Celebrate America and a Landmark American Performance Venue at the Schermerhorn

[gdlr_image_link type=”image” image_url=”” link_url=”” alt=”” target=”_blank”]NASHVILLE. For many, the Nashville Symphony performing the patriotic sounds of the 1812 Overture and Liberty Bell March are a Fourth of July weekend tradition. This year’s event, “The Nashville Symphony Celebrates America” is set for Sunday, July 3, at 7 p.m. with Vinay Parameswaran conducting. Come early to enjoy cocktails at the bar, or bring family for dinner offerings from foodie food trucks on the plaza at Symphony Place. The Nashville Symphony will be joined by the 101st Airborne Division Band.

For the July 3 Nashville Symphony performance details and tickets, click HERE.

The stunning Schermerhorn Symphony Center is home to the Nashville Symphony and hosts 150 performances annually, ranging from classical masterworks to jazz, pop and country. The building survived $40 million in damages from the epic flood of May 2010 and was a near casualty of economic swings. Yet, the Nashville Symphony has emerged stronger than ever through support of the Middle Tennessee community.

Nashville Interiors celebrates the 10th anniversary of the Schermerhorn Symphony Center, named for the late maestro, Kenneth Schermerhorn. The building is a stunning example of neo-classical-inspired architecture. We thought we’d take you inside with a few images and details to reveal Music City’s wide-ranging musical landscape.

Earl Swensson was the Nashville architect on record for the Schermerhorn Symphony Center, designed by David M. Schwarz of Washington, D.C. The fabulous acoustic design of the hall is the work of Paul Scarbrough of Akustiks.

The Urban Land Institute’s Awards for Excellence named the Schermerhorn as a finalist in 2009. The ULI awards are presented annually to only 25 projects for superior design, sound building practices, and for making meaningful contributions to their communities.

Laura Turner Concert Hall is at the heart of the Schermerhorn Symphony Center, a 30,000 square feet, 1,844-seat performance space that showcases the Nashville Symphony. The hall is a modern “shoebox” style performance space, rather than the circular horseshoe shape of earlier structures. Natural lighting streams in through 30 soundproof, double-paned clerestory windows.

Tennessee symbolic motifs appear throughout the hall including the iris, the state flower, horseshoes, and even coffee beans—a shout out to the Cheek family of Nashville which played a key role in the founding of the Nashville Symphony and who owned the original Maxwell House Coffee brand.

upper lobby skylight

The custom-build Martin Foundation Concert Organ, crafted by Schoenstein & Co. of San Francisco is a beautiful feature of the Laura Turner Concert Hall. Seating in the hall are distributed over three levels, including a special choral loft behind the stage that can seat up to 146 chorus members. The choral seats are made available to audience members during non-choral performances. The stage can accommodate up to 115 musicians. 

Special acoustic and technical features of the building include the ability to hide the orchestra-level seats. These seats are mounted on motorized wagons that can be driven forward and lowered through the floor on a system of lifts. When concealed, an ornate Brazilian cherry and hickory parquet floor is revealed. These “chair-wagons” enable the concert hall to be easily converted to a 5,700-square-foot ballroom in a couple of hours. Dozens of motorized acoustic drapes and panels can be quickly adjusted to accommodate many styles of acoustic and amplified music. The Laura Turner Concert Hall is insulated from exterior noise by an acoustical isolation joint, a 2-inch gap of air that encircles the hall and prevents transmission of sound waves in or out. The center is frequently used for public and private events.

custom-built concert organ, Laura Turner Concert Hall 

New Classical Architecture designed by David Schwarz of Washington, D.C. with Earl Swensson of Nashville