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It’s the first Saturday night of the month, and you’re taking a stroll downtown. At first, things seems peaceful, even boring, but then you come to Fifth Avenue. Suddenly, you see people flocking into the brightly lit entrance of a building, and you hear music. Loud music. You’ve just discovered downtown’s Art at the Arcade, where, on the first Saturday night of each month, the city’s trendiest art galleries throw a veritable party. Daniel Lai, owner of the Arcade’s anchor gallery Dangenart, serves as DJ and host, spinning tunes and serving wine and cheese to the art-loving crowds.

It may come as a surprise to some, but there’s more to Nashville these days than sparkle and twang. In addition to its chic galleries, the city now boasts one of the fastest growing orchestras in the country, which performs in arguably the finest concert hall in the South. The city also has an outstanding opera company (which will present an important world premiere this fall), exciting dance troupes and excellent theater. As the fall arts season begins, we offer you this cultural buffet, a sampling of great art, theater, music and dance. So sit back, relax and prepare to be amazed.


Music
Christian Teal

This violinist is best known in Nashville for being one-quarter of Vanderbilt University’s Blair String Quartet. But Teal occasionally plays solo, and for his first concert of the season, he’ll be scaling one of the violin repertoire’s loftiest Himalayas—the sonatas and partitas of J.S. Bach. These are all works of heavenly length and precipitous difficulty. Indeed, the Partita No. 2 in D minor (with its famous “Chaconne”) is as long as many full-fledged Mozart symphonies and is infinitely more complex. (It’s the Everest of fiddle pieces.) Teal will perform it at the opening concert of his two-part series, along with the Sonata No. 2 in A minor and Partita No. 3 in E minor. Sept. 23 at Christ Church Cathedral (second concert date TBA) —JOHN PITCHER


Theater
The Crucible

Arthur Miller’s noted allegory, written in 1952 during the height of McCarthyism, is based on events surrounding the 1692 Salem witch trials. Over the years, the play has been staged for film, television and even opera. It continues to gain stature and is now widely regarded as one of Miller’s best works. René Copeland will direct this new Tennessee Repertory Theatre production. The large cast is a mix of local veterans and newcomers, including David Alford, Jenny Littleton, Kahle Reardon, Sam Whited, Jessejames Locorriere and Veronica Longo. Oct. 4-13 at TPAC’s Polk Theater —MARTIN BRADY


Theater
Defying Gravity

Tennessee Women’s Theatre Project opens this fall with Jane Anderson’s fictional account of the 1986 Challenger disaster. Anderson creates a character named Teacher (the ill-fated teacher-astronaut Christa McAuliffe is never mentioned by name), whom we see juggling work, parenting and her new responsibilities as a high-profile member of the shuttle crew. Teacher’s now-adult daughter (who was 6 at the time of the Challenger accident) serves as the play’s narrator. And French Impressionist painter Claude Monet makes a ghostly appearance, representing humanity’s need to break the bonds of conventional thinking. Director Maryanna Clarke has gathered a strong cast, including Sara Sharpe, Alan Lee, Jim Wright and Pat Reilly. Oct. 5-21 at the Looby Theatre —MARTIN BRADY


Theater
The Witch of Blackbird Pond

Nashville Children’s Theatre opens its season with this adaptation of Elizabeth George Speare’s Newbery Medal-winning novel. Set in Colonial Connecticut, the play tells the story of an independent young woman whose Puritan neighbors eventually put her on trial for witchcraft. NCT producing director Scot Copeland and education director Julee Baber will co-direct the production. The large cast includes Rona Carter, Patrick Waller, Henry Haggard, Pete Vann and Buddy Raper, along with a supporting cast that includes Belmont students. Jaclyn Johnson stars in the leading role of Kit Tyler. Oct. 4-27 at Belmont University’s new Troutt Theatre —MARTIN BRADY


Music
Alias Chamber Music Ensemble

These musicians would probably get pissed off if you referred to them as classical players. Sure, they can play a Mozart serenade with the best of them—many Alias musicians are also members of the Nashville Symphony Orchestra. But Alias specializes in genre-defying contemporary music, so expect to hear some dissonance in their season opener. The program will feature American composer Roy Harris’ Lincoln Walks at Midnight for mezzo-soprano and piano trio. (We’ll be hearing a lot of Lincoln-inspired music in the coming years since 2009 is our esteemed dead president’s 200^th birthday.) The concert will also include Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Quintet in D major for clarinet, horn, violin, cello and piano, Larry Lapin’s Trio for Violin, Cello and Piano and Dmitri Shostakovich’s String Quartet No. 9. 8 p.m. Oct. 4 at Turner Recital Hall, Blair School of Music —JOHN PITCHER


Opera
Elmer Gantry

Composer Robert Aldridge and librettist Herschel Garfein have been working on this adaptation of Sinclair Lewis’ novel since the early 1990s. Excerpts from the opera were recently performed in New York City. Nashville Opera’s upcoming production, however, will be the first fully staged performance. The opera deals with an evangelist who profits from the fearful beliefs found in early 20^th century rural America. Aldridge has created a traditional opera full of arias, duets and numbers for large ensembles. Yet this is also a distinctly American piece, one that calls to mind everything from gospel and hymnal music to the orchestral works of Aaron Copland. Baritone Keith Phares sings the title role, with mezzo-soprano Jennifer Rivera portraying revivalist Sharon Falconer. Artistic director John Hoomes stages the action, and William Boggs conducts the Nashville Opera Orchestra. Nov. 16, 18 and 20 at TPAC’s Polk Theater —MARTIN BRADY


Art
3-D Hieroglyphs by Daniel Lai

This gifted artist spends much of his time overseeing Dangenart, the chic art gallery that’s at the center of downtown’s Art at the Arcade. But Lai is not just a curator, he’s also an artist, and this fall he’ll exhibit a series of sculptures that he refers to as a three-dimensional journal of his emotional life. These sculptures show small human figures (at first blush they look like voodoo dolls) in various poses. One shows four figures standing abreast, each with what appears to be a bowl sticking out of its head. All of Lai’s sculptures are intended to convey his sense of wit, sarcasm and humor. Nov. 3-23 at Dangenart —JOHN PITCHER


Dance
José Limón Dance Company

This terrific dance company is renowned for its ability to blend bold drama with virtuoso technique. For its Nashville performance, part of Vanderbilt University’s Great Performances series, the troupe will perform Hungarian composer Zoltán Kodály’s Missa Brevis. Completed during World War II (the subtitle of this work is “Time of War”), the music was first performed in the cellar of a bombed-out church. Limón later choreographed the piece for a 1958 performance. There will be two related campus events: an Oct. 27 master dance class and an Oct. 29 screening of the documentary Limón: A Life Beyond Words at Sarratt Cinema. Oct. 31-Nov. 1 at Ingram Hall —MARTIN BRADY

Music
Nashville Chamber Ensemble with Tango Nashville

Last season, this adventurous little orchestra stretched the boundaries of classical music when it gave the world-premiere performance of a Concerto for Klezmer Quartet and Orchestra. For the opening of its 2007-08 season, the NCO, under Paul Gambill, will go ethnic again, this time performing the tango-inspired music of Astor Piazzolla and Osvaldo Golijov. Piazzolla, the late Argentine composer and bandoneon virtuoso, revolutionized his country’s sexiest dance form when he fused it to jazz and classical music. Golijov, another Argentinean and the current golden boy of classical composition, took his cue from Piazzolla and fused tango with both classical and traditional Jewish music. The NCO will perform Piazzolla’s Concerto for Bandoneon and Golijov’s Last Round. Oct. 13 at Schermerhorn Symphony Center —JOHN PITCHER


Art
The Société Anonyme: Modernism for America

When French artist Marcel Duchamp’s controversial painting “Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2” was first exhibited in New York City in 1913, many Americans were outraged. To them, Duchamp’s abstract masterpiece looked more like a pile of geometric shapes than a nude. Americans of that day preferred art that looked real. So in 1920, Duchamp joined forces with artists Katherine Dreier and Man Ray to create the Société Anonyme, an organization devoted to furthering the cause of modern art in America. This fall, the Frist Center for the Visual Arts will host an exhibit of Société Anonyme art. The nearly 200 experimental works in the exhibit will include art from such giants as Duchamp, Max Ernst, Joseph Stella, Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee and Joseph Albers, among others. Yale University Art Gallery organized the show. Oct. 26-Jan. 26 at the Frist Center for the Visual Arts —JOHN PITCHER


Art
Chris Scarborough and Marcus Kenney

Scarborough, a Nashville native, has emerged in recent years as one of the country’s most imaginative artists and photographers. His technique involves altering digital portraits to make his subjects look like characters out of Japanese anime. In “Untitled (Erin 2),” an attractive blonde’s features have been changed to give her those classic anime bug eyes. The woman in “Untitled (Sara 4)” resembles a porcelain doll. Kenney, a Georgia artist, assembles his illustrations out of material he may find in a Dumpster. He’ll use magazine clippings, book illustrations and old wallpaper to create characters that often look anguished or forlorn. His “The First Americans,” for instance, shows an American Indian in agony over the loss of her land. Nov. 3-24 at TAG Art Gallery —JOHN PITCHER

Music
Nashville Symphony Orchestra and John Corigliano

The NSO may play a lot of Beethoven and Tchaikovsky, but its main commitment is to contemporary American music. So this season, the orchestra will celebrate the music of John Corigliano. A professor at the Juilliard School, Corigliano has written important works in every genre—his groundbreaking opera The Ghosts of Versailles, the Symphony No. 1 “Of Rage and Remembrance” (which was wonderfully recorded by conductor Leonard Slatkin and that other NSO, the National Symphony Orchestra) and the film score for The Red Violin. This season Slatkin and the Nashville Symphony will perform Corigliano’s evening-length A Dylan Thomas Trilogy. The NSO will also record this work for later release on an all-Corigliano CD. Nov. 29-Dec. 2 at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center —JOHN PITCHER