Crescendo

Blair School undergraduate student Ramakrishnan Kumaran has won first place at the National Flute Association’s annual Young Artist Competition. He is the youngest student ever to win this honor. Kumaran is a sophomore flute performance major studying under Philip Dikeman. He will perform a winner’s recital August 14 in San… Read More

On a Monday afternoon in early September, Blair School of Music senior Kelby Carlson was crossing Children’s Way, the street that runs in front of the Blair School, just as he had done countless times before. Carlson, who is blind, was with his service dog, a 4-year-old yellow lab named Elvis. Read More

New Director of Admissions Thomas Crespo is making a return to the Blair School — he graduated from Vanderbilt in 2011 with a bachelor of music in bassoon performance and double minors in leadership and organization and in corporate strategy. Crespo earned a master of music in bassoon… Read More

Dwayne Sagen and Roland Schneller (photo by John Russell) Dwayne Sagen, left, and Roland Schneller retired from the Blair School of Music June 30. Sagen, who served as assistant dean of admissions at Blair and also as director of bands since 1986, was honored with a composition… Read More

Tucker Biddlecombe, associate professor of choral activities and choral director, served as conductor for the Florida All-State men’s chorus in 2014. He has also been engaged to conduct two all-state choruses in 2016, the Arkansas All-State Male Chorus and the New York All-State Mixed Chorus. Read More

Dean Mark Wait, Founder's Medalist Nora Pertz and Vanderbilt Chancellor Nicholas S. Zeppos at the May 8 graduation ceremony. At 14, Nora Pertz began pestering her mother to let her study abroad. Her high school piano teacher found a program in Vienna in which Pertz studied piano… Read More

A Gift for the Future On February 7 and 8, the Blair School of Music hosted the inaugural concerts on its new Dobson Organ, Opus 92. Modeled after German organs of the 18th century, the instrument, built by the Dobson Organ Company and installed last August, is in the… Read More

The Vanderbilt BhangraDores dance group collaborated with the Vanderbilt Chorale on a piece at February's Choral Prism concert. Photo by Steve Green When Tucker Biddlecombe, associate professor of choral activities and choral director, first came to the Blair School of Music in 2012, Blair-based performing choirs were… Read More

Stephen Miahky, Joseph Joachim Professor of Violin A teaching continuum More than most professions, music celebrates the line of succession from teacher to student. Almost all master performers are also master teachers, passing on knowledge gained from experience to the next generation. Read More

Brian Cooper, who graduated in May with degrees in musical arts (clarinet) and bioinformatics, in the lab of Cornelius Vanderbilt Professor of Biological Sciences Antonin Rokas, where he helped develop a tool to look at research on evolutionary genomics. Photo by John Russell Brian Cooper’s typical day… Read More