Blair School Of Music

Jacqueline Schwab (image courtesy of the artist) Drawing on classical, traditional folk and contemporary music roots, pianist Jacqueline Schwab has been heard on a dozen of Ken Burns’ documentaries, including his Grammy Award-winning The Civil War. A dance musician of many years, she plays for numerous different types… Read More

They say everyone loves a winner, so musicians, like athletes and entrepreneurs, spend an inordinate amount of time preparing to outperform the competition. There’s no scoreboard or balance sheet. Musicians leave their progress lingering in the air to hear every time they perform. “There’s no way of avoiding competition,” says… Read More

Jazz singer Annie Sellick at a recent performance with the Nashville Jazz Orchestra at the Commodore Grille. (Steve Green/Vanderbilt) Hear the Nashville Jazz Orchestra, a resident ensemble of the Blair School of Music, perform each Monday night at the Commodore Grille, located on West… Read More

Prospective parents have a lifeline at the Vanderbilt International Adoption Clinic L-r: Carol, Binyam and John Dunne (John Russell/Vanderbilt) Late at night in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Carol Dunne is huddled over a laptop computer, desperately trying to get an Internet connection. Dunne and her husband are in the final… Read More

(Image courtesy of Blair School of Music) Applications are still being accepted for merit- and need-based scholarships for Blair School of Music’s precollege program for the 2012-13 academic year through Friday, March 2. Contact: Kristin Whittlesey, (615) 322-7651 kristin.whittlesey@vanderbilt.edu… Read More

(image courtesy of Elizabeth Eckert) Nashville singer-songwriter and Blair School of Music faculty member Elizabeth Eckert has launched a 60-day PledgeMusic campaign to make and release her second album. The PledgeMusic format allows an artist’s supporters the opportunity to pledge money toward select… Read More

Chris Mann, a Blair School of Music alumnus (Class of ’04), is a contestant on the new season of The Voice on NBC. On Feb. 5’s special post-Superbowl premiere, he performed a blind audition of “Because We Believe” in Italian and was invited to… Read More

Vanderbilt University has received a record 28,306 undergraduate applications for the fall 2012 semester, 3,658 (15 percent) more than at the same time last year. Read More

(courtesy of the Nashville Symphony Chorus) The Nashville Symphony Chorus will hold auditions for new members on Saturday, Jan. 14, and Sunday, Jan. 15, at Blair School of Music. An appointment must be scheduled to audition. The Nashville Symphony Chorus will perform in two concerts… Read More

Kwame Ahima will teach the use of African instruments at a youth class at Blair School of Music. Photo courtesy of Blair School of Music Blair School of Music‘s brand-new Sankofa pre-college African performing ensemble is a great way to get some rhythm into your child’s life. Read More

Jen-Jen Lin (John Russell/Vanderbilt) Jen-Jen Lin keeps six lions in her basement and a dragon in the closet. The awesome lion costumes live at her home until brought to life by dancers who perform the traditional Chinese Lion Dance under her direction. The spectacular 60-foot dragon, used… Read More

(photo courtesy of Blair School of Music) Auditions for pre-college choral groups at Blair School of Music for the spring semester are scheduled for 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 10, at the Blair School, Room 2192. There are openings in all pre-college choirs except Concert Choir, which… Read More

Blair School of Music at Vanderbilt (Vanderbilt University) Blair School of Music has a variety of musical events this month. They are all free and open to the public unless otherwise noted. Wednesday, Dec. 7, 8 p.m. Sankofa Gyane Kwame Ahima, director Blair’s signature African… Read More

Blair School of Music at Vanderbilt (Vanderbilt University) Wednesday, Nov. 30, and Thursday, Dec. 1 7:30 p.m. Steve and Judy Turner Recital Hall Blair Student Chamber Ensembles A musical potpourri of chamber ensembles, including string, woodwind and brass instruments. Blair collegiate students perform familiar… Read More

Vanderbilt’s Blair School of Music will host the Fourth Annual State of the Word at 7 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 3, in Ingram Hall. The event will feature the region’s top college, high school and middle school poets and spoken word artists. Tickets are $5 each for the general public and… Read More

Blair School of Music at Vanderbilt (Neil Brake/Vanderbilt) Make note of these Blair School of Music performances the week of Nov. 14-18. Tuesday, Nov. 15 8 p.m. Ingram Hall Guest artist recital: Audra McDonald Just a month before she begins her Broadway… Read More

Vanderbilt Opera Theatre, under direction of Gayle Shay, and Vanderbilt University Orchestra, conducted by Robin Fountain, present Cosi Fan Tutte, fully staged and costumed and sung entirely in English. This production is a ’60s-style spin on Cosi, Mozart’s classic, if provocative, opera of… Read More

Greg Barz (Vanderbilt) Greg Barz, associate professor of ethnomusicology, has co-edited a volume of essays, The Culture of AIDS in Africa: Hope and Healing Through Music and the Arts, published by Oxford University Press. Anne Davis, instructor in law, has been named managing attorney of the Southern Environmental Law… Read More

Tuesday, Oct. 25 8 p.m. Steve and Judy Turner Recital Hall Blair Faculty Signature Series Blair Composers Join us for a delightful evening of music written by Blair faculty composers and performed by their colleagues. The program will include the world premiere of Burlesques before the Ark, a… Read More

Not many teenagers would attempt to write a two-act chamber opera based on Shakespeare’s play The Winter’s Tale. But that’s exactly what 16-year-old Amy Thompson has been doing for more than a year. “It’s been a long, drawn-out project, but I hope to finish it by the end of the… Read More