's most lauded songwriters.
You'll see Rivers' name on #1 songs by Tim McGraw, Kenny Chesney, Brad Paisley, and Dolly Parton (for the stunning and GRAMMY®-nominated duet "When I Get Where I'm Going"), Rodney Atkins, Montgomery Gentry, Gretchen Wilson, Trace Atkins, and Brooks & Dunn—penning the duo's most successful single ever "Ain't Nothin' ‘Bout You," which spent six weeks at #1 and won both Billboard's and ASCAP'S Song Of The Year. Rivers has also enjoyed success with Country giants the likes of Carrie Underwood, Keith Urban, Lady A, Reba McEntire, George Jones, Toby Keith, Faith Hill, Hank Williams Jr., Gary Allan, and hosts of others.
Known for his gritty southern style, Rutherford is unapologetic about his faith, devotion to his family, and making great music. His decades-long career, the countless hits to his credit, and his ability to write music that is timeless is a testament to a man that has come to be respected as an artist in his own right.
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
Mrs. Martha Rivers Ingram
Donna & Ralph Korpman
Neil Krugman and Leona Pratt
Mr. & Mrs. Jonathan A. McNabb
Mr. & Mrs. Rick Horne
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 January 31, 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
Greg & Collie Daily
Mr. & Mrs. Ralph W. Davis Jr.
Dr. Daniel Diermeier
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. W. Brantley Phillips, Jr. & Mrs. Joelle Phillips
Mr. Brett Ponton
Mr. & Mrs. Christopher R. Redlich Jr.
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
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
Lewis & Denise Bellardo
Dr. and Mrs. Randy Bellows
Mr. & Mrs. Douglas Bennett Jr.
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
Mr. Ralph A. DeCuyper & Mr. Stephen Sirls
Mr. & Mrs. Robert S. Doochin
Travis & Robin Dunn
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
Matthews Family Charitable Fund
Mr. and Mrs. Dewitt Kerry McCluggage
Priscilla McKeehan
Mrs. Sharon L. McMahan
John & Crispin Menefee
Joseph & Julia Moore
Bill & Cindy Morelli
Mr. Devin R. Mueller
James & Patricia Munro
Dr. & Mrs. Turner Nashe Jr.
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
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.
Paul & Gerda Resch
Dr. Amy Robertson & Mr. Carl Marshall
Ms. Kathy R. Robbins
Ms. Melanie Robinson
John & Carol Rochford
Mr. & Mrs. David L. Rollins
Rebecca Rouland
Mr. Lawrence Rubin
Ms. Mary Frances Rudy
Kenneth & Joan Sands
Dr. Norm Scarborough & Ms. Kimberly Hewell
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
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
Ms. Betty C. Bellamy
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
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
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 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
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
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
Alan D. Valentine
President & CEO
DIRECTORS
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
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 the 2024/25 season and our education and community engagement activities. Partners through July 31, 2025
Accurate Healthcare
Actual Food
Ann Hardeman and Combs L. Fort Foundation
Beam Smile Design
Brown Brothers Harriman
Bruce Pittman, Inc.
Burroughs Family Foundation
Carolyn Smith Foundation
Christenberry Anderson Loomis
Family Foundation
Coca-Cola Bottling Company Consolidated
The Cockayne Fund Inc.
Corrections Corporation of America
Daniel A. Hatef M.D.
The Danner Foundation
DeLozier Plastic Surgery
Dillard's Corporation
Earl Swensson Associates, Inc. (ESa)
Ernest & Selma Rosenblum Fund
Ernst & Young
Fifth Third Bank
Gilpin Facial Plastics
Goodin Lawncare
The Hermitage Hotel
The Hendrix Foundation
The Heritage at Brentwood
Hewlett Packard
Hilton Nashville Downton
Jewish Federation of Nashville and Middle Tennessee
KraftCPAs PLLC
Laroche Family Foundation
Lightning 100
Los Angeles Philharmonic Association
M. Stratton Foster Charitable Foundation
The Mall at Green Hills
Melkus Family Foundation
The Memorial Foundation
Metropolitan Government of Nashville & Davidson County
Morgan Stanley Gift Fund
Modern Woodmen
Nashville Plastic Surgery Institute
Northern Trust
Oakwood Cleaners
Private Edition
Publix Super Markets Charities
R. H. Boyd Publishing Corporation
Ryman Hospitality Properties Foundation
Samuel M. Fleming Foundation
Sebastian-Tunis Foundation
Soundtrack My Drink
StillWater
Styleblueprint
The Swanson Family Foundation
THNKS
Thrivent Financial
UBS
Vanderbilt University Medical Center
EXECUTIVE
Alan D. Valentine, President & CEO
Jeff vom Saal, COO
Amy Killett, CFO
Melinda C. Phillips, CDO
Heather Romero, Senior Executive Assistant & Board Liaison
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
COMMUNICATIONS
Sherry D. Gibbs, Vice President of Communications
Alina Van Oostrom, Director of Digital Graphics
DEVELOPMENT
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
EDUCATION & COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
Kimberly Kraft McLemore, Vice President of Education & Community Engagement & General Manager
Bryson Finney, Director of Learning
Kelley Bell, Director of Community Engagement
FINANCE
Karen Warren, Controller
Sheri Switzer, Senior Accountant
Bobby Saintsing, Payroll & Accounts Payable Manager
INCLUSION
Junico Cardwell, Director of Human Resources
Trenton Leach, Senior Director of IT
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
