In Wednesday’s (3/16) Jackson Sun (Tennessee), Danica Smithwick writes that Peter Shannon, concluding his second season as music director of the Jackson Symphony next month, learned shortly after his arrival about “West Tennessee Healthcare and the Alice and Carl Kirkland Cancer Center. ‘I have a passion for using music as a healing tool,’ Peter said. ‘Now we have musicians going into Kirkland’s to play for chemotherapy patients.’ ” The Kirklands hosted a dinner for supporters of the orchestra in their home on Tuesday. “Carl Kirkland said he has been involved with the Symphony for many years and has served on the board for the past six. Kirkland said he is proud of Peter’s accomplishments so far—the Symphony had the largest growth in its history last season, and Peter has built on educational outreach programming, bringing local students into rehearsals every opportunity he gets. ‘Jackson is an unusually small town to support a symphony like this for 56 years,’ Kirkland said. ‘We have to run harder to keep it high quality, so we always welcome supporters.’ ”
Posted March 17, 2016
