The Nashville Symphony To Present Two Special Features As Its First Tennessee All-Beethoven Opening Night On 9/11

To mark Giancarlo Guerrero’s official debut as Music Director, and to kick off the 2009/10 season with an extra flourish, the Nashville Symphony is presenting two special features at its First Tennessee All-Beethoven Opening Night with piano sensation Lang Lang on Friday, September 11.

First, the Symphony will erect a 9-by-16-foot video screen on the eastern end of One Symphony Place, the front plaza of Schermerhorn Symphony Center. On this oversized LED screen display system, the entire concert will be presented live and free of charge, with Nashville-based TV producer/director Robert Swope directing the show via multiple cameras inside Laura Turner Concert Hall. Rows of chairs will be set up at that end of the plaza, and the public is invited to attend the live viewing. Wine, soft drinks and snacks will be available for purchase on the plaza. Also, those in attendance prior to the concert can enter to win a free pair of tickets to that night’s performance inside the hall. Anyone can register at the Nashville Symphony’s outdoor booth next to the video screen on Symphony Place, and the drawing will take place around 7:30 p.m. – half an hour before the start of the concert. Note: Participants must be present at the time of the drawing to be eligible to win.

Beginning at 7 p.m., one hour before the concert, the Symphony is also offering a live, pre-concert streaming video webcast, which will be available to visitors to the Symphony website, NashvilleSymphony.org. (This will also be shown live on the big screen prior to the start of the concert.) Two veteran TV professionals – Alan Frio, weekend anchor of Channel 4/WSMV-TV, and Terri Merryman, former Channel 4 journalist who now teaches TV news – will host the webcast from a set near the front steps of the Schermerhorn. Frio and Merryman, a husband and wife team, will offer a mix of live on-camera interviews and pre-recorded segments. The webcast will culminate in an “exclusive” live look inside the hall, allowing our website visitors to witness the opening minutes of this historic concert. A few minutes after 8 p.m., the webcast will end, and the big-screen viewing will continue for the duration of the concert.

“These opening-night plans offer the Symphony yet another opportunity to contribute to the growing energy and excitement of downtown Nashville, and hopefully connect with people who might not have had the chance yet to experience the Schermerhorn,” said Alan Bostick, Senior Director of Communications for the Nashville Symphony. “Orchestras today are always looking for ways to reach new audiences, and this allows us, through the use of technology still uncommon in our industry, to share with everyone the wonderful music that’s presented here each week.”

The Symphony wishes to thank First Tennessee as sponsor of this Opening Night concert. Thanks also to the generosity of Robert Swope of Sunrise Entertainment, who teamed with the Symphony to present last year’s Gershwin at One Symphony Place broadcast, which was shown nationally on PBS. Swope and the Symphony had previously joined forces for the MidSouth Regional Emmy® Award-winning One Symphony Place: A World Premiere Live from Music City, from September 2006. Finally, the Symphony wishes to thank Bob Plageman and Dean Johnson of ATW Sports Broadcasting Network LLC for their help in producing the webcast.

For this Opening Concert of the Nashville Symphony’s 2009/10 season – see earlier release -- Giancarlo Guerrero will be joined onstage by guest pianist Lang Lang for an evening of Beethoven, highlighting a trio of works that all include the number “three.” The evening begins with Beethoven’s Leonore Overture No. 3 and moves on to his Piano Concerto No. 3, featuring Lang Lang. The evening closes with the powerful Symphony No. 3 “Eroica,” one of the most enduring and beloved of his nine symphonies.

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