Live in Studio C

Each summer since 1985, talented students from all over Tennessee have gathered in Murfreesboro for a month-long residency arts program, mentored by some of the best faculty members from the state and beyond. And each summer, we look forward to welcoming musicians from the Tennessee Governor's School of the Arts to Live in Studio C. This week features music from the school's faculty; next week, we'll hear from their students. 

While the Nashville Symphony is just wrapping up the second year of its Accelerando program, they are already looking forward to its long-term results. Meant to foster the talent of young musicians from underrepresented ethnicities, the initiative works to prepare students for careers in the classical field with private lessons from Nashville Symphony players, among other perks.

Walter Bitner, the Symphony's Director of Education and Community Engagement, hopes that in the decades to come, Accelerando will help orchestras "begin to look more like their communities." Representing Accelerando for Live in Studio C was 16-year-old violist Emily Martinez-Perez and 17-year-old flutist Aalia Hanif, and audiences can hear a concert from all of the Accelerando students at the Schermerhorn on June 11. 

After nearly 20 years of welcoming musicians into our studio for weekly performances, Will Griffin hosted his final Live in Studio C this week before retiring. For a proper celebratory send-off, the Tantsova Grupa ensemble performed a lively set of traditional Eastern European dance music. 

While Christopher Farrell has been a violist with the Nashville Symphony since 1999, he was in Studio C this week as a composer – a skill he's spent the last decade honing. He brought with him his friends and colleagues, cellist Sari Reist, bassist Tim Pearson and pianist Megan Gale to perform new music written this year and last. Both pieces are part of Farrell's larger project to write a sonata for each string instrument.

As one of Nashville's premiere vocal groups, Portara Ensemble's repertoire spans a wide range of genres and styles. Director Jason Shelton brought the ensemble and one of their diverse programs to the studio in advance of their June 3rd concert, called "Home." The performance will be a benefit for Open Table Nashville, a non-profit organization working to end homelessness. And while the program might cover a range of styles — including a stunning performance of a traditional spiritual and the world premiere of a new work with words provided by members of the ensemble — the pieces are all thematically tied together by the idea of home.  

Flutist Bart Feller is used to traveling the country with his instrument. While his main gigs are playing principal flute with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra and teaching at Rutgers University, he spends summers in the desert playing with the Santa Fe Opera Orchestra and weekends teaching the pre college division at Julliard. 

Composer Nicholas Wing gave the world premiere of three works on this week's program, including a piece performed with a violin once played by a member of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (then known as the Palestine Philharmonic), founded by Bronisław Huberman.

When the idea of performing all of Ludwig van Beethoven's piano sonatas came to Matthew Phelps, Music Minister at West End United Methodist Church, he thought no one would take it seriously. Soon, however, Phelps had a roster of over 20 professional pianists—many of whom are professors at Belmont, Vanderbilt and Lipscomb— lined up to play the entire sonata cycle. 

The Maharaja Flamenco Trio stopped by prior to an evening concert at Middle Tennessee State University, bringing with them a lively set of classic Gypsy jazz and original flamenco music. Helmed by MTSU alumnus Silviu Ciulei, who is trained in both classical and flamenco guitar styles, the trio includes Tony Hartmann on percussion and David Cobb on bass. 

The Nashville Symphony Chorus is giving a free concert Sunday afternoon at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center. Ahead of that performance, conductor Tucker Biddlecomb and a portion of the 150-voice ensemble gave us a taste of the music they'll be singing, taken largely from British and American choral traditions.