YO-YO MA & JOSEPH GRAMLEY W/THE NASHVILLE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Even if your experience of classical music is largely confined to dentists’ offices, you've likely heard of Yo-Yo Ma. The cellist’s virtuosic technique and expressive warmth have made him a household name, both as a multiple-Grammy-winning interpreter of standard classical repertoire and as an ambassador for diverse musical styles and cultures. The Nashville Symphony's program this weekend reflects both these aspects of Ma's career, featuring him in Richard Strauss' orchestral tone poem Don Quixote and in a chamber work by Uzbek composer Dmitri Yanov-Yanovsky (originally written for Ma's Silk Road Ensemble), which evokes Central Asian music using strictly Western instruments. The concert will also feature percussionist Joseph Gramley, another Silk Road Ensemble member, as soloist on Western and Chinese instruments in Chen Yi's 1998 Percussion Concerto.
Thu., Oct. 16, 7 p.m.; Fri., Oct. 17, 8 p.m.; Sat., Oct. 18, 8 p.m., 2008