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Kelly Corcoran started Intersection, a contemporary music ensemble, with the hopes of filling a specific cultural void in Music City.
'I have a big passion for contemporary music and what composers are writing today and really felt that one of the things that Nashville was missing was an ensemble dedicated solely to contemporary music,” says Corcoran, who is both artistic director and conductor.
With her love of music spanning nearly two decades, Corcoran also has a longstanding history with the Nashville Symphony, where she serves as chorus director, and is the founder of the Nashville Philharmonic Orchestra.
'There are some feelings around classical music that it might not be for everybody,” Corcoran says. 'I passionately feel classical music is for everybody and that there's some access point to this rich, wonderful repertoire that we can all enjoy in some way.”
With Intersection, she aims to break down the barrier between audience and musicians by creating modern and unique collaborative pieces played in nontraditional spaces. This month, the group will perform a family program called Mariachi. The theme of the show was inspired by Music Makes Usan initiative with Metro Nashville Public Schools designed to improve the city's music education programsand its mariachi program, which sees traditional Mexican folk music played by students.
Corcoran, who serves on the advisory council for MMU, wanted to explore the music of Mexican and classical composers, invite students from Glencliff High School to play mariachi music, and commission a new piece that bridges those worlds together. Mariachi features pieces by Mexican composers Silvestre Revueltas and Carlos Sanchez-Gutierrez, selections from Gabriela Fuentes (the director of Glencliff's mariachi program), and an exclusive composition by Juilliard graduate and Nashville transplant Cristina Spinei.
The hour-long program will be performed by a 13-person group comprising both core Intersection musicians and new faces at the Casa Azafrán immigrant community center; it will also feature a special collaboration with the Glencliff mariachi students.
'I'm really excited to see the energy and enthusiasm and relationship between the students and the musicians from Intersection,” Corcoran says of the joint effort. 'It's exciting to engage in fun, creative art in an environment where people are open and supportive and authentic.”
The family-centric event includes pre-concert crafts and an accompanying visual element courtesy of the Wishing Chair Productions puppet group.
'I always get a thrill from that pure energy that you feel from kids, the way they react to something that they hear,” Corcoran says. 'It's just so natural, this human reaction to what they're hearing.”
January 31 at 2 p.m.; tickets are $15 for adults, $7.50 for kids, and $35 for a family pass up to four. Casa Azafrán, 2195 Nolensville Pk.; intersectionmusic.org