Last summer, thousands of purplish, sparkly birds descended in tight, spinning columns onto the branches of 10 trees by the Schermerhorn Symphony Center. This was their home away from home, a safe place for them to assemble before migrating to South America, and also a spectacle for passersby in recent years.
Wildlife in ‘the middle of honky-tonk land’: Thousands of purple martins will be in downtown Nashville for just a few more weeks
Every night, as soon as the sky fades to lilac, thousands and thousands of purple martin birds descend next to the Schermerhorn Symphony Center in downtown Nashville.
Are you seeing purple martins? Nashville bird advocates want to know.
Purple martins are starting to return to Nashville during their annual migration from North America to South America, but it remains unclear where the popular songbirds will end up congregating this summer.
Nashville Symphony music director Giancarlo Guerrero will step down — but not before one more season
Giancarlo Guerrero became music director of the symphony for the 2009-2010 season, and has helped lead the group through difficult times, including the COVID-19 pandemic.
Hannibal Lokumbe’s new opera takes Nashville audiences through generations from Africa to enslavement to triumph
“The Jonah People,” a new work that premieres this weekend with the Nashville Symphony, is at once a large-scale opera, oratorio, jazz symphony, and storytelling experience.
Opera by Hannibal Lokumbe makes world premiere in a big, bold production with Nashville Symphony
Composer and jazz trumpeter Hannibal Lokumbe is debuting his new opera “The Jonah People: A Legacy of Struggle and Triumph” this month. In today’s episode, we hear how Lokumbe created his visionary work and his collaboration with the Nashville Symphony. WPLN editor LaTonya Turner also takes us behind-the-scenes for a look at the complex scenic and technical design that must be put together in the next few days.
What’s different for Nashville’s performing arts scene this holiday season
In this episode, we’re joined by musicians, vocalists and a representative from the Tennessee Performing Arts Center to talk about some of our city’s beloved traditions — from Christmas carols to the ballet.
Displaced purple martins struggle to find new Middle Tennessee roost
Since the symphony’s trees have been recently been removed or deeply pruned, the birds no longer find a resting spot there. But where did they go? That’s what Melinda and other local researchers are trying to find out.
Nashville Symphony cuts trees in anticipation of purple martin invasion
In mere seconds on Tuesday, industrial mulchers pulverized chunks of the roughly 25-foot lacebark elm trees that were planted nearly two decades ago around the Schermerhorn Symphony Center in downtown Nashville.
Nashville native and countertenor Patrick Dailey finally steps onto the city’s biggest classical stage
Nashville native Patrick Dailey is an opera singer who has performed internationally to great acclaim. Now after several years of singing, teaching and collaborating here, Dailey is making his performance debut with the Nashville Symphony as a soloist in Handel’s Messiah.
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