Classical Reviews

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After the Storm . . .

I’m not sure about you, but I’m already looking forward to putting 2020 in the rearview mirror.  We’re not even halfway through the year and we’ve weathered a catastrophic tornado and are grappling with a global pandemic . . . and we’re not out of the woods yet.  As our communities gradually reopen and we learn to adjust to what is a hopefully temporary “new normal”, we are all confronted with uncertainty and apprehension about the future.  But, even as we adjust to quarantine, social distancing, facemasks, and the elbow bump rather than the handshake – we can still takeRead More

From Russia to Romania

Balanchine’s Serenade and Vasterling’s Dracula

(Photo: Karyn Photography)
Born with the sound of church bells near his home in Bohemia, Bohuslav Martinů’s music was an effective choice for Paul Vasterling’s Dracula. After all, Martinů was born in centralRead More

At the Schermerhorn

Yankovskaya at the Nashville Symphony

Any time that it is a Music Director’s last season you must watch each guest conductor coming through with an eye towards the future. Who will take the helm afterRead More

The Ties that Bind:

Bizet’s Carmen at the Nashville Opera

Bernardo Medeiros (Zuniga), Sara Crigger (Mercedes), Marina Costa-Jackson (Carmen), and Dee Donasco (Frasquita) in "Les tringles des sistres tintaient"
The lights in the theatre dim and the chattering crowd is suddenly silent, drinks with condensation dripping off them clutched tightly as the orchestra, one behemoth of magical sound, beginsRead More

From the Nashville Symphony

Opening Night with the Nashville Symphony

On the weekend of September 13-14, the Nashville Symphony presented its season opening concert with a performance of Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini featuring Joyce Yang, andRead More

My Soul Looks Back: Nashville’s Gospel Honors

  They took us to CHURCH! Well, you might ask, wasn’t the event in a church? Downtown Presbyterian Church, to be specific? Yes, but if you’re not familiar with theRead More

From the Blair Master Series:

Beethoven and Shostakovich at Turner Hall.

On Friday September 6th I was treated to a lovely night at Vanderbilt’s Blair School of Music. The occasion was a continuation of the Blair Master’s Series, this time featuringRead More

A Portrait

Wayne Oquin: Composer and Educator

The Nashville Symphony has just released a new CD titled “Organ Concertos” under the American Classics label at Naxos. On this CD is a piece titled “Resilience” by Wayne OquinRead More

The Blueprint Ensemble’s ‘Summer Winds’ at Asaph’s

The Blueprint Ensemble is a Nashville based chamber group that is dedicated to performing music from Tennessee composers and other historical music. This past week I was able to seeRead More

The Sphinx Virtuosos at the Schermerhorn on July 9

(Versión en español aquí) In 1997 violinist Aaron P. Dworkin sought to “identify, empower, and support talented young artists and prepare them for professional careers in classical music.” In theRead More

Nashville Symphony Ends its Season

Romanticism, Expressionism and Primitivism at the Schermerhorn

From May 30 to June 2 the Nashville Symphony ended its season with a presentation of Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana in a rather strange pairing with two rarely heard songRead More