Students

📷 Lauren Carnahan Blair School of Music students welcomed Valerie Cordero, executive director of the W.O. Smith Music School, to campus last week for the presentation of a $2,581 donation. The funds were raised through merchandise sales and a series of other events throughout the year, spearheaded by… Read More

Abigail Goddard, a student at the Blair Academy for Music at Vanderbilt University and a Myra Jackson Blair (MJB) Scholar, is using creativity and compassion to make a difference far beyond the concert stage.  In addition to her piano studies through the Blair program, Goddard… Read More

Collegiate voice students can only dream about the opportunity—someday—to be featured as a soloist with a major symphony orchestra. For Blair junior Vyjayanthi “Viji” Burma, a music education major, that dream became a reality in a whirlwind fashion last month. Photo: PJ Muer When the Nashville Symphony Orchestra had a… Read More

The ambitious new production from Vanderbilt Opera Theater, Alice Tierney, features four modern-day archaeology students as they excavate the site of a 19th-century brothel. They uncover not just artifacts but competing ideas of the woman who once lived there and died under mysterious circumstances. Featuring a genre-blending score of… Read More

What if your passion for producing beats, mixing tracks, or designing soundscapes could count toward your degree? This fall, the Blair School of Music introduces a new music technology minor built for Vanderbilt students who create music on their own terms. Led by Grammy-winning composer and producer… Read More

Charles Schmitt with Dean Melissa Rose Charles Thomas Schmitt, from Maitland, Florida, is this year’s Founder’s Medalist for Vanderbilt University Blair School of Music. Schmitt majored in trumpet performance with a concentration in jazz studies. As a member of several Blair jazz ensembles, he has performed at some of Nashville’s… Read More

“… the entire thing came together in two weeks, which I genuinely in hindsight don’t know how that happened.” – Aaliya Ramakrishnan When Blair composition student Aaliya Ramakrishnan was asked to create the music for an ambitious AI film project led by a group of 40 Vanderbilt students, she may… Read More

Blair School of Music at Vanderbilt University is proud to present the world premiere of Places of Unknowing, a new series of songs by Grammy-nominated English musician, soul singer, and music technologist Jamie Lidell. The concert will take place Thursday, March 27, 8:00 p.m., in Turner Hall, marking a… Read More

The Vanderbilt Wind Symphony kicks off a three-day tour on Monday, February 24, with an 8:00 p.m. Ingram Hall performance. The ensemble will present a preview of its upcoming appearance at the prestigious American Bandmasters Association National Convention in Chattanooga. Conducted by Thomas Verrier, the diverse program of wind… Read More

Blair School of Music students presented a check for $2,380 to W.O. Smith Music School at Friday’s Student Recital Hour assembly. Students raised the money through a series of events throughout the school year. “The Blair School has partnered with W.O. Smith for many years and we are delighted… Read More

Blair junior trombone performance major Aaron “AJ” Abbey has been named a finalist in the prestigious Kleinhammer Orchestral Bass Trombone Competition. He will travel to London, Ontario, Canada, in July for the annual competition, hosted during the International Trombone Festival which features four days of performances and master classes by… Read More

Samuel Nguyen accepts the first place award in the Tennessee Cello Workshop Competition. Blair Academy student Samuel Nguyen was recently awarded first place in the high school competition of the Tennessee Cello Workshop in Knoxville, Tennessee. The accomplishment is especially notable given that Nguyen, an eighth grader, was eligible for… Read More

A Vanderbilt Blair School of Music jazz ensemble, Blue Note Combo, will perform a benefit concert for victims of the Los Angeles wildfires on Wednesday, February 5, 6-8 p.m., at Rudy’s Jazz Room in in Nashville (809 Gleaves St.). The show is open to all ages with proceeds going… Read More

Catie Brenmark was recently a top-five finalist in the prestigious 2025 Meg Quigley Vivaldi Competition, hosted by the University of North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston-Salem. A third-year undergraduate bassoonist, Brenmark is a Cornelius Vanderbilt Scholar at the Blair School of Music, where she studies with Peter Kolkay. Read More

Congratulations go to a trio of Blair students who received awards at the 2025 MTNA Southern Division Competitions: Kevin Cho, Maxwell Van Hoeij, and Matthew Phan. Kevin Cho – Winner, Young Artist Piano. A student of Heather Conner, Kevin is a senior in Arts & Sciences, majoring in medicine, health,… Read More

Grace O’Duffy, a Blair School of Music student, is exploring fun ways for the Vanderbilt community to interact with music. Inspired by her passion for fostering connections through new music, Grace embarked on a journey to create an interactive musical instrument: an optical xylophone that plays sound in response… Read More

One of Blair’s most celebrated annual traditions, the Concerto Competition gives the school’s standout musicians and vocalists the opportunity to compete to be featured soloists in a spring large ensemble concert. We congratulate the four winners of this year’s competition: Bassist Luke Faessler, percussionist Jordan Katz, and soprano Diana Nalyvaiko… Read More

Blair Professor of Musicology Cynthia Cyrus with Ariel Olaleye Blair vocal performance major Ariel Olaleye shared her Immersion Vanderbilt capstone presentation on Tuesday, recounting her summer of international travel and research findings on the intersection of Western and Nigerian classical music traditions. Olaleye was one of four Vanderbilt students honored… Read More

Blair senior jazz performance major / guitarist Patrick Kenny has released his debut album, Water Damage, a six-song project that includes guest performances by Blair professors Jeff Coffin and Marc Widenhofer, as well as other Blair student musicians. Kenny composed all six of the jazz fusion-styled pieces for the… Read More

A group of 40 precollegiate students in the Vanderbilt Youth Choirs program recently returned from an unforgettable eight-day tour of Italy. Led by Mary & Tucker Biddlecombe, the trip included choral performances at the Basilica of St. Francis in Assisi and St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, as well as visits… Read More

Colombia-bound Blair students Nate Spratford, saxophone; Patrick Kenny, guitar; Gabe Barnard, bass; and Miles Buchmann, drums. A quartet of Blair jazz students, program director Ryan Middagh, and bass instructor Rob Linton will embark on a performance and educational tour of Colombia June 9-23. The schedule will include seven… Read More

The 2024 MusicTech Camp will be July 8-20 at Blair School of Music. Blair School of Music will host its third annual MusicTech Music and Technology Camp, July 8-20, 2024. The program offers a unique opportunity for teens interested in digital music production and video game design to learn alongside… Read More

The Student Showcase Committee has announced the chosen performers for the 2024 Blair Student Showcase Concert, Friday, January 26. Performers will include: Catie Brenmark, bassoon Riley Eddins, baritone; and Alekzander Waller, piano Maxwell van Hoeij, violin Victoria Kim, piano Levi Pabst, baritone Percussion Quartet:… Read More

Blair School of Music’s Vanderbilt Percussion Group will embark on a groundbreaking tour of Korea, December 6-13. Led by percussion professors Ji Hye Jung and Lee Vinson, the weeklong trip will include a performance at Seoul National University, a masterclass session at the Korean National University of Arts, attending a… Read More

Blair School of Music students received numerous awards at the state level of the Music Teachers National Association Competitions, held last month at Tennessee Tech University in Cookeville. The annual event featured 97 students, ages 11-26, competing in piano, string, vocal, and woodwind categories. In the Piano Competition, Josephine Borne… Read More

Thomas Verrier leads a rehearsal in Colombia during the 2022 Banding Together event. Thomas E. Verrier will lead a Vanderbilt group to Cuba this week for the third rendition of the groundbreaking collaborative music project, Banding Together: La Orquesta CubanAmerican de Vientos (“The Cuban American Wind Orchestra”). Funded by a… Read More

Annika Hsu Rising Blair School of Music senior Annika Hsu recently performed at the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, for their Music in the Atrium Concert Series. Hsu is currently working as a summer intern at NIH, researching gene therapy with Dr. John F. Read More