NPT TO BROADCAST HISTORIC SCHERMERHORN SYMPHONY CENTER OPENING LIVE
"ONE SYMPHONY PLACE: A WORLD PREMIERE LIVE FROM MUSIC CITY" TO AIR ON STATE PUBLIC TELEVISION STATIONS ON SEPTEMBER 9th Nashville, TN

Nashville Public Television (NPT) and the Nashville Symphony will bring viewers the historic Gala Opening Night of the new $120 million Schermerhorn Symphony Center live on NPT-Channel 8 on Saturday, September 9 at 6:30 p.m. The program will be rebroadcast on Sunday, September 10 at 3:30 p.m.

The program, titled "One Symphony Place: A World Premiere Live from Music City," will also air live on public television stations in Knoxville, Chattanooga, Cookeville and Martin on the night of the event, then again nationwide in December on PBS. The live event will be NPT’s first high definition (HD) broadcast. Viewers can watch the program in HD on NPT-DT, channel 240 for Comcast Cable digital subscribers, channel 788 for Charter Cable digital subscribers, or on off-air digital receivers. Broadcast of the program on NPT is made possible by BellSouth.

"The opening of the Schermerhorn Symphony Center is a momentous occasion for all Tennesseans," said Beth Curley, President and CEO of NPT. "Nashville Public Television is delighted to partner with the Nashville Symphony to bring this celebrated event to the community-at-large. Our broadcast of the Symphony’s Gala Opening Night reflects NPT’s commitment to providing 24-hour enlightening and educational programming to viewers while serving as Nashville’s curator of culture and history."

The Gala Opening Night event features works by Shostakovich, Barber and Mahler as well as a special world premiere, co-commissioned piece by the Nashville Symphony and Akustiks Inc., written by Béla Fleck, Edgar Meyer and Zakir Hussain. Leonard Slatkin serves as symphony guest conductor and George Mabry as director of the Nashville Symphony chorus.

Thirty minutes prior to the performance, at 6:00 p.m., NPT will broadcast an interview with Martha Ingram, Nashville Symphony Chairman of the Board, on her longstanding leadership and involvement with the Nashville Symphony and the arts in Nashville. The interview will be conducted by journalist and A Word on Words host John Seigenthaler. Following the concert, at 8:30 p.m., NPT will broadcast a program featuring Béla Fleck, Edgar Meyer and Zakir Hussain, who will discuss their world premiere composition.

"The Gala Opening Night event will introduce our community to a new era for the Nashville Symphony in its home the Schermerhorn Symphony Center," said Alan D. Valentine, President and CEO of the Nashville Symphony. "Through NPT, we are opening the symphony center to thousands of Tennesseans across the state and then later to millions across the country. We appreciate NPT’s willingness to help us share this once-in-a-lifetime event in a truly meaningful way."

The highly-anticipated Schermerhorn Symphony Center will be home to the critically acclaimed Nashville Symphony, which will perform more than 100 classical, pops and special concert events each season. In addition, the Nashville Symphony plans to present recitals, choral concerts, cabaret, jazz and world music events in its new home.

The new Schermerhorn Symphony Center encompasses 197,000 square-feet and has at its heart the acoustically and visually intimate 1,870-seat Laura Turner Concert Hall, inspired by concert halls such as the Vienna Musikverein, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and Symphony Hall in Boston. Finished in Brazilian cherry and American hickory wood, with deep green accents, the Concert Hall will feature a custom-built 3,600-pipe concert organ, natural interior light, and an innovative convertible seating system that will transform the space to a 5,400-square-foot flat floor for cabaret and pops concerts.