Orchestra Nashville spoons up treat at Leipers Fork

When the former Nashville Chamber Orchestra recently came to a fork in the road, they took it. The orchestra has a new name with a new connotation, but the same mission - to engage and inspire audiences and performers with innovative presentations, both classical and modern, that celebrate Music City's diverse and eclectic musical community.

The newly christened Orchestra Nashville will play its first concerts of 2008, and its first of the year in the Music Without Boundaries series, on February 14 and 15 at Grace Chapel in Leipers Fork. An Evening of Great Love Songs (two evenings, actually) will feature Matraca Berg, Suzy Bogguss, Gretchen Peters and Raul Malo. These four have been the featured artists on Valentine's Days past, in the beautiful church in the lovely little community west of Franklin. Berg, Bogguss and Peters will share the stage for the first half of the show, performing their acclaimed "Wine, Women and Song" - but make note that the chapel is, of course, an alcohol-free zone -- while Malo will take the spotlight for the second half.

The name Orchestra Nashville better denotes the organization's Music Without Boundaries philosophy, under which traditional masterpieces might share the stage with jazz, folk and fiddle, or other genres of American and international music - in which the artificial boundaries fall and the orchestra embraces the world.

"The name change gives us an opportunity for a more expansive definition of what our orchestra is," says conductor and music director Paul Gambill. Dropping the "Chamber" from Chamber Orchestra sets the group free, in Gambill's conception, from its formerly formal dress jacket, giving it the room to stretch and grow.

Gambill, it should be noted, has never stood on formality. He creates a rapport and an intimacy with audiences with such gambits as revealing the behind-the-scenes working of the orchestra, both online and during performances. (The Nashville Scene adjudged Gambill the "Best Conductor to Turn Classical Music on its Head.")

This is the second change of names in the organization's history. Originally known as the Cumberland Chamber Orchestra, it became the NCO in 1997 to coincide with its release of a Warner Brothers Records CD, and to more adequately reflect its collaborations with local artists. The CD brought national recognition to the orchestra - it has been nominated for a Grammy -- and to Gambill.

As before, the name change will be accompanied by the commercial release of newly recorded material. This month, Orchestra Nashville will release three singles from collaborations with current artists-in-residence John Jorgenson and Darrell Scott, the first from what will be three full-length Uncovered recording projects undertaken by Artist Share, in which fans will be granted exclusive, behind-the-scenes VIP access to the orchestra and the artists, as well as to the new recordings for a one-time fee.

The Orchestra invites online participation from the community as a way of sharing and spreading its spirit of innovation and play. In conjunction with its Music of the Spirit program in March, for example, Orchestra Nashville asks readers, on the blog section of its site, to contribute ideas about the connection between music and spirituality. Gambill will select entries posted on the blog for treatment during the Orchestra Nashville's March 8 performance at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center.

Over the coming months, Gambill will unveil the 2008-09 season and the selection of a new artist-in-residence and composer-in-residence. He will announce a newly commissioned work from an artist of international repute, and a new partnership with Belmont's Curb School of Music to record its projects at the legendary Oceanway Studios.

Orchestra Nashville is made possible in part through support from the Metropolitan Nashville Arts Commission, the Tennessee Arts Commission and the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as its engaged and enthusiastic fans. Visit www.OrchestraNashville.org.

Orchestra Nashville's performances of An Evening of Great Love Songs (general admission is $35) will be Thurs. and Fri., Feb. 14-15 at 8 p.m. at Grace Chapel, 3279 Southall Road in Leipers Fork. (From I-65, take exit 65 - Hwy 96. Go toward downtown Franklin on Hwy 96, 2.3 miles to the Public Square. Go ¾ way around the square and exit W. Main Street (31S). Continue on W. Main for 4 miles (turns into Hwy 246). Turn right on Southall Road. You'll see a sign for Historic Leiper's Fork and a little white market on the corner called Half Way Market. Grace Chapel is 1.7 miles on the left.)