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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — The longtime conductor and musical director is leaving the Nashville Symphony, but he’s going out with a few final performances.
The Nashville Symphony and music director Giancarlo Guerrero took part in a rehearsal Thursday night.
„This is Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 8,“ said Alan D. Valentine, president and CEO of the Nashville Symphony. „It’s one of the biggest, most awe-inspiring pieces in the history of classical music.“
He spoke during the rehearsals in the next room.
„Mahler wrote, like most composers, nine symphonies. There’s actually a tenth symphony that he began, but the superstition was if you write nine symphonies, you’re gonna die,“ Alan said.
Alan said there’s an impact being felt in the room. It’s in part from the power of the music, but also the fact Giancarlo is ending his time as music director with this piece.
It was 2005 when previous music director Kenneth Schermerhorn died. The Symphony Center to carry his name was still under construction. Construction workers held a moment of silence that day. Around this time, Giancarlo was already scheduled to be a guest conductor. Alan was impressed with how Giancarlo knew just the right way to work with an orchestra still mourning the loss of their conductor.
A few years later, Giancarlo would be announced as the new music director, taking the moment to pay tribute to Kenneth Schermerhorn.
„His vision, his leadership, helped make the orchestra what it is today,“ Giancarlo told a crowd in a 2007 press event.
Since then, Alan said Giancarlo has hired about 40% of the musicians in the orchestra and lead them in releasing 21 recordings with multiple Grammy wins.
A search is now on for who will follow him while Giancarlo leaves to become music director for the Sarasota Orchestra in Florida. He will now be Music Director Laureate for the Nashville Symphony and has some scheduled performances here next season.
„His legacy here in Nashville really is tremendous,“ Alan said. „He took the great work by Kenneth Schermerhorn, building the Symphony as a great force as an orchestra and took it even further than that. He leaves us a world class major orchestra, one that’s highly regarded around the world. He really is pivotal to our success. We’re proud of the legacy he leaves.“
Giancarlo is conducting Mahler’s Symphony of a Thousand May 23 through 25 as part of his final performances as music director of the Nashville Symphony.
Do you have a positive, good news story? You can email me at forrest.sanders@newschannel5.com.
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Happy Birthday to the YMCA of Middle TN. They just celebrated their 150th anniversary! A lot has changed with the Y over the years. I have personally seen some of that firsthand when I was a long-time board member at the Northwest Family Y and part of their Black Achievers Program. Forrest Sanders has a look back.
– Lelan Statom