For Nashville Symphony Principal Oboist Titus Underwood, the pandemic has been a fairly prolific time. It’s also been a successful year - with a regional Emmy Award and the Sphinx Medal of Excellence, as well as a viral sensation on YouTube. And while he looks forward to a return to the Schermerhorn stage, he also has a lot of goals for the future of orchestral music - including equity in auditions, and a new broader focus in musicians’ training.

Nashville’s chamber orchestra Intersection has commissioned new works from 25 female-identifying composers for a project titled “Listen.” So, we did just that - assembling a panel of the composing participants. Their diverse life experiences are reflected in their music, and also in the misconceptions they face on a daily basis.

There's nothing more wild yet utterly predictable than a child's tantrum. But in Maurice Ravel's opera L’enfant et les sortilèges, the consequences take the child completely by surprise. Vanderbilt Opera Theater's production of the piece is Nashville's latest example of how performing arts have pivoted to create new and interesting projects during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this episode of Classically Speaking hear from director Gayle Shay and music director Jennifer McGuire about how Vanderbilt students learned a whole new set of skills to put on this production.

The newest “Call of Duty” game hit the market in late 2020. In” Black Ops - Cold War” it’s composer Jack Wall’s job to transport you to the turbulence of the 1980s. From green computer screens to hidden messages in Russian lyrics, Wall’s scores are epic thanks to their use of a full orchestra – recorded right here in Nashville. Hear all about building the game’s story scene by scene.

While this episode of Classically Speaking was prepared in a tumultuous time, we never could have predicted how many more shocking things would happen before its release. That being said, Leila Adu's Mahakala Oratorio is still the right piece of music for this exact moment. The piece itself is well-timed invocation to a deity whose charge is to protect the good in all of us. Adu describes how meditation informs her music making, how she comes to her minimalism honestly, and how the project of premiering this oratorio took on new life during the COVID-19 pandemic.

From the archive:

Perennial holiday favorite The Nutcracker has a special local treatment from Nashville Ballet. This year, as the work makes its local television debut, get behind the scenes with Artistic Director Paul Vasterling.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, singing in large groups has been an off-limits activity. But, King’s College Cambridge has gone to extraordinary lengths to continue its Christmas services safely. Hear from Director of Music Daniel Hyde on how King’s is carrying on through this challenging time. Woven with the choral music that for many of us, has heralded the beginning of Christmas for nearly a century.

As composer Ludwig van Beethoven approaches his semiquincentennial birthday, we’re taking you through all nine of his symphonies. Nashville Symphony conductor Giancarlo Guerrero joins host Colleen Phelps for a quick look at each one, focused on the history and the music itself.