Nashville Symphony | Leonard Slatkin, conductor | Hilá Plitmann, soprano
Leave your expectations at the door: this is an evening unlike anything you can imagine experiencing in a symphony hall.
David Del Tredici's Final Alice will take you down the rabbit hole into an alternate reality. Inspired by the final chapters of Alice in Wonderland, this landmark piece was composed in honor of America's bicentennial in 1976. It caused a sensation at its premiere and changed the landscape for composers forever.
Music Director Leonard Slatkin calls the piece "a defining work of this country," and fifty years later, its wild energy, lush melodies, and sheer theatrical scale remain unmatched. Music, visuals, and stagecraft combine to transform the Schermerhorn into Wonderland itself. The tunes are catchy and unforgettable; you'll never stop humming them.
And you'll marvel at what the piece demands of soprano Hilá Plitmann: singing at stratospheric heights, speaking, narrating, and at one spellbinding moment, performing through a bullhorn. It is the most vocally demanding performance you are likely ever to witness, and Plitmann, a two-time GRAMMY® winner and one of today's most fearless sopranos, makes it look like joy.
The evening opens with Camille Saint-Saëns' Carnival of the Animals, a fanciful suite brimming with instantly recognizable melodies and a fitting invitation into a musical journey like no other.
Alice in Wonderland costumes aren't just allowed. They're encouraged.
