30/09/2026
𝐌𝐔𝐒𝐈𝐂 𝐂𝐈𝐓𝐘
𝐎𝐡, 𝐍𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐯𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞
The Nashville Symphony abruptly ceased operations yesterday. As someone connected to the industry but not in the Nashville Symphony, I had no idea this was coming. This leaves 27 administrators and 77 musicians without work, and so far as I can tell, without notice.
While the Nashville Symphony is not the New York or Berlin Philharmonic, attaining an orchestral position there is probably about 10 times more difficult statistically to make happen than an Ivy League college acceptance. Okay, I just made that up because I don’t know exactly how hard it is. But it’s very, very hard.
This is over, they say, not having $10 million. In the grand scheme of things, this is such a small amount of money. This is in one of the most important musical cities in the United States, where the chamber of commerce reported that the financial impact of music was $15.6 billion dollars in 2020.1
The Nashville Symphony just got a new CEO, J. Mark Cantrell, less than two months ago, and appointed a new Music Director, Leonard Slatkin, this year.
People without money pay out the ass to go hear pop stars live. People consume music everywhere, all the time and prioritize it financially. Just… not classical music.
Our industry has a long way to go to prove its worth. Classical music doesn’t pay for itself like Taylor Swift or Dolly Parton. And our governmental infrastructure—especially now—does not support it. It’s like a library or a waterfront or an art museum or a special park or monument in a city. What’s a city without those things?
I feel for all the people in the Nashville Symphony who are now unemployed/furloughed/whatever horrible thing is appropriate to call it. These are people who’ve strived their whole lives for something, worked during their vacations and parental leaves, been at the top of their class, practiced every day since they were children, and got lucky enough to make $72,000 a year—when the vast majority of other striving musicians did not get that far in the field. These people are not living glamorously or high on the hog. A cheese sandwich is $12 now. No one goes into classical music to make good money. I was thrilled when I got myself a job where I could afford a shelter dog. Everything since has been gravy. I didn’t even know cohabiting with a dog was possible when I was a kid blindly hurtling myself toward the worst career choice ever.
What is the value of an orchestra? What is the value of having a temple of classical music in a city? What is the value of providing a mechanism for classical musicians to live in a city?
It’s something we’re going to need to define more explicitly for the public, at least while we sit around fighting for tiny scraps of the music industry’s potential.
I’ve had some thoughts on this topic before but maybe should get on laying them out more clearly.
