NASHVILLE SYMPHONY NAMES MUSIC DIRECTOR

09.07.07
Giancarlo Guerrero
The New York Times

The ambitious Nashville Symphony has a new home, a series of recent recordings and now, finally, a music director. The orchestra said that Giancarlo Guerrero, a Costa Rican born in Nicaragua, would take up the post in the 2009-10 season and be given a five-year contract. The orchestra has been semi-leaderless since the death of its longtime music director, Kenneth Schermerhorn, in 2005, although Leonard Slatkin has been acting as musical adviser. Mr. Slatkin will stay on through the 2008-9 season, when Mr. Guerrero will conduct 10 weeks before moving up to his full 14-week season, the orchestra said. Mr. Guerrero, 38, is music director of the Eugene Symphony in Oregon and has recently appeared as a guest conductor with the Cleveland Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Los Angeles Symphony at Hollywood Bowl and others. He was also associate conductor of the Minnesota Orchestra from 1999 to 2004. DANIEL J. WAKIN