Behind Our Cover

Written by Melissa Mahanes / Photos by David Dobson

The news of this year’s Harmony Award winners made us immediately wonder how we could capture the spirit of our incredible GRAMMY® Award-winning Nashville Symphony Orchestra. As a former Symphony Ball Chair, I knew I wanted to include the NSO on our November/December cover.

“Our Nashville Symphony orchestra musicians have exemplified resiliency and creativity during the past year of struggle,” said Lisa Manning, 2021 Symphony Ball Chair. “What better complement to celebrating the Symphony’s 75th year than to also celebrate its musicians?”

The inspiration started with a Vanity Fair Hollywood Issue, so we watched an Annie Leibovitz “Behind the Scenes” video and luckily photographer David Dobson was eager to take on the challenge!

Throughout Covid, The Schermerhorn Symphony Center has taken the safety of its musicians and concert attendees incredibly seriously. Our access within the building was strictly limited, so we had to really work around some hurdles and make it work!

The 15 musicians who volunteered to pose for us were all shot individually in 30-minute increments, with pre-planned placements and poses and a fixed camera. After posing alone in the Founders Room, they went through to the adjacent Green Room and were shot individually with their instruments. David immediately charmed them and made them feel incredibly comfortable while we hovered around them, masked and socially distanced.

Special thanks are due to Sonua Bohannon, Director of Communications of The Nashville Symphony, for securing the musicians and scheduling their sessions, Adam Conde of Formax Entertainment for helping us at the shoot and keeping us on schedule, Anna Witherspoon for making the musicians look their natural best, David Dobson for his amazing photos, and props to Charlie Mahanes for digitally manipulating 16 separate layers and working his best Photoshop magic ever.