Leonard Slatkin Leads The Orchestra At Schermerhorn Symphony Center 5/28-30

Ending his highly successful term as the Nashville Symphony's Music Advisor, esteemed American conductor Leonard Slatkin will lead the orchestra in one of classical music's most celebrated works - Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 - May 28-30 at Schermerhorn Symphony Center in downtown Nashville.

"We wouldn't be where we are today without Leonard Slatkin," said Alan D. Valentine, President and CEO of the Nashville Symphony. "The entire organization and the community owe a huge debt to him for stepping in during a critical moment in the orchestra's history. He helped us win our first GRAMMY®, which did a lot to raise our profile nationally, and he helped make the orchestra better. We won big in every way imaginable."

Slatkin, who currently serves as Music Director of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, among other posts, said, "My job was to conduct and help provide a sense of direction while the Nashville Symphony engaged in a search for its next music director. If I've done anything, it was to maintain the high level of performance that the orchestra has already achieved. (Incoming Music Director) Giancarlo Guerrero has inherited a very, very good orchestra."

The weekend's three concerts, which wrap up the SunTrust Classical Series for the 2008/09 season, feature Arianna Zukerman, soprano; Kelley O'Connor, mezzo-soprano; Jeffrey Springer, tenor; and Nathan Berg, bass-baritone. These soloists will be joined by the Nashville Symphony Chorus for the Beethoven work's beloved final movement, a setting of German poet Friedrich Schiller's "Ode to Joy." The Slatkin-led program also includes Samuel Barber's Prayers of Kierkegaard, Op. 30.

Valentine emphasized that the official end of Slatkin's tenure as Music Advisor does not mean Nashville audiences have seen the last of him. In fact, the conductor returns next month to conduct the second of three weekends of the First Tennessee Summer Festival 2009. On June 19 and 20, Slatkin leads the Nashville Symphony in Brahms' Symphony No. 2; Max Bruch's First Violin Concerto, with guest violinist Karen Gomyo, and Joan Tower's Made in America. This last piece was one of three Towers works on the Symphony's GRAMMY®-winning CD, conducted by Slatkin.

To purchase tickets, or for more information, please call the Symphony Center Box Office at 615.687.6400 or go online at nashvillesymphony.org.