April 25: Nashville Chamber Orchestra sets concert

The Nashville Chamber Orchestra will be in concert April 25 at Warren County High School auditorium, beginning at 2 p.m. The concert, marking the 11th performance by the NCO in McMinnville, will be one of the series of concerts in the 2004 Gibson and NCO Guitar Festival. Co-artistic directors for the festival are NCO Music Director Paul Gambill and guitarist John Jorgensen.

Joining Jorgensen as featured guest artists at the local concert will be Sharon Isbin, guitarist; Gary Morse, petal steel guitarist; and David Balikrishnan, violinist.

In addition to the April 25 afternoon of entertainment, the NCO String Quartet with guitarist John Knowles will perform and provide an education program April 19 for students bodies at Hickory Creek, West and Bobby Ray elementary schools.

The NCO, under the leadership of Gambill and Executive Director Connie Linsler Valentine, is enjoying a period of dramatic growth as it celebrates its 13th season of ambitious and innovative programming, creating “Music Without Boundaries.” Its fusion of the chamber orchestra tradition with the musical genres of rock, jazz, Celtic, bluegrass, Christian, Latin, country and world music is creating a “new” classical music relevant to the culture of today.

Recognition for the NCO’s ability to attract new audiences to the concert hall has come in the form of a national award for adventurous programming from ASCAP, feature length profiles in SYMPHONY Magazine and Eastman Notes Magazines, as well as broadcasts on National Public Radio’s flagship classical music show, Performance Today.

The NCO CD featuring the music of Aaron Copeland was recently released to rave reviews. Classic Today called it “a disc that is practically perfect from just about any perspective.”

The orchestra recently returned from an acclaimed 19 city tour with Amy Grant and Vince Gill and is currently producing its highly innovative Kid Pan Alley education project, whereby greater Nashville students are writing, arranging and recording songs with acclaimed songwriters and NCO musicians.

NCO performances in McMinnville would not be possible without support of the Tennessee Arts Commission, the National Endowment for the Arts, Magness Memorial Library, many businesses, civic organizations and individual sponsors in Warren County and the people who purchase tickets. Tickets for this year’s concert on April 25 are $10 for adults and $5 for students. Tickets are available at the Chamber of Commerce and will also be sold at the door.