Photos: Michael Comins


Schermerhorn Symphony Center
The Nashville Symphony program, September 16:

K. Schermerhorn - Jubilee! A Tennessee Quilting Party for Orchestra
J. B. Chance - Elegy
F. Liszt - Piano Concerto #2 in A minor
D. Shostakovich - Symphony #5

Conductor: Andrew Litton
Pianist: Jean-Yves Thibaudet
The hall has tinkerable acoustics which they're still working with. The sound has full range but the winds and percussion sitting closer to the back wall have more definition than the strings. Orchestra Board Chairman Martha Ingram (Ken's companion) gave $30 million to the building and got others to give large amounts as well. The total cost: $123 million - a bargain considering the Segerstrom's $200+ million and Atlanta's $400 million and rising. Schermerhorn seats a little over 1800, about the same as the Musikverein.

We arrived Friday night after I picked up Barbara at her college in a limo and went from there to LaGuardia Airport for our flight to Nashville. Dimples Kellogg (book writer/researcher) picked us up at the Nashville airport and drove us to the downtown Hilton, just across the street from the hall, where the Crowns were waiting for a late evening snack with us. Charles Briefer arrived Saturday shortly after noon.

Saturday afternoon, orchestra executive director Alan Valentine met us in the hotel lobby at 3:30 and proceeded to give us a complete tour of the hall including backstage facilities, restaurants, lounges and courtyard where Ken's ashes are in the base of the statue of the flutist:

Burial site

The book launch (where I spoke) began at 6 pm with drinks and hors d'oeuvres, followed by a dinner at 7pm and the concert at 8pm. Bob Rada, whom Tom knew from Chicago but only served with Ken at West Point, also spoke.