Blair School Of Music
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Vanderbilt LIVE Initiative team advances to finals of NSF challenge to improve K-12 learning outcomes
By Jenna Somers A trans-institutional team from the LIVE Initiative at Vanderbilt University has progressed to the final round of the National Science Foundation’s Visionary Interdisciplinary Teams Advancing Learning (VITAL) Prize Challenge for designing BeatBlox, a music-based framework for teaching computer science. The team, Code to Joy,… Read MoreDec 4, 2023
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Blair faculty, alumnus receive GRAMMY nominations
Blair School of Music is well represented in the nominations for the 66th GRAMMY Awards, with a total of five selections announced between faculty Edgar Meyer and Dashon Burton, and alumnus William Brittelle. Read MoreNov 20, 2023
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Vanderbilt to welcome music great Wadada Leo Smith for weeklong residency
Lauded musician, composer, and educator Wadada Leo Smith will be at Vanderbilt University for a weeklong residency November 28 – December 1, which will include two musical performances and a special forum interview event. Read MoreNov 20, 2023
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GRAMMY nominations announced for Edgar Meyer, Dashon Burton, and William Brittelle
Blair School of Music is well represented in the nominations for the 66th GRAMMY Awards, with a total of five selections announced on November 10. Read MoreNov 16, 2023
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Celebrating LGBTQI+ History Month: The Music of Ned Rorem
To kick off LGBTQI+ History Month, the Blair School of Music faculty presents a concert of works written by and for composer and author Ned Rorem. Known for both his breadth of output for both vocal and instrumental forces, Rorem entered gay icon status through the publication of his diaries over forty years, beginning in 1966. In addition to a selection of works by Rorem, a new work by Blair composer Russell Platt—writing in honor of Rorem—will be performed. Read MoreOct 2, 2023
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Raheleh Filsoofi receives Tennessee Arts Commission Grant
Raheleh Filsoofi has been awarded a Tennessee Art Commission Grant for her project, “The Resonance of the Lands: Finding Identity and Place in Tennessee Through Clay, Music, and Community.” The program involves mapping and extracting clay from various locations across the city to create 25 clay instruments, taking inspiration from the traditional Middle Eastern clay darbuka. Read MoreAug 14, 2023
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Beegie Adair: Nashville Jazz Legend
Bobbe Gorin “Beegie” Long Adair, renowned pianist and bandleader and retired adjunct lecturer in jazz improvisation at Blair School of Music, died Jan. 23 in Franklin, Tenn. Read MoreFeb 23, 2022
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Blair student Kingston Ho becomes first in Vanderbilt history to be selected for prestigious Paganini Competition
Kingston Ho, a third-year student in violin performance and medicine, health and society, has been selected to compete in the annual Paganini Competition in Genoa, Italy. Read MoreOct 1, 2021
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Blair Faculty News, Spring-Summer 2021
Blair School of Music faculty news from spring and summer 2021 Read MoreAug 31, 2021
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Mary Biddlecombe to lead Blair Academy
Mary Biddlecombe, artistic director of the Blair Children’s Chorus, has been appointed director of Blair Academy at Vanderbilt, the precollege and adult program of the Blair School of Music. Read MoreAug 31, 2021
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Verrier creates remote program for Latin American band directors
Vanderbilt Blair creates Curso Virtual de Dirección de Banda, a remote learning program for music directors in Latin America that covers instrument pedagogy, conducting techniques and other topics in band direction. Read MoreAug 10, 2021
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Blair partners with the Dean of Students office for One Vanderbilt production of Britten chamber opera
Vanderbilt Blair School of Music, which offered online-only streamed concerts for most of the 2020–21 academic year, hosted two outdoor in-person performances on Wilson Lawn in April, including a production of Benjamin Britten's 'Albert Herring' by Vanderbilt Opera Theatre. Read MoreJul 22, 2021
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American Soundtrack: A look inside the National Museum of African American Music
Vanderbilt’s partnership with the recently opened National Museum of African American Music promises the potential of community-building discussions involving music, race, history and storytelling. Read MoreApr 27, 2021
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Gene Back, BMus’06, BAFTA Breakthrough Talent
Last November, alumnus Gene Back’s growing list of accomplishments caught the attention of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. The organization, which promotes the art of motion pictures on both sides of the Atlantic, selected him as a Breakthrough Talent. Read MoreApr 22, 2021
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Arts Remix
A compilation of recent awards, events and research in Vanderbilt's arts community. Read MoreApr 21, 2021
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“Ignore Boundaries” Dean Mark Wait reflects on his decades at the Blair School of Music
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 MoreJul 17, 2020
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Blair Faculty Notes
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 MoreJul 17, 2020
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Blair Student Accolades
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 MoreJul 17, 2020
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And the Beat Goes On: A resilient Vanderbilt community finds innovative ways to thrive amid the challenges of COVID-19
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to upend lives in countless ways, members of the Vanderbilt community have shown remarkable resilience in the face of the crisis. Read MoreMay 14, 2020
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Equal Time: Student-run concert series shines spotlight on underrepresented artists
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 MoreFeb 17, 2020