Nashville Symphony & Chorus | Leonard Slatkin, conductor | Tucker Biddlecombe, chorus director | Suzy Bogguss, Storm Large, Kathy Mattea, Sylvia McNair, Baxter Hall, vocalists
Diverse. Devoted. Determined. In honor of America 250, the 80th anniversary of the Nashville Symphony, and the 20th anniversary of Schermerhorn Symphony Center, our opening program of the 2026/27 season celebrates the rich sonic kaleidoscope of American composers past and present.
You’ll feel it all: from the boundless optimism of Joan Tower’s Made in America, a work for which the Nashville Symphony’s recording received our first GRAMMY® Award in 2008, to the solemn strains of Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings marking the 25th anniversary of September 11, 2001.
You’ll hear Leonard Bernstein setting the Chichester Psalms ablaze with fresh energy (featuring the Nashville Symphony Chorus) and Aaron Copland gathering folk songs and hymns from across the American landscape. Turning to the present day, you’ll also encounter one of Nashville’s brightest composing talents: Cristina Spinei, whose piece, Strut, marches forward with unstoppable energy. The program concludes with music from George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, sweeping you through sorrow and beauty in the same breath.
To celebrate the occasion, several renowned vocalists will grace the Schermerhorn stage in an only-in-Nashville musical collaboration:
Music Director Leonard Slatkin, 2026 recipient of the Lincoln Medal for his lifelong advocacy for American music, opens the Nashville Symphony's 2026/27 season exactly where it should begin: with the creativity and resolve of the American spirit. This is a legendary event you won’t want to miss.
Tower: Made in America
Barber: Adagio for Strings
Bernstein: Chichester Psalms
Spinei: Strut
Copland: Old American Songs
Gershwin: Porgy and Bess: A Symphonic Picture
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