In Friday’s (5/14) Tennessean, Naomi Snyder writes, “The Schermerhorn Symphony Center was hit harder by floodwaters than most people realize, and it could take months to reopen, the center’s president and CEO, Alan Valentine, said as workers continued to clean up debris. The downtown symphony hall’s basement flooded in the early May floods, and there has been limited media access to the building since, although repair and remediation crews have worked nearly around the clock and turned a nearby parking lot into a staging area. … Valentine said the center had $10 million worth of flood insurance coverage, but damages are probably more than that. ‘It is too early to tell if that’s enough, but we suspect not,’’ he said. ‘A lot of people thought we just lost some pianos and an organ and we’ll be fine,’ said Valentine, who is busy trying to line up alternative venues for future events.” As part of its current national tour, the Los Angeles Philharmonic was slated to perform this weekend in Nashville at the Schermerhorn Center. Given the damage, however, Snyder reports that “Saturday’s Los Angeles Philharmonic concert will be held at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center on the other side of downtown.”
To help replace Steinway pianos lost in the flood, a gift of $25,000 will be donated jointly to the Nashville Symphony from musicians of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, LA Phil Music Director Gustavo Dudamel, guest piano soloist Jean-Yves Thibaudet, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association. Thibaudet, who hand-picked the Nashville Symphony’s Hamburg Steinway lost in the flood, has agreed to select another new piano.
Posted May 14, 2010
