Nashville Chamber Orchestra to showcase Wynonna, Donna Summer and others in thanksgiving celebration

The Nashville Chamber Orchestra will kick off the holiday season with its second annual Thanksgiving Celebration concerts, this year featuring Wynonna, Donna Summer, the NCO’s Gospel Choir and others, Friday, Nov. 24, and Saturday, Nov. 25, at 8 p.m. at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center.

NCO has teamed up with the Nashville GLBT Chamber of Commerce to offer its members a 15% discount on the concerts on Nov. 24 and 25.  For more information on the discount visit www.nashvilleglbtchamber.org.

“This is about creating a tradition of coming together and celebrating all that we have to be thankful for in our city,” said Connie Linsler Valentine, executive director of the NCO. “Bringing together Wynonna and Donna Summer, two musical icons, with the NCO Gospel Choir and Nashville Chamber Orchestra will create a powerful landmark performance.”

Wynonna will be featured in the first half, and will include a song from her recently released CD, “A Classic Christmas.” Donna Summer will perform during the second half of the concert, with both artists singing a total of five selections each along with the NCO and Gospel Choir.

Other Nashville soloists for the concerts include Abbey Burke, Shirley and Sarah Settles and Scat Springs. Two News2 anchors will introduce the concerts, with Anne Holt hosting the Friday evening performance and Alison Hatcher there for Saturday.

The dynamic youth choir Judah Generation, of Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Nashville, directed by Regina L. Walker, will join NCO’s Gospel Choir, directed by Nathan Young, to provide the back-up vocals for the evening. In addition, Judah Generation will perform a work on their own, and the NCO will be featured in the poignant Adagio for Springs by Samuel Barber.     

“We’re excited to bring together some of Nashville’s best church and community choir members to create a 140-voices’ strong gospel choir,” said Valentine. “Through the choir and the many diverse community organizations involved, these concerts have truly turned into a celebration of unity and thanksgiving."  

The Thanksgiving Celebration concert is part of the NCO’s Adventure Series, with upcoming performances including Gershwin & Klezmer (March 24) and Gypsy Nights (June 22 and June 23) at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center.

Tickets for the Thanksgiving Celebration concert range from $19 to $69, with cabaret-style table seating available on the main floor with food and beverage service. Group discount rates are available. To purchase tickets, call the NCO Box Office at (615) 256-6546 or the Schermerhorn Symphony Center Box Office at (615) 687-6400, or visit http://www.nco.org/.           

The Thanksgiving Celebration concerts are sponsored by Bridgestone Americas and the Nashville Convention and Visitor’s Bureau. News2 is the media sponsor for the events. 

The Nashville Chamber Orchestra has come to be recognized as one of America’s most creative and innovative orchestras, presenting its unique style of Music Without Boundaries. Under the leadership of Music Director Paul Gambill and Executive Director Connie Linsler Valentine, the extraordinary music making of this ensemble has garnered a steady stream of national media attention plus recordings for Warner Bros., NAXOS, Angel, Almanac and Alabaster Records, and a national award for Adventurous Programming from ASCAP. Its innovative Kid Pan Alley-Nashville CD received three prestigious national media awards, plus a 2006 GRAMMY® nomination.

The NCO is funded in part from grants made available through Metro Nashville Arts Commission, the Tennessee Arts Commission, and the National Endowment for the Arts. The residency of David Balakrishnan is made possible through Music Alive, a residency program of the American Symphony Orchestra League and Meet the Composer.