MACC Talk at Monthaven Arts and Cultural Center

Early Music City plays the music of Bach and Handel the old-fashioned way – with gut-string violins, valveless horns and other period instruments. In this episode of MACC Talk, countertenor Patrick Dailey and lutenist Francis Perry join host John Pitcher to discuss their historically informed music group’s sing-along Messiah at Nashville’s Christ Church Cathedral. The episode is sponsored by Ponce...

What does a visual artist need to do to get the Nashville Scene’s attention? That’s a question we pose to Laura Hutson Hunter. Laura is the long-time arts editor of the Nashville Scene. For more than a decade, she’s overseen the paper’s visual arts coverage, and she’s written some of the publication’s most perceptive visual arts stories. In addition to writing and editing, Laura also curates the S...

Greg Wilson is the founding artistic director of Actors Point Theater Company in Hendersonville, Tennessee. The company stages four or five productions a year and offers classes and workshops to aspiring young actors and theater enthusiasts. Recently, Actors Point was named theater-company-in-residence at Volunteer State Community College in Gallatin, Tennessee. In this episode of MACC Talk, Greg...

Nashville Opera is opening its 45th season with a production of The Shining, a contemporary opera based on Stephen King’s delightfully creepy 1977 novel. John Hoomes, Nashville Opera’s long-time artistic director, joins MACC Talk host John Pitcher to discuss the qualities that make The Shining a perfect subject for opera. The company’s season also includes operas by Puccini and Rossini. The episod...

Nashville Ballet Artistic Director Nick Mullikin is a passionate champion of contemporary dance. That probably explains why his company is opening its 40th anniversary season with a new dance that pays homage to the life and music of Elvis Presley. The upcoming season will also feature such classics as The Nutcracker and Swan Lake, as well as a contemporary dance inspired by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle...

In 1973, the French humanitarian Marina Picasso inherited a trove of some 10,000 artworks from her legendary grandfather Pablo Picasso. Amazingly, most of these works had never been displayed before in public. These were works from the master’s own private collection. They were “Picasso’s Picassos” and were so near and dear to the artist’s heart that he had never been able to part with them. Some...

There are a lot of new things going on at Nashville Shakespeare Festival. The 37-year-old festival has a new artistic director, Jason Spelbring, who’s beginning his first year at the artistic helm with a summer production of The Merry Wives of Windsor. The company has also introduced a new season that will present a couple contemporary plays that riff off Shakespeare’s Hamlet. In this episode of M...

Alan Valentine is the long-time president of the Nashville Symphony Orchestra. Since his arrival in Nashville in 1998, the NSO has built one of the world’s great concert halls. It has also produced more than 40 acclaimed recordings, and it has received 27 Grammy nominations and 14 Grammy Awards. It's been a great run, but, of course, all good things do come to an end. Last week, Alan announced...

Don Olea is the featured artist at the MACC’s Seventh Annual Veterans Art Exhibition. His show, Battle Born, is on display in the MACC’s galleries through August 31st, 2025. Don creates photorealistic watercolors that convey the heroism and sacrifice of America’s service members from the Revolutionary War to the present day. In this episode of MACC Talk, Don joins host John Pitcher to reflect on h...

Hendersonville photographer Rick Murray is one of thousands of “citizen scientists” around America who’s discovered a passion for astrophotography. Using a new generation of smart telescopes, Rick takes spectacular photographs of planets, stars, galaxies and other celestial phenomena. He also specializes in aerial photography, using drones to capture breathtaking photos of storms, including the oc...

Ruth Chase is the MACC’s regional arts director. She’s also curator of the group exhibit Rescued , which runs through Aug. 31, 2025 at the MACC’s Papillon Gallery. This amazing group exhibition features the works three visionary artists – Dayo Johnson, Hoppy Highhat and Dustin Headrick. Each of these artists offers a unique perspective on what it means to be “rescued.” Their show invites viewers t...

Joe Nolan is the author of Nowville: The Untold History of Nashville’s Contemporary Art Scene . His terrific book tells the story of the art punks, art monks, radical art students and visionary pioneers who created Nashville’s adventurous visual arts scene in the 1990s. In this episode of MACC Talk, Nolan joins host John Pitcher to discuss how this homespun movement –powered by Do-It-Yourself inno...

Contemporary painter Kathryn Dettwiller and sculptor Somers Randolph are exhibiting their work at Monthaven as part of a group show called Canvas + Stone . The exhibit features more than 65 strikingly original abstract works, which will be on display at the MACC through July 27, 2025. In this episode of MACC Talk, Dettwiller and Randolph join host John Pitcher to talk about their inspirations and...

Tennessee artist Anne Goetze created her documentary The Living Land for PBS. The film gets a screening at Monthaven Arts and Cultural Center on June 1, 2025. This beautiful documentary is a cinematic ode to nature, music and poetry, bringing well-being, conservation, and beauty into our lives through all four seasons of nature’s artistry. A collection of her plein air paintings will also be on di...

Kip Winger is one of those rare artists who’s both a famed rock musician and a noted classical composer. As lead singer and bass player for his eponymous rock band, Kip cranked out a couple of hard-charging, platinum-selling rock albums in the late 1980s and early 90s. In recent years, he’s emerged as an important composer of symphonic music, earning a Grammy nomination for his ballet score Conver...

Deanne DeWitt is the president of the Preservation Foundation of Sumner County. Deanne and her organization have been instrumental in raising community awareness about the importance of old places. One of those places is Sumner County’s historic Comer Barn, which is now receiving a new lease on life thanks in part to her efforts. In this episode of MACC Talk, Deanne speaks with podcast host John P...

Dana Pettit’s new exhibition A Divine Appointment is on display at Monthaven Arts and Cultural Center from April 18 to 27, 2025. The exhibit features portraits of Jesus rendered in a dozen different styles of Western art, from Baroque and Impressionism to Pop Art and Performance Art. Pettit created the works in this series as part of her own personal quest to find God. In this episode of MACC Talk...

Donna Woodley is curator of the exhibit Black Vibrations, which runs through March 23 at Monthaven Arts and Cultural Center. This amazing exhibition features 56 works by more than a dozen of Middle Tennessee’s preeminent Black artists. Donna is the perfect curator for this exhibit. An art instructor at Tennessee State University and successful studio artist, Donna was named Nashville’s Best New Ar...

Scott Williams is the president and CEO of Discovery Park of America. Located in Union City, Tennessee, the aptly named institution is one of the Volunteer State’s great museums. It’s a place where visitors can explore natural history, regional history, science, technology and much more. In this episode of MACC Talk, Williams joins host John Pitcher to discuss the wonders of this West Tennessee mu...

Wendy Rodrigue is founder of the Life and Legacy Foundation. The Foundation is devoted to deepening our knowledge and appreciation for the life and art of her late husband, the legendary Louisiana-born artist George Rodrigue. The Life and Legacy Foundation is currently sponsoring an exhibit at Monthaven called The River is the Road: The paintings of George Rodrigue . In this episode of our podcast...

Bill Miller is the owner of one of Nashville’s leading entertainment and hospitality companies, Icon Entertainment. The company operates museums, restaurants, bars and experiential venues. If you’ve ever visited Nashville’s Johnny Cash Museum or enjoyed a little music and fine dining at the Sinatra Bar & Lounge, then you’re familiar with Bill Miller’s work. Icon Entertainment also owns the Pat...

Deborah Evans Price is one of Nashville’s preeminent music journalists. Over the course of her 40-plus-year career, Price has interviewed countless artists, including Dolly Parton, Charlie Daniels, Alan Jackson and Taylor Swift. In 2023, she received the Country Music Association’s Media Achievement Award. In this episode of MACC Talk, Price talks with host John Pitcher about her new book Country...

Tennessee songwriter and Army veteran J.T. Cooper fought in the 1993 Battle of Mogadishu in Somalia. The conflict was famously portrayed in the 2001 film Black Hawk Down. Following his military service, Cooper turned to songwriting to help him deal with his PTSD. In 2018, he founded the nonprofit group Warrior Rounds, a healing arts program that pairs military veterans with songwriters. The songwr...

Sergeant First Class Joseph James (U.S. Army, Retired) and his wife Jarin are co-chairing this year’s Boots and BBQ fundraiser for Monthaven Arts and Culture Center. Proceeds from the event on Oct. 19, 2024 support the MACC’s Between the Lines Healing Arts Program for military veterans. James knows a thing or two about the healing power of the arts. He turned to art to assist in his recovery after...

Monthaven Arts and Cultural Center is exhibiting Stairway to Heaven: Salvadore Dalí’s The Divine Comedy through Oct. 13, 2024. In this episode of MACC Talk, Park West Gallery Senior Director and Dalí’ expert Morris Shapiro holds forth on the great Spanish artist’s singular masterpiece.