Nashville Symphony | Giancarlo Guerrero, conductor | Peter Otto, violin 

Three composers. Three generations. One evening that moves from contemplation to confidence.  

Missy Mazzoli opens with These Worlds in Us, dedicated to her father, a Vietnam War veteran. Her piece is a haunting meditation on memory and loss that she described as the discovery that "grief is not often far from joy."  

Then Nashville Symphony concertmaster Peter Otto steps into the spotlight for Korngold's Violin Concerto.* A Viennese exile who found refuge in Hollywood, Korngold essentially invented the sweeping orchestral sound we still associate with epic cinema, and this concerto, built from themes in his film scores, carries that same grandeur into the concert hall.  

We close the evening with Brahms' Second Symphony, which he warned friends was so melancholy, "you will not be able to bear it." He was wrong. It turned out to be his sunniest, most pastoral work. You’ll feel the arrival of spring in the final movement’s unbridled joy. 

Program

Mazzoli: These Worlds In Us 
Korngold: Violin Concerto 
Brahms: Symphony No. 2 

* A concerto is a piece that features a soloist stepping into the spotlight of a full orchestra, showcasing their virtuosity and prowess in a spellbinding musical conversation with all the other instruments around them. Our 2026/27 season highlights 10 concertos, many of them by American composers, to celebrate the extraordinary musicianship of your Nashville Symphony musicians and guest artists.