Faculty

Blair School of Music welcomes David Samuel to Blair School of Music as assistant professor of viola. With a professional music career that spans continents and prestigious ensembles, Samuel has cemented his reputation as a versatile and accomplished musician. “I am beyond excited to have the privilege to work… Read More

3x Grammy-winning saxophonist, composer, and Blair School of Music educator Jeff Coffin (Dave Matthews Band) will release his new star-studded album, Only the Horizon, Friday, July 19 on Ear Up Records. This highly anticipated collection of original compositions showcases Coffin’s extraordinary compositional vision and arranging prowess, blending traditional… Read More

College Football 25 will be released on July 19. The much-anticipated new EA Sports College Football 25 game, coming in July, has a deep Blair connection as six faculty and alumni musicians were a part of the elite ensemble tapped to record the game soundtrack. Produced over several weeks in… Read More

Blair Associate Professor of Flute Molly Barth is one of 13 outstanding faculty members from across the university selected for the 2024 cohort of Chancellor Faculty Fellows. The group is composed of highly accomplished, recently tenured faculty from a wide variety of disciplines and areas of expertise. Each… Read More

Cynthia Cyrus Blair Professor of Musicology Cynthia Cyrus is currently in Austria on a nine-week research trip as she continues her studies of the Thalbach convent in Bregenz. Cyrus will be visiting the Austrian National Library in Vienna and topical archives housed in Innsbruck. She began her research… Read More

Ernesto Estigarribia Mussi Blair Academy at Vanderbilt is excited to announce that Ernesto Estigarribia Mussi has been named the conductor and artistic director for the Curb Youth Symphony. He serves as assistant professor of conducting and director of the Vanderbilt University Orchestra at Blair School of Music. “I am… Read More

Blair professors Melanie Lowe and Douglas Shadle have been honored with editor roles for two leading music research journals. Lowe has been named editor-in-chief of The Journal of Music History Pedagogy and Shadle has been appointed editor-in-chief of The Journal of Musicological Research. Serving on the… Read More

Marc Vanscheeuwijck, Global Scholar in Residence Vanderbilt University welcomed Global Scholar in Residence Marc Vanscheeuwijck, a Baroque cellist and professor of music history at the Conservatoire Royal de Bruxelles, to campus April 15-20. Vanscheeuwijck interacted with students at Blair School of Music and the Romance language studies department, visiting musicology… Read More

The Dave Matthews Band, whose members include Jeff Coffin of the Blair School of Music jazz faculty, has been announced as a 2024 inductee into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. A saxophonist, composer, and educator, Coffin is a three-time Grammy Award winner as a member of Bela Fleck… Read More

Peter Kolkay accepts the Ellen Gregg Ingalls Award from Chancellor Diermeier and Faculty Senate Chair Andrea Capizzi. Peter Kolkay, Blair associate professor of bassoon, was honored with the Ellen Gregg Ingalls Award for Excellence in Classroom Teaching at last week’s Vanderbilt Faculty Assembly. In presenting the award, Chancellor Diermeier noted… Read More