Nashville Symphony | Leonard Slatkin, conductor | Kelly Hall-Tompkins, violin 

In celebration of the return of the Nashville Symphony’s 2026/27 season, Music Director Leonard Slatkin offers an evening of joy and exhilaration fitting for Music City.

Wynton Marsalis is America’s jazz ambassador, and his Violin Concerto expands what an orchestral concerto can sound like. Rooted in swing, blues, and the American fiddle tradition, it sounds like nothing else.

And you’ll never forget the night Kelly Hall-Tompkins played it in Nashville. Acclaimed by The New York Times as “the versatile violinist who makes the music come alive,” Hall-Tompkins brings her signature lyricism and verve to this performance.

The whole evening is filled with memorable melodies, from the ominous opening and sweeping drama of Verdi’s Overture to La forza del destino to Mozart’s Symphony No. 39, one of three major symphonies he composed in a single summer.

Program

Verdi: Overture to La forza del destino 
Mozart: Symphony No. 39 
Marsalis: Violin Concerto

* 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.