The Nashville Symphony’s season is back on after $10M ‘lifeline’ from Oracle

The tech company Oracle has saved the Nashville Symphony’s season.

Last week, the symphony abruptly announced it was cancelling the rest of its shows and furloughing more than 100 employees, citing $10 million in debt.  

Now, Oracle has announced that it will give the symphony the money it needs to settle its debt. On top of that, the tech giant announced a strategic partnership to continue paying employees and keep the music playing as the symphony restructures.  

Nashville Symphony President and CEO Mark Tillinger called the gift a “lifeline” as the organization works to establish more stable financial footing.

“It’s an extraordinary relief to be able to welcome a new corporate partner to arts philanthropy in Nashville,” said Mayor Freddie O’Connell in an Oracle press release.

Oracle is in the process of massively expanding its footprint in the city, constructing a headquarters on the city’s East Bank and a pedestrian bridge over the Cumberland River that will connect that neighborhood to Germantown.

“We are here to help solve the community’s problems and ensure Nashville remains a vibrant place to live and work for generations to come,” said Oracle co-CEO Clay Magouyrk.

How did we get here?

Despite Oracle’s gift, questions remain around how the symphony arrived at this predicament in the first place. News of the symphony’s financial distress even came as a surprise to music director Leonard Slatkin, who had just conducted three sold out concerts to begin the season.  

The symphony acknowledged that it had become financially dependent on one major donor, billionaire philanthropist Martha Ingram, who died in August at the age of 90.    

In an interview with the Nashville Business Journal, Slatkin said that he was told that Ingram would leave the symphony tens of millions of dollars in her will. He also wondered why the financial situation wasn’t addressed long ago. 

The board chair for the symphony, Teresa Sebastian, said that the symphony isn’t involved with the handling of Ingram’s estate and that it is their responsibility to build a long-term plan that creates a broad donor base.

In an update posted to the symphony’s website, Tillinger wrote, “As we restart our season, we know we have work to do to rebuild confidence, and we’re committed to earning it through our actions.” Tillinger was named to the CEO role last week after Mark Cantrell stepped down.