NASHVILLE, TN—January 2, 2024—The Nashville Symphony’s February 2024 schedule features classical concerts with violinist Jennifer Koh performing Samuel Barber’s Violin Concerto and pianist Janice Carissa performing Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 17; a sold-out, one-night-only concert with Yo-Yo Ma performing Rimsky-Korsakov and Dvořák; the first recital in the 2024 Artist Spotlight Series; a FREE Nashville Symphony musician-curated chamber music concert; the orchestra’s inaugural celebration of Lunar New Year; three concerts with R&B legend Patti LaBelle; the iconic a cappella group Ladysmith Black Mambazo; and a Valentine’s Day concert featuring cinema’s most memorable love themes. Listed concerts, dates, times, and pricing are subject to change.
Clyne, Mozart, and Prokofiev
Friday, February 2 & Saturday, February 3, 7:30 PM
Tickets: Starting at $29
Associate Conductor Nathan Aspinall conducts the Nashville Symphony’s annual concert featuring a rising star pianist. The phenomenally gifted Janice Carissa takes the stage for Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 17. Anna Clyne’s This Midnight Hour, inspired by poetry, makes full use of the spectrum of colors in the orchestra. And Sergei Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 5 was penned at the height of WWII as “a hymn to free and happy Man…his pure and noble spirit.” More information. The Lawrence S. Levine Memorial Concert
Lunar New year with the Nashville Symphony
Wednesday, February 7, 7:30 PM
Tickets: Starting at $25
The Nashville Symphony’s inaugural Lunar New Year program reflects how different Asian communities celebrate the occasion. Nashville Symphony Associate Conductor Nathan Aspinall will conduct the concert which marks the Year of the Dragon and features arrangements of traditional melodies and original music from Chinese composers He Zhanhou, Chen Gang, and Li Huanzhi; Singaporean composers Phoon Yew Tien and Kelly Tang; and Vietnamese-American composer Viet Cuong. Erhu virtuoso Ma Xiaohui, who performed with Yo-Yo Ma on the award-winning soundtrack of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, will be the featured soloist, performing excerpts from He Zhanhao and Chen Gang’s The Butterfly Lovers Concerto and the traditional melody “Horse Racing.” In addition, Jen-Jen Lin, Director/Artistic Director of the Chinese Arts Alliance of Nashville, will create original choreography for Li Huanzhi’s Spring Festival Overture. The concert culminates with Igor Stravinsky’s Suite from The Firebird, a classic symphonic concert work nodding to the Year of the Dragon by evoking a mythical, winged creature. The Schermerhorn Symphony Center lobby will be activated with pre-concert music, activities, and an Asian market. More information.
Patti LaBelle with the Nashville Symphony
Thursday, February 8; Friday, February 9; Saturday, February 10, 7:30 PM
Tickets: Starting at $46
R&B legend and “Godmother of Soul” Patti LaBelle has enjoyed one of the longest careers in contemporary music. Patti LaBelle has done it all, from girl group pop and gutsy soul to space-age funk and hard-hitting disco. Get ready to be rocked when Patti hits the stage with the Nashville Symphony, just in time for Valentine’s Day. More information.
Romance at the Symphony: Cinema’s Iconic Love Themes
Wednesday, February 14, 7:30 PM
Tickets: Starting at $35
It’s a one-night-only evening of unforgettable love songs at the Nashville Symphony’s Valentine’s Day concert. Romance at the Symphony: Cinema's Iconic Love Themes relives favorite silver screen moments as the Orchestra performs hits from John Williams's Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and Superman, as well as selections by composers for other beloved films such as Dirty Dancing, Top Gun, Casablanca, The Lion King. More information.
Stewart Goodyear Plays Beethoven and Goodyear
ARTIST SPOTLIGHT SERIES
Sunday, February 18, 7:30 PM
Tickets: Starting at $30
For this intimate recital experience, pianist Stewart Goodyear, a virtuoso performer and prolific composer, juxtaposes original works of his own creation with some of the most well-known and beloved works of Beethoven. Goodyear’s Rhapsody, an elegy for a loved one, is between Beethoven's "Tempest" and "Moonlight" sonatas, two sonatas that depict the human feelings of sorrow and unrest. His Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso, a virtuosic showpiece, is programmed alongside Beethoven's Andante Favori and the "Appassionata" sonata. More information.
Brahms Piano Quartet
FREE CHAMBER MUSIC SERIES
Tuesday, February 20, 7:30 PM
Tickets: Choose Your Price
Nashville Symphony violinist Charissa Leung, violist Charles Dixon, cellist Keith Nicholas, and pianist Susan Yang come together to perform Brahms’s iconic Piano Quartet as part of the Symphony’s free Chamber Music Series. More information.
Elgar’s Enigma
Thursday, February 22; Friday, February 23; Saturday, February 24, 7:30 PM
Tickets: Starting at $29
Hailed by NPR as “one of the most brilliant artists of her generation,” Jennifer Koh joins Giancarlo Guerrero for Barber’s Violin Concerto. Tania León’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Stride, reflecting her Cuban American heritage, was part of a project celebrating the 19th Amendment. Anchoring the program is a repertoire staple, the Enigma Variations, a musical portrait gallery of the composer’s friends with an autobiographical look at himself. More information.
Ladysmith Black Mambazo
Sunday, February 25, 7:30 PM
Tickets: Starting at $29
For 60 years, Ladysmith Black Mambazo has sung powerful, uplifting songs that emote the struggles and passion of South Africa. Nelson Mandela called Ladysmith “South Africa’s cultural ambassadors.” The group sings a cappella in a joyously energetic performance that combines loud powerful choruses with softer, almost whispering chants where voices blend harmoniously alongside tightly choreographed dance moves. Presented without the Nashville Symphony. More information.
Yo-Yo Ma with the Nashville Symphony
Tuesday, February 27, 7:30 PM
SOLD OUT
The Nashville Symphony and Music Director Giancarlo Guerrero welcome back the incomparable Yo-Yo Ma to the stage of the Schermerhorn for a special one-night-only performance. Featured works include Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade and Dvořák’s Cello Concerto. More information.
About Nashville Symphony
The Nashville Symphony has been the primary ambassador for classical music in Music City since 1946. Led by Music Director Giancarlo Guerrero, the ensemble is internationally acclaimed for its focus on contemporary American orchestral music through collaborations with composers including Jennifer Higdon, Terry Riley, Joan Tower, and Aaron Jay Kernis; commissioning and recording projects with Nashville-based artists including Edgar Meyer, Bela Fleck, Ben Folds, and Victor Wooten; and for its 14 GRAMMY® Awards. In addition to the classical season, the orchestra performs concerts in a wide range of genres, from pops to live-to-film movie scores, family-focused presentations, holiday events, jazz and cabaret evenings, and is the official orchestra for the Nashville Ballet.
An established leader in the Nashville and regional arts and cultural communities, the Symphony spearheads groundbreaking community partnerships and initiatives, notably Violins of Hope Nashville, which engaged tens of thousands of Middle Tennesseans through concerts, exhibits, and lectures by spotlighting a historic collection of instruments played by Jewish musicians during the Holocaust. Similarly, this spring, the Nashville Symphony presented the world premiere of an epic opera commissioned by Hannibal Lokumbe, The Jonah Project: A Legacy of Struggle and Triumph. Retracing his family’s ancestry and journey from slavery to the present day, Hannibal’s story celebrates the spirit of those who endured and thrived to become Black visionaries and world changers. More at nashvillesymphony.org.
In addition to support from Metro Arts and Tennessee Arts Commission, Nashville Symphony is being supported, in whole or in part, by federal award number SLFRP5534 awarded to the State of Tennessee by the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
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