photo credit: Susan Adcock
Per My Brother
The Nashville Symphony Orchestra performed a Side-By-Side Concert last night with young musicians and scholarship winners at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center.
Violinist Mary Grace Johnson was the featured soloist performing Movement 1 of Barber’s Allegro from Concerto for Violin and Orchestra Opus 14 alongside the Nashville Symphony Orchestra.
As the 2013 Curb Concerto Competition Grand Prize winner, Johnson was awarded a $3,000 scholarship, a SunTrust Classical Series ticket package for four, and a a guest soloist performance with the orchestra.
Johnson, a 17-year-old homeschool senior from Murfreesboro, has played violin for 13 years. She also won the Curb Concerto Competition, as well as the Thor Johnson Senior Scholarship, both offered by the Nashville Symphony Orchestra.
After performing Barber’s Concerto, the Nashville Symphony Orchestra welcomed many young musicians from the 8th Grade through 12th Grade, who had previously participated in the Curb Records Young Musicians Concerto Competition and the Thor Johnson Scholarship award programs.
photo credit: Susan Adcock
Together, they performed Gustav Holst’s Mars from The Planets, which prominently featured the percussion section, including the timpani, gong and concert bass drum.
Arturo Marquez’s Danzon No. 2 was performed next, which highlighted Spanish themes and musical techniques.
Ludwig Van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67 was played to perfection, featuring classical stringed instruments.
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade, Op. 35 was a majestic ballet of clairnets and flutes.
And finally, Dmitri Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5 in D minor, Op. 47 was a grand performance, accompanied by a variety of instruments, including woodwinds, brass, strings, harps, glockenspiel, cymbals and a triangle. This was an epic performance to end the night.
Conductor Kelly Corcoran and Director Carol Nies were in charge of a large number of performers, including the Nashville Symphony Orchestra’s 84 members plus all of the younger performers. I estimated 150 people were onstage simultaneously, never worrying the conductor, who was always in charge.
Throughout the night, I had fond flashbacks of performing in concert band, from middle school through college years. It was a pleasant memory to pair with the Nashville Symphony Orchestra’s pleasant music. I’m already looking forward to returning to the state-of-the-art Schermerhorn Symphony Center to attend the performance of Video Games Live!
For More Information:
– Nashville Symphony Orchestra Webpage
– Nashville Symphony Orchestra’s Facebook
– Video Games Live