Kip Winger's Symphony, Violin Concerto performed by Nashville Symphony, Giancarlo Guerrero out on Naxos April 10

This April, Naxos American Classics releases world premiere recordings of two newly commissioned symphonic works by GRAMMY®-nominated composer and multi-platinum recording artist Kip Winger. Available on April 10, the album features performances by the Nashville Symphony under the direction of Music Director Laureate Giancarlo Guerrero. The recording includes Symphony of the Returning Light, captured live in 2023, and the Violin Concerto “In the Language of Flowers”, recorded live in 2025 and featuring the orchestra’s recently appointed concertmaster, Peter Otto. These premieres mark a significant addition to contemporary American orchestral music, showcasing Kip Winger’s evolving compositional voice and the Nashville Symphony’s commitment to new works.
 
Kip Winger is a genre-bridging composer with a long and successful career in rock music, touring early in his career as a bassist with Alice Cooper, and later performing with artists including Alan Parsons, Roger Daltrey, Bob Dylan, and the Hollywood Vampires before founding his eponymous band in 1987. Over the past two decades, however, Winger has been establishing himself as a composer of orchestral classical music. “I studied dance and was in a ballet company when I was a kid. I always wanted to compose but got sidetracked into a rock band,” he says.
 
Winger’s GRAMMY® nominated ballet score Conversations with Nijinsky, first commissioned by the San Francisco Ballet, was performed in Nashville in 2017 and led conductor Giancarlo Guerrero to commission the two works on this album.
 
Weaving floriographical meanings into the musical arc, “In the Language of Flowers” is a violin concerto in four movements – Forsythia, Viscaria, Ambrosia, and Wisteria – that celebrate a love story “no words could adequately express.”  Though a bassist by trade, Winger says that writing for the violin felt “surprisingly familiar.” Serendipitously, the Nashville Symphony hired violin virtuoso Peter Otto in 2024, and Giancarlo Guerrero requested a concerto to showcase him upon his hiring. Winger says, “Peter Otto’s virtuosity is astounding. Many adjustments were made in the score per his excellent advice.”
 
Symphony of the Returning Light is forged in the tradition of autobiographical fantasies stretching back to Berlioz. Winger describes this first symphony, composed between 2018 and 2020, as “something of an autobiographical piece of music centered around the theme of atonement.” The work imagines “a person who is receiving Morse code messages of atonement from his own lost soul.” In each of the Symphony’s four movements, a one-word subtitle indicates the “messages” being sent from within.
 
Arts writer Thomas May explains in the liner notes that “The Morse code rhythms that ‘spell’ these words function as foundational patterns. For example, the first movement (S.O.S.) begins with the Morse code rhythm used to signal distress played by a MIDI keyboard: short–short–short–long–long–long–short–short–short. That pattern eventually develops across the sections of the orchestra, while Winger superimposes melodies and thematic ideas over it. Eleos (“Mercy”) is the topic of the slow movement, which is followed by Metamorphosis, its staccato code tapped out at a rapid pace. The last movement, Metanoia (“Change of Heart”), begins with solo flute against a backdrop of strings and chimes. Elements shared among these words (the “s” sounds in S.O.S. and Eleos or “meta,” for example) allow for cross-connections between movements.”

 

About Kip Winger
 
Kip Winger is a Grammy-nominated composer and multi-platinum recording artist whose genre-spanning career bridges rock, classical, and theatrical music.

After touring early in his career as a bassist with Alice Cooper, and later performing with artists including Alan Parsons, Roger Daltrey, Bob Dylan, and the Hollywood Vampires, Winger founded his eponymous band in 1987. The group went on to sell millions of albums worldwide, earn six Billboard Top-40 singles, receive an American Music Awards nomination, and gain widespread critical acclaim for its exceptional musicianship. "Winger's musical pedigree was practically unmatched in 80's metal...the band crafted a debut album that combined hard-pop melodies with plenty of proggy, technically dazzling instrumental work" — Rolling Stone Magazine
 
Winger has established himself as a leading voice in contemporary classical composition. He studied with Richard Danielpour, Michael Kurek, and Richard Hermann, and his music has since been performed by leading orchestras including the, Nashville Symphony, Konzerthaus Berlin, San Francisco Ballet Orchestra, Colorado Symphony, Tucson Symphony, and the Thessaloniki State Symphony.

His ballet score Ghosts (2010), commissioned by Tony Award-winning choreographer Christopher Wheeldon, became one of the most celebrated contemporary ballet works of the decade, performed at Lincoln Center (New York), Sadler's Wells (London), and Théâtre du Châtelet (Paris), and earning a nomination for the Isadora Duncan Award. In 2016, Winger released Conversations with Nijinsky with the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra, which debuted at #1 on Billboard's Traditional Classical Chart and received a Grammy nomination for Best Contemporary Classical Composition. Tamara Nijinsky, daughter of the legendary dancer, praised: "Kip Winger has captured my father's heart and soul... reminding us of his genius with his own work."

He has since developed a close partnership with the Nashville Symphony, which premiered his Symphony of the Returning Light in 2023 under conductor Giancarlo Guerrero. The orchestra has also commissioned his Violin Concerto, In the Language of Flowers and will release a full album of his orchestral works on Naxos Records in 2026.

Winger has also expanded into theater, composing the musical Get Jack: A Musical Thriller, which debuted in New York in 2019. The cast recording entered Billboard's Cast Album Chart at #7.

Today, Winger continues to perform globally with his band while solidifying his reputation as a major voice in contemporary classical composition. His unique career bridges the worlds of rock and symphonic music, marked by innovation, critical acclaim, and worldwide performances. As Classic Rock Magazine has written, he is "one of the most gifted composers and arrangers of the past four decades." Winger received the Diamond Award, the highest honor in composition at the Eric Satie International Music Competition.
 
About Peter Otto
 
German-born violinist Peter Otto is concertmaster of the Nashville Symphony and enjoys a dynamic career as a soloist, chamber musician, and educator. He previously served as first associate concertmaster of The Cleveland Orchestra, including numerous national and international tours. Otto has frequently appeared as a soloist and guest concertmaster with leading orchestras, including the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Czech Philharmonic, and National Youth Orchestra of Germany. A graduate of The Juilliard School and the Hochschule für Musik in Rostock, Germany, he has earned top international prizes. Otto appears regularly at festivals in Europe and the United States, serves as a faculty member of the Brevard Music Center, and leads masterclasses with the New World Symphony.
 
About Giancarlo Guerrero
 
Giancarlo Guerrero is a six-time GRAMMY^® Award-winning conductor whose imaginative programming and “curatorial and interpretive creativity” (Chicago Tribune) draw out of his orchestras “exceptionally powerful and enchanting performances” (BBC Music Magazine). 2025 marks Guerrero’s first season as Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Grant Park Music Festival in Chicago. Guerrero also takes on the role of Music Director of Sarasota Orchestra in the 2025-26 season.

Guerrero is currently Music Director Laureate with the Nashville Symphony, following sixteen years as Music Director. During his tenure in Nashville, he championed the works of prominent American composers through commissions, recordings, and world premieres. Under Guerrero’s direction, the Nashville Symphony released twenty-one commercial recordings, which have garnered thirteen GRAMMY® nominations and six GRAMMY® Awards.

In recent seasons, Guerrero has led prominent North American orchestras including the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra and the San Francisco, Boston, Baltimore, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas and Detroit Symphonies. Internationally, he has worked with orchestras in Bilbao, Frankfurt, London, Paris, São Paulo and Sydney.

Guerrero previously held posts as Music Director of the NFM Wroclaw Philharmonic, Principal Guest Conductor of both The Cleveland Orchestra, Miami Residency and the Gulbenkian Symphony in Lisbon, Music Director of the Eugene Symphony, and Associate Conductor of the Minnesota Orchestra.

Born in Nicaragua, Guerrero immigrated during his childhood to Costa Rica, where he joined the local youth symphony. He studied percussion and conducting at Baylor University and earned his master’s degree in conducting at Northwestern. Guerrero is particularly engaged with conducting training orchestras and has worked with the Curtis School of Music, Colburn School in Los Angeles, The Juilliard School, National Youth Orchestra (NYO2) and Yale Philharmonia. More at www.giancarlo-guerrero.com.

About Nashville Symphony
 
Founded in 1946, the Nashville Symphony is integral to Music City’s vibrant musical landscape. Led by music director Giancarlo Guerrero and president and CEO Alan D. Valentine, the 83-member orchestra performs more than 130 concerts annually, with a strong commitment to contemporary American orchestral music. Recognised for championing new works, the Nashville Symphony has collaborated with leading composers such as Jennifer Higdon, Terry Riley, Joan Tower, Aaron Jay Kernis, Michael Daugherty, John Harbison, Julia Wolfe and Hannibal Lokumbe. The orchestra is also known for its commissioning and recording projects with Nashville-based artists, including Edgar Meyer, Béla Fleck, Ben Folds, Victor Wooten and Kip Winger. One of the most active recording orchestras in the US, the Nashville Symphony has released over 40 recordings, earning 27 GRAMMY nominations and winning 14 GRAMMY Awards, including two for Best Orchestral Performance. Schermerhorn Symphony Center is home to the Nashville Symphony and widely regarded as one of the finest concert halls in the nation.
www.nashvillesymphony.org.