First Tennessee Summer Festival Presents Favorites By Beethoven, Brahms In June

For three weekends in June, Schermerhorn Symphony Center comes alive with the Nashville Symphony's First Tennessee Summer Festival, a popular series of come-as-you-are musical evenings designed to put concertgoers in a summertime frame of mind.

This Friday and Saturday, Music Director Designate Giancarlo Guerrero and pianist Orli Shaham team up with the orchestra for Schumann's Concerto for Piano in A minor. The program also includes Loco, by former Tennessee resident Jennifer Higdon, and Rimsky-Korsakov's epic Scheherazade. On June 19-20, Leonard Slatkin, the Nashville Symphony's outgoing Music Advisor, conducts Brahms' Symphony No. 2 in D major; Max Bruch's Concerto for Violin No. 1, featuring soloist Karen Gomyo; and Joan Tower's Made in America. Finally, on June 26-27, Bulgarian-born Danail Rachev, recently appointed Music Director of the Eugene Symphony, conducts Barber's Adagio for Strings; Dvo?ák's Cello Concerto in B minor, with soloist Zuill Bailey; and Beethoven's Symphony No. 5.

All concerts begin at 7:30 p.m., with the Arpeggio restaurant opening at 5:30 p.m. each night and the café opening at 6 p.m. to serve a special buffet dinner.

TICKETS/INFO: To purchase tickets ($32.50-$72.50), or for more information, please call the Symphony Center Box Office at 615.687.6400 or go online at NashvilleSymphony.org.