The banks holding the Nashville Symphony's debt have given the latter a deadline of this week to repay that money or face foreclosure on the Schermerhorn Symphony Center. That could lead to the Symphony filing for bankruptcy, which the hiring of Bob Mendes of Frost Brown Todd would suggest is a serious consideration.

Sources have told Nashville Post reporter Ken Whitehouse that the lender group led by Bank of America is "evaluating legal options related to the 60-plus-member board’s oversight of the symphony’s finances, including any potential liability issues." But some of those board members say they didn't always have the information they needed to make the best decisions for the Symphony's future.

Various board members contacted by The City Paper over the past two weeks have stated that they had been unaware of the depth of the financial problems experienced by the organization until the symphony leadership announced the situation publicly three weeks ago.

A group of heavy-hitters will from the corporate, government, media, research and foundation sectors will be in Nashville on Wednesday, Nov. 14, for the Global South Summit, to be held from 7 a.m to 9:30 p.m. at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center.

The group, some members of which are internationally known in various circles, will serve as speakers and panelists during the event. Held annually in Nashville, the summit focuses on how world food production impacts the global economy and helps define solutions that "create nutritional abundance through innovation." This year’s event will, in part, serve to launch a series of global food summits leading up to Expo Milano 2015, which will focus on the theme "Feeding the Planet: Energy for Life." 

CumberlandCenter, a Cumberland, Tenn.-based alliance of academic and business officials, oversees the Global South Summit.

Participants will include the following:

•  Thomas Friedman, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist

•  Francis Collins, director, National Institutes of Health

•  Ted Abernathy, president and CEO, South Growth Policies Board

•  Rajiv Shah, administrator, USAID

•  Ernesto Brovelli, senior manager, sustainable agriculture, The Coca-Cola Company

•  Steve Currall, dean of the Graduate School of Management, UC Davis

•  Juergen Voegele, director, Agriculture and Rural Development Department, The World Bank

•  Edward Zhu, chairman and CEO CHIC Global

•  Mary Walshok, associate vice chancellor, UCSDConnect

The Nashville Symphony has introduced a holiday gift card and debuted a holiday kiosk at The Mall at Green Hills, open through December.

Nashville Symphony gift cards can be redeemed for concert tickets, food and beverages at Schermerhorn Symphony Center’s restaurant and café, or items in the Symphony Store. The gift cards are available at the Schermerhorn box office, the mall kiosk and Christmas Village at the Tennessee State Fairgrounds.
 

The Inspirational Country Music Awards will be held at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center this year, a new venue for the event. Music Row reports that the Oct. 28 awards show is the capstone of Inspirational Country Music Week, taking place at The Millennium Maxwell House Hotel in MetroCenter.

On Monday, Nashville Post hosted a cocktail reception at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center for the individuals featured in the March/April In Charge issue of Nashville Post magazine.

Visit the Post's Facebook page, here, to view a photo album from the evening.

(While you're there, feel free to "like" our page.)

This will not derail our mission. As of today, we do have one major change— instead of bringing to the city the Big South Social Media Summit, we will be bringing to the web the Big South Social Media Series and it will be free. Big South is going virtual. Video and Q&A will be housed on the Big South website.

The full extent of damage to the organ, a gift from the Charles Martin Foundation, won't be known until the waters recede. Bostick says no one will be able to tell whether the damaged components can be repaired or replaced until they can be inspected. But every piece of the organ was meticulously tailored to the Schermerhorn's dimensions — making the damage of any one piece a potential disaster.