Once again, WPLN will broadcast the SunTrust Classical Concert Series from the Nashville Symphony’s 2008/2009 season all Summer.

Tune in each Sunday evening beginning June 7th at 8pm to hear each of the Nashville Symphony’s classical performances as they lead up to the Symphony’s 2009/2010 season opener.

Program Schedule for Summer 2009

June 7: Galway’s Magic Flute

Giancarlo Guerrero, conductor
Sir James Galway, flute
William Schimmel, accordion

Dominick Argento - Valentino Dances
Ibert – Concerto for Flute
Bizet/Borne – Carmen Fantasy
Respighi – Roman Festivals

Flute legend Sir James Galway’s golden tone has enthralled audiences across the world. He showcases two French flute masterpieces: Ibert’s cherished Concerto and Bizet’s beloved Carmen Fantasy. Seductive tangos in Valentino Dances evoke the magnetic charisma of film star Rudolph Valentino while the kaleidoscopic finale of Respighi’s Roman Festivals brings the concert to a glorious finish.

June 14: Dvořák’s “New World”

Claus Peter Flor, conductor
Laura Anne Ayres, soprano

Wagner – Overture to The Flying Dutchman
Jake Heggie – The Deepest Desire: Four Meditations On Love
Dvorák – Symphony No. 9 in E minor, Op. 95 “From the New World”

Wagner’s Overture to The Flying Dutchman, an opera in which a sailor’s love saves him from spending an eternity at sea, depicts a howling storm. American composer Jake Heggie explores redemptive love in his work based on the poetry of Sister Helen Prejean, author of Dead Man Walking. Dvorák’s “New World” symphony, inspired by the composer’s travels through America is rooted in folk music and is easily considered his greatest masterpiece.

June 21: Yo-Yo Ma and Joseph Gramley

Giancarlo Guerrero, conductor
Yo-Yo Ma, cello
Joseph Gramley, percussion

Dmitri Yanov-Yanovsky – Night Music – Voices in the Leaves
Chen Yi – Percussion Concerto
Strauss – Don Quixote

Yo-Yo Ma, one of the most popular and beloved musicians of all time, teams up with percussion star Joseph Gramley. The famed cellist opens with Yanov-Yanovsky’s gorgeous new work Night Music and closes with Strauss’ heroic tone poem Don Quixote. Gramley’s kinetic Nashville debut will thrill both the eyes and the ears in Chinese composer Chen Yi’s Concerto for Percussion.

June 28: Mozart’s Requiem

Giancarlo Guerrero, conductor
Kelley Nassief, soprano
Beth Clayton, mezzo-soprano
Philippe Castagner, tenor
Nathaniel Webster, baritone
Nashville Symphony Chorus
George Mabry, chorus director

Arvo Pärt - Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten
Lutoslawski – Concerto for Orchestra
Mozart – Requiem (Robert Levin Edition)

Thanks to the classic film Amadeus, Mozart’s Requiem instantly became one of Music Director Designate Giancarlo Guerrero’s favorite works. As the film accurately depicts, Mozart died before finishing the piece, leaving a gargantuan task to those who endeavored to complete it. For these concerts, Maestro Guerrero has chosen Mozart scholar and virtuoso pianist Robert Levin’s version, which faithfully and ebulliently adheres to the instrumentation and structure of the towering work.

July 5: Beethoven & Superman – Featuring Beethoven’s Violin Concerto

Giancarlo Guerrero, conductor
Stefan Jackiw, violin
Mary Kathryn Van Osdale, violin
Erik Gratton, flute
Ann Richards, flute

Beethoven – Concerto for Violin in D major, Op. 61
Michael Daugherty – Metropolis Symphony

In May of 2007, Nashville audiences cheered Michael Daugherty’s piano concerto Deus Ex Machina. This time, we hear what work catapulted Daugherty to international fame — the Metropolis Symphony. Critic David Hurwitz called this suite based on the Superman comic strip “jazzy, snazzy, faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive.” The concert begins with 20-year-old prodigy Stefan Jackiw performing Beethoven’s immortal Violin Concerto.

July 12: Copland for Organ

Giancarlo Guerrero, conductor
Andrew Risinger, organ

Charles Ives/orch. William Schuman – “Variations on “America”
Aaron Copland – Symphony for Organ & Orchestra
Beethoven – Symphony No. 7 in A major, Op. 92

In Copland’s Symphony for Organ and Orchestra, the huge sound made by more than 80 musicians and 3,568 organ pipes will engulf the audience in glorious music. In addition, Ives’ “Variations on “America,” originally composed for solo organ, sets the familiar theme “My country ’tis of thee” to a set of capricious variations. The program ends with the contagious rhythms and breakneck finale of Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony.

July 19: Mahler’s Sixth

Giancarlo Guerrero, conductor

Haydn – Symphony No. 59 in A Major “Fire”
Mahler – Symphony No. 6 in A Minor “Tragic”

Crackling rhythms and bold melodic leaps give Haydn’s 59th Symphony its subtitle of “Fire.” The astounding breadth of expression in Mahler’s music contains a world of emotion. In his “Tragic” Symphony No. 6, a recurring struggle pits a funeral march against a lyrical theme, which Mahler said was a musical depiction of his wife.

July 26: Ax Plays Brahms

Leonard Slatkin, conductor
Emanuel Ax, piano

Rob Mathes – A Standing Ground: Concertino for Orchestra (after Poems of Wendell Berry) (World Premiere) *
Leanna Primiani - Sirens
Cindy McTee – Einstein’s Dream
Brahms – Concerto for Piano No. 1 in D minor, Op. 15

* Nashville Symphony commission

In Brahms’ First Piano Concerto, Ax is called on to display the poetic temperament and unsurpassed virtuosity that has earned him seven Grammy Awards and a place among classical music’s most elite soloists. Rounding out the program is a trio of new works by living American composers. Well known in the pop world for his string arrangements for Tim McGraw, Elton John, Sting and many others, Rob Mathes makes his foray into the classical world with his world premiere piece. Sirens and Einstein’s Dream, by Leanna Primiani and Cindy McTee respectively, capture the musical and cultural energy of modern America.

August 2: Mozart & Rachmaninoff

Leonard Slatkin, conductor
Hila Plitmann, soprano

Mozart – Symphony No. 40 in G minor
Lukas Foss – Time Cycle
Rachmaninoff - Symphony No. 1 in D minor, Op. 13

Following Mozart’s instantly recognizable 40th Symphony, 2009 Grammy Award winning soprano Hila Plitmann showcases Lukas Foss’ Time Cycle, which explores the nature of time through imaginatively adapted texts by W.H. Auden, A.E. Housman, Franz Kafka and Friedrich Nietzsche. The magic continues after intermission with multiple Grammy award-winning conductor Leonard Slatkin leading the multiple Grammy award-winning Nashville Symphony’s performance of the powerful First Symphony of the Russian master, Rachmaninoff.

August 9: Sorcerer’s Apprentice

Kelly Corcoran, conductor
Stephen Beus, piano

Tobias Picker - Old and Lost Rivers
Debussy – Images
Liszt – Concerto for Piano No. 1 in E-flat major
Dukas – The Sorcerer’s Apprentice

Debussy’s last work for orchestra, Images, is a subtly shaded set of musical impressions of England, Spain and France. Tobias Picker’s Copland-esque Old and Lost Rivers was inspired by the winding bayous of East Texas. Concluding the concert are two works with dramatic flair: Liszt’s fiendishly difficult Piano Concerto No. 1 and Dukas’ most famous work — The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.

August 16: Vienna Old and New

Giancarlo Guerrero, conductor
James Ehnes, violin

Johann Strauss – Wiener Blut, Op. 354
Berg – Concerto for Violin
Bruckner – Symphony No. 7 in E major

Back by popular demand, violinist James Ehnes performs Alban Berg’s epoch-making Violin Concerto — a gripping composition dedicated to “the memory of an angel.” In Johann Strauss’ famous Wiener Blut waltz, the beloved Viennese dance takes center stage. The rich harmonies, noble melodies and concluding fanfare flourishes in Bruckner’s Seventh Symphony gave the composer his first success at age 60.

August 23: Schubert’s Ninth

Günther Herbig, conductor
Andrew Armstrong, piano

Weber – Overture to Oberon
Bartók – Concerto for Piano No. 3
Schubert – Symphony No. 9 in C major, D. 944 “The Great”

Bartôk’s Third Piano Concerto demands the passionate expression and dazzling technique that has earned Andrew Armstrong more than 25 national and international first prizes. Guest conductor Günther Herbig, noted for his interpretation of 19th-century German repertoire, leads the orchestra in Schubert’s monumental Symphony No. 9 “The Great C Major” and Weber’s Overture to Oberon.

August 30: Beethoven and Rachmaninoff

Hugh Wolff, conductor
Horacio Gutiérrez, piano

Steven Mackey - Turn the Key
Beethoven – Concerto for Piano No. 4 in G major, Op. 58
Rachmaninoff – Symphonic Dances, Op. 45

Rachmaninoff’s last complete work, Symphonic Dances, bristles with rhythmic energy and abounds in lush melodies. Horacio Gutiérrez returns to play Beethoven’s most tender and intimate piano concerto. With small passages for solo harp and big moments with the whole orchestra, composer and rock guitarist Steven Mackey’s Turn the Key showcases the excellent acoustics of Schermerhorn Symphony Center.

September 6: Beethoven’s Ninth

Leonard Slatkin, conductor
Arianna Zukerman, soprano
Kelley O’Connor, mezzo-soprano
Jeffrey Springer, tenor
Nathan Berg, bass-baritone
Nashville Symphony Chorus
George Mabry, chorus director

Barber – Prayers of Kierkegaard, Op. 30
Beethoven – Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125 “Choral”

Leonard Slatkin leads his last regular-season performances as Nashville Symphony’s Music Advisor in one of the most influential and enduringly popular works in the pantheon of art: Beethoven’s Ninth. Samuel Barber’s Prayers of Kierkegaard, inspired by the Danish philosopher’s writings, opens the concert with contemplative lyricism.