The Place:
"The Schermerhorn Symphony Center is the home of the Nashville Symphony. Located in downtown Nashville's SoBro neighborhood, across from the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, the building hosts a wide range of musical events, including classical, pops, jazz, and world music.
Construction of Schermerhorn Symphony Center began in December 2003. Less than three years later, the building opened to the public on September 9, 2006. The design was inspired by some of the world's great concert halls, many of which were built in Europe in the late 19th century. The building's main venue, the 1,844-seat Laura Turner Concert Hall, is one of the few halls nationwide to feature natural interior light through 30 special soundproof windows. Seats are distributed over three levels, including a special choral loft behind the stage, which can seat up to 146 chorus members or audience members during non-choral performances. The stage can accommodate up to 115 musicians. The design of Laura Turner Concert Hall provides vivid acoustical clarity, warmth and reverberation specifically catering to the sound of natural instruments. An automated system of movable banners and panels located around the hall can adjust the acoustics to accommodate a variety of musical genres.
The hall also features a custom-built concert organ, crafted by Schoenstein & Co. of San Francisco, comprised of 47 voices, 64 ranks and 3,568 pipes with three 32-foot stops that create a lyrical sound with expressive range.
One of the most innovative features of Schermerhorn Symphony Center is a convertible seating system designed to give the hall unique versatility. The orchestra level seating of Laura Turner Concert Hall can be transformed from rows of theater-style seating to a 5,700-square-foot hardwood ballroom floor, typically used for cabaret-style events such as pops and jazz concerts. A unique motorized system lowers rows of seats into a special storage space below the surface of the ballroom floor. This convertible system gives the concert hall great flexibility for numerous types of events throughout the year.
In addition to this state-of-the-art concert hall, Schermerhorn Symphony Center houses the Mike Curb Family Music Education Hall, a 3,000-square-foot space designed to accommodate performances, educational events, meetings and other gatherings. The building regularly hosts concerts for schoolchildren and a wide variety of special events, including weddings, conferences, luncheons and corporate meetings.
The building also has a public garden enclosed by a colonnade. Facing Hall of Fame Park across Fourth Avenue South, the garden is open to the public throughout the day and during concerts."
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The Person:
"Kenneth Dewitt Schermerhorn (20 Nov 1929 – 18 Apr 2005), an American composer and orchestra conductor, was the music director of the Nashville Symphony from 1983 to 2005. Schermerhorn was born on November 20, 1929, in Schenectady, New York. He studied clarinet, violin, and trumpet in school. He attended the New England Conservatory of Music, graduating in 1950. Schermerhorn played the trumpet with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Kansas City Philharmonic among several other orchestras. In 1957, Schermerhorn was appointed to the position of music director of the American Ballet Theatre, a position he held until 1968 and again from 1982 to 1984. Schermerhorn was the music director of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra from 1963 to 1965. In 1968, he became the music director and conductor of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. Schermerhorn joined the Nashville Symphony Orchestra as music director and conductor in 1983. Schermerhorn was also the music director of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra between 1984 and 1988."
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