NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Admission will be free to attend faculty and ensemble concerts at Vanderbilt University’s Blair School of Music starting with the fall 2006 semester, announced Dean Mark Wait.
The Blair Signature Series, BMI Composer in Residence Series, Blair Nightcap Series, Blair Celebrates Series and Blair Nightcap Series will bring more than a dozen free concerts to Vanderbilt. The first performance will be a Blair Signature Series event on Sept. 29 in the Martha Rivers Ingram Center for the Performing Arts, featuring guitarist John Johns accompanied by Jane Kirchner on flute, Kathryn Plummer on viola and vocalist Amy Jarman.
“For its entire existence, the Blair School has sought to increase its outreach to the Nashville community,” Wait said. “We now extend our pledge to this great city by offering to the public, free of charge, all concerts by Blair School faculty and ensembles.”
The university has sold tickets for faculty and ensemble concerts for 20 years.
“With this new approach to our performances as a resource for the Vanderbilt and surrounding communities, we expect to expand our audiences, simply by opening our doors more broadly and inviting the public to explore the opportunities available in every imaginable form of chamber, orchestral, choral, and art music – even opera productions,” Wait said. “This is an exciting and invigorating approach to public performance for our faculty and student musicians and composers, one that we embrace as fulfillment of our mission as a school of music serving the students and citizens of Nashville.”
Blair’s performance season also offers concerts by the pre-college program, including the Children’s Choirs, the Curb Orchestra, the Nashville Youth Symphony Orchestras and the Suzuki string ensembles. Guest artists will perform at the Martha Rivers Ingram Center for the Performing Arts and the Steve and Judy Turner Recital Hall, and several Master Classes will be offered – all free and open to the public.
Full listings of all Blair ensemble and orchestral concerts, choral performances, master classes, faculty recitals and guest artist appearances will be listed on the Blair website in June at www.vanderbilt.edu/blair.
Media contact: Cindy Steine, 615-322-7656
cindy.steine@vanderbilt.edu