If you haven’t been the Schermerhorn Symphony Center, you need to go. Really. You
need to go. And those of you considering visiting Nashville, this is one place that needs to be on your Must See list (along with the Ryman and Fido; okay, yeah, my taste runs a little toward the eclectic).

The building itself is amazingly beautiful, with its airy, open feel, clean lines and mix of stone and wood. But I think its the acoustics that enchanted me most. Granted, I was sitting in the orchestra section in the middle. Pretty much the best seats to have to begin with — and I have no idea how I managed to score such great seats, seeing as how I got my ticket tonight at the box-office, with the help of my friends who have season tickets (tip to the interested: find someone who has season tickets and have them purchase your ticket for you. They get a big discount on any extra tickets they get. It is sooooo worth it, considering tickets can cost upwards of $80).

Perfect seats aside, the sound was amazing — which is a very important thing to this little Soundchick. I had read in several different reviews that there is no accoustically
bad seat in the hall, and after tonight, I’m inclined to believe it. I could hear everything, even the smallest whispers of sound from any instrument on stage, and none of the dynamic range between pianismo and fortismo got lost in the engineer’s attempt to balance our listening experience. In fact, a few times I wondered if they really had need for someone to man a sound board at all, even though I could see a battery of microphones strung from the ceiling. Was I hearing the symphony through a sound system, or was I actually hearing them "unplugged"? I have no idea.

And the symphony, wow! They are incredible. I’m not a symphony sophistocit, so I cannot rate how our symphony compares with those in other cities. All I can say is that I thought it was beautiful, and I would have been happy to stay there all night listening to them play.

Tonight it was Mozart, and Sibelius. I love Mozart; have since I first remember connecting his name to his music. Sibelius I’d never heard of, but for the most part, I liked what I heard. Our conductor for the evening was Anu Tali, whom I found to be a delight to watch. And who shocked me with her youth (she graduated high school in 1991;jeez, I feel old).

The best part of the evening was, in my mind, the Mozart Concerto No. 5 in A major. Soovin Kim was the guest violinist. He was such a joy to watch! You could see his love for the music in every note he played. His face just shone with excitement. He made me smile and enjoy the music all the more just watching him beam as he played his 1709 Stradivarius. If you ever have a chance to see him play, take it; by any means possible, take it.

We ended our evening with sushi at Ru San’s. Oooooo, yum. You have got to try this place! I’m so not a sushi eater — raw fish give me the heebies — but I had veggie rolls with shrimp tempura inside that were absolutely To.Die.For. And the chefs and waiter all have way too much fun! I want me one of those cool t-shirts they all wear, "Got Sushi?" Yes. I am a happy, happy little camper tonight. It was the perfect way to end a perfect evening.

Photos from The Nashville Symphony website.