Students

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