Back from the Brink: Leonard Slatkin on the Nashville Symphony’s roller-coaster ride
Oracle has extended a lifeline to the Nashville Symphony. On Sunday, Oct. 4, 2026, the technology company announced a new $10-million strategic partnership with the symphony. This allows the NSO to move forward with its 2026-27 season and bring back its musicians and staff following a temporary suspension. This is incredible news, but there’s still a lot to be done. In this episode of MACC Talk, Nashville Symphony Music Director Leonard Slatkin joins host John Pitcher to talk about the orchestra’s roller-coaster week and its likely future. The episode is sponsored by Nōssi College of Art and Design.
Leonard Slatkin helped the Nashville Symphony win its first three Grammy Awards conducting the music of composer Joan Tower. The NSO now has as many Grammys as Taylor Swift.
The Schermerhorn Symphony Center is one of the world’s great concert halls. Over the years, it has placed a heavy financial burden on the Nashville Symphony. “It eats up a lot of money,” Slatkin says.
The Nashville Symphony’s billionaire benefactor Martha Ingram passed away in August at age 90. Ingram told former NSO President Alan Valentine in 2013 that there would be money for the symphony in her estate. According to Slatkin, no money from the estate is forthcoming.
It is tremendously reassuring to hear maestro Slatkin speak. His breadth of knowledge and decades long lived experience will help guide our precious Nashville Symphony through theses choppy waters. We are all so fortunate to have him here at this time. Godspeed to everyone involved. Now let’s roll up our sleeves.
Robin Willis
HEALING ARTS COORDINATOR
Robin Willis is the MACC’s Healing Arts Coordinator. She also works as the Exhibition and Events Manager and Director of Outreach. Robin has a Bachelor of Arts in Architecture from Clemson University with a minor in Entrepreneurship. She is a multi-discipline artist with emphasis in writing, mixed media abstract painting, alternative process photography, collage, and book arts and binding. In addition to her art practices, she holds several healing modalities certificates, such as extensive kundalini yoga teacher training and education, Reiki master, systemic family constellation facilitator, and depth psychology-based therapy trainings. As an avid learner, she explores and encourages others in their exploration in art, psyche, and our relationship to the micro and macro worlds within and around us. Influenced by John Muir’s quote, When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe, she fuses art, healing, and organization throughout her work and personal life as a creative-scientist minded person.
Kaylin Warden
Creative Design and Operations Manager
Kaylin Warden serves as the MACC’s Creative Design and Operations Manager. In this post, she oversees the organization’s graphic design work for exhibitions, events and special projects. She also coordinates the MACC’s arts outreach activities and assists with bookkeeping, among other duties. Kaylin, above all, is passionate about the arts. It comes as no surprise, then, that she is now pursuing a master’s degree in art history. When she’s not at the MACC, you can find her reading her favorite books (especially ones dealing with maritime mysteries), cooking, gardening, playing with her cat and two dogs, and cheering for the Nashville Predators.
Ruth Chase
Regional Arts Director
Ruth Chase is the Regional Arts Director of Monthaven Arts and Cultural Center, joining the team in 2023. For Ruth, the job is all about community, bringing people together to uplift and educate artists and art lovers alike. Her role at Monthaven is to strengthen the local artist community and build connections that will enrich Hendersonville and our surrounding communities through art exhibitions, art education, and opportunities for regional artists.
Prior to joining Monthaven, Ruth worked in the arts for over 30 years and is a multimedia artist and graduate of the San Francisco Art Institute. Her artistic practice is inquiry-based and engages in community bridge-building. She was awarded a Certificate of Appreciation from the City of Los Angeles, curated and juried exhibitions, and has taught at the Crocker Art Museum.
Ruth was awarded an Artist-in-Residence for Artist Activating Communities through a grant from the California Arts Council for three consecutive years. Her film Belonging screened at both the 18th Annual Nevada City Film Festival and Wild & Scenic Film Festival. She has received the Legendary Female Artist of Venice award, and she has exhibited in The Crocker Kingsley, the Museum of Northern California Art, and the Diego Rivera Gallery at the San Francisco Art Institute. Ruth also continues her work as a Curatorial Consultant and Art director for the Californian Indigenous Research Project, where she has worked with the local tribe since 2018.
It is tremendously reassuring to hear maestro Slatkin speak. His breadth of knowledge and decades long lived experience will help guide our precious Nashville Symphony through theses choppy waters. We are all so fortunate to have him here at this time. Godspeed to everyone involved. Now let’s roll up our sleeves.