Blair Crescendo 2020

Photo by Joe Howell by John Pitcher It’s the end of an era at Blair. Mark Wait, the Martha Rivers Ingram Dean and professor of music, retired June 30. Blair was a relatively small institution when Wait took the helm in 1993. It had 19 full-time faculty who taught and… Read More

Kirsten Agresta Copely, adjunct associate professor of harp, released Around The Sun, an all-original new age harp album in January. It takes listeners on a journey through a 365-day cycle from “Daybreak” to “Winter’s Bone” with introspective melodies and ambient soundscapes. This marks her third solo album and first as… Read More

Undergraduate competition winners Max Randal, a rising senior piano performance major and computer science minor, was named the Tennessee Music Teachers Association Young Artist Collegiate Competition state winner in November 2019. Kaila Geisinger, a rising senior harp performance major, took second prize representing the Southeastern Region in the Advanced Division… Read More

The Blair School of Music begins a new leadership era as it welcomes Lorenzo F. Candelaria as its new dean. Read More

When Chris Mann, a Vanderbilt alumnus with a degree in opera, started making music parody videos and posting them online, he struck a positive chord with millions of people also struggling with the COVID-19 pandemic. Read More

Zachary Ebin, director of the Blair School’s Suzuki program, and Blair Academy and Harpeth Hall student Nora Wang organized a series of online outreach concerts for people in need of a little cheer, including residents at Abe’s Garden, a Nashville Alzheimer’s and memory care facility. Read More

A Vanderbilt professor has devised a new phonetic system for braille readers that promotes inclusive learning for aspiring classical singers with visual impairments. Read More

Interim Chancellor and Provost Susan R. Wente announced Vanderbilt’s 2020 Founder’s Medalists in a video message to the university community on May 8. Read More

When applying to colleges, Rachel Miles wanted to keep her options open. Vanderbilt proved to be the perfect fit for the Brunswick, Ohio, native, who majored in oboe performance through the Blair School and minored in chemistry and biological sciences through the College of Arts and Science. Read More

Blair School of Music’s budding jazz program earned top ranking in the category of Best Blues/Pop/Rock Group for "Commercial Break," a self-titled debut album written and recorded by an ensemble of Vanderbilt undergraduates. Read More

While the world is practicing social distancing to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, two Vanderbilt community members have created a virtual gathering space for students, faculty, staff and postdoctoral scholars to engage with uplifting musical performances, artistic presentations, poetry readings and more. Read More

"Dream for Light Years," a collaboration between contemporary artist Ali Smith and Blair School of Music's Michael Alec Rose, can now be enjoyed online. Read More

Senior Sarah Clements sings—accompanied by sophomore Calendula Cheng at the keyboards—during the dress rehearsal for January’s concert A Humming Under My Feet. Photo by Joe Howell Many women encounter glass ceilings during their careers. For women composers, those ceilings are seemingly laminated and bulletproof. That’s especially true for women who… Read More

A workshop hosted by the GlobalVU initiative to examine the impact of the global marketplace on Western classical music will take place Feb. 10-11 at the Blair School of Music and Alumni Hall. Read More

Photo by Elena Cherkashnya Look no further than Tom Mulder to sing the praises of ArtSmart, a nonprofit begun three years ago in which classical musicians provide free individualized music lessons to high school students in underserved communities. “There’s a power in that one-on-one relationship between a teacher and a… Read More

The opera The Ghosts of Gatsby, by Joshua McGuire, left, andEvan Mack, was staged in October at the Blair School. Photo by David Pike Many of history’s greatest musical collaborators have pursued a creative approach perhaps best described as “you wash, I’ll dry.” Mozart was more than happy to… Read More

Blair School of Music Senior Lecturer Ryan Middagh was awarded the 2019 Chancellor’s Cup by Interim Chancellor and Provost Susan R. Wente in a surprise presentation during a Blair Big Band rehearsal on Oct. 15. Read More