Peter Otto
Violinist Peter Otto is no stranger to the Nashville Symphony. He made his debut as guest concertmaster 14 years ago in a performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 5. Otto was deeply impressed with the orchestra and also liked the city, though he did notice one peculiarity.
“It sure seemed to rain a lot,” says Otto, recalling the torrential rain that pounded the windows of his downtown Nashville hotel room on the evening of May 1, 2010. Otto learned that, shortly after he boarded his plane back to Cleveland, water poured into the Schermerhorn Symphony Center basement, destroying two Steinway concert grand pianos and severely damaging a $2.5 million organ.
Fortunately, 2010’s historic flood didn’t (ahem) dampen the violinist’s view of the city. Last year, he accepted an offer to become the symphony’s permanent concertmaster. And on Monday, June 24, he’ll make his solo recital debut, playing a dauntingly difficult program at the Schermerhorn that will include music by Brahms, Respighi, Penderecki and Salonen.
When the NSO announced Otto’s appointment last summer, music director Giancarlo Guerrero was effusive in his praise. “Attracting someone like Peter speaks to the level of the Orchestra and our beautiful hall and shows that the Nashville Symphony can attract the highest caliber of artist,” Guerrero gushed in his news release.
In truth, securing Otto’s service wasn’t easy. Guerrero first met the Juilliard-trained violinist while guest conducting the Cleveland Orchestra during the 2007-08 season. Otto, who had just become the Cleveland Orchestra’s associate concertmaster, made a big impression. So when Guerrero became music director of the Nashville Symphony in 2009, he began eyeing Otto as a possible concertmaster.
Guerrero had good reason to want Otto in that important chair. The concertmaster, after all, is arguably the second-most influential musician in the orchestra after the conductor. Sitting immediately to the left of the conductor onstage, the concertmaster tunes the orchestra at the beginning of the concert and plays the violin solos during the performance. Moreover, the concertmaster makes decisions on bowing and other technical details for the violin section, which can determine the quality of an orchestra’s string sound.
As one of the country’s so-called “Big Five” orchestras, the Cleveland Orchestra is widely admired for its polished perfection. Guerrero hoped Otto might bring this quality with him to Nashville. Otto, however, wasn’t ready to switch teams.
“I knew they wanted me to become their concertmaster, but I had to decline because of my job in Cleveland,” Otto tells the Scene. “But I decided to come play anyway, just for fun. I had no idea what to expect from the Nashville Symphony and was completely blown away by the responsiveness and flexibility of this orchestra.”
So what ultimately changed Otto’s mind about Nashville? Apparently it was the grind in Cleveland. As one of the world’s premier orchestras, Cleveland maintains a grueling classical concert schedule that includes frequent festivals and world tours. The practice and rehearsal time needed to perform this music is intense.
“I began to imagine a different life for myself, and then I found out about the concertmaster opening in Nashville,” says Otto.
The NSO may not be a Big Five orchestra; for reference, the other four ensembles are the New York Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. But it is a leading interpreter of contemporary American music, and next season Otto and the NSO will give the world premiere performance of American composer Kip Winger’s new violin concerto. The performance will be recorded for future release on the Naxos label.
Speaking of the coming year, Otto might have had a sense of déjà vu when he first glanced at the programming for the 2024-25 season. The Nashville Symphony will open its classical series in September with Mahler’s Symphony No. 5 — the same piece that Otto played with the symphony during that pre-diluvian concert in 2010.
“I’ve definitely come full circle in Nashville,” he says.
