The Nashville City Paper reports that carpenters, contractors, electricians and stone layers were among the workers and their families in the audience. Construction superintendent Bobby Hall told the paper, "I can't tell you how proud I am. I got chills. That was really neat. People don't realize what the laborers went through to put it all together, but all we've done has really paid off."

Hall's son, Brad, is the project's field engineer. He said the concert spotlighted the workers who worked 60-hour weeks. "The architects are always recognized, and that's fine. But it needs to be put out there that the guys that do the work — the plumbers, carpenters, electricians — that's 85 percent of the building and what made it happen," he told the City Paper.

At the end of the concert, conducted by Leonard Slatkin, the orchestra put hard hats on their heads and tipped their brims to the audience.

Designed by architect David M. Schwarz, the 1,872-seat, $120 million hall blends neo-Classical columns and a limestone exterior with contemporary details. The Laura Turner Concert Hall is one of the few halls nationwide to feature natural interior light, which will enter through 30 soundproof windows.

The center is named after Kenneth Schermerhorn, longtime music director of the Nashville Symphony, who died in April last year at 75. The hall will officially open with a gala concert on September 9, conducted by National Symphony music director Leonard Slatkin.