Crescendo Category
Philip Dikeman, associate professor of flute, has died
Apr. 24, 2017—Philip Dikeman, associate professor of flute at the Blair School of Music and acting principal flute of the Nashville Symphony Orchestra, died at home from cancer April 20, 2017. He was 54 years old. Mr. Dikeman joined the Blair School faculty in 2011 after nearly 20 years with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, where he served...
Blair students win at MTNA national competition
Mar. 21, 2017—The 2016-17 MTNA National Competition was held March 17-20 in Baltimore, Md. To compete at nationals, musicians have already won their state and regional divisions. Several Blair School musicians competed, and brought home national honors: Mary Grace Johnson, violin, took first place in the strings category of the Young Artist Performance competition. Johnson is a...
Trombonist Roland Barber joins Blair School faculty
Dec. 15, 2016—Trombonist Roland Barber will join the faculty of the Blair School of Music in January 2017 as Adjunct Associate Professor of Trombone and Jazz Studies, teaching trombone, jazz brass and jazz improvisation. One-half of longtime Nashville-based jazz duo The Barber Brothers, Barber has also performed with an impressive and diverse list of artists, including Chaka...
Blair welcomes three distinguished musicians as faculty
Jul. 12, 2016—Tenor Tyler Nelson Tenor Tyler Nelson joins the Blair faculty as an associate professor of voice.Nelson is one of America’s most promising young tenors and already enjoys success with a wide variety of concert repertoire. His recent engagements have included a performance of the Britten Serenade with the Utah Valley Symphony, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with...
Blair’s composition majors immerse themselves in craft and collaboration
Jul. 12, 2016— Collaboration and Kindness by Maria Browning Jack Coen loves flowers. A composition and theory major with minors in piano and organ, Coen, who graduated in May, cultivates orchids and has an avid interest in botany, so it’s not surprising that his innovative senior recital project, Folk & Flora, brought together the two things he’s...
Blair students combine the resources of a major research university with intense music study
Jul. 12, 2016—A Day in the LIfe of Abbey and Brigit Fitzgerald Blair students major in music, often in addition to other disciplines, but they choose Vanderbilt for the social and academic opportunities the university offers that a traditional music conservatory cannot. This means Blair students are among the busiest on campus, continuing their intense focus on...
Blair exports jazz to Colombia
Jul. 8, 2016—In June, a jazz quartet from the Blair School of Music visited Colombia as part of the Centro Colombo Americano jazz collaboration program to perform, teach workshops and participate in jam sessions with Colombian musicians in the cities of Medellin, Manizales and Pereira. Blair’s quartet—above, from left, rising senior David Rodgers on piano, rising sophomore Nic...
Local music industry fuels expansion of jazz at Blair
Jul. 8, 2016—Nashville’s moniker “Music City” accurately reflects the proliferation of stellar musicians in town who play all types of music. At Vanderbilt’s Blair School of Music, Ryan Middagh, director of Blair’s jazz studies program, is taking advantage of Nashville’s place at the center of the music industry, using his ties to local musicians to push the...
The fall 2015 production of Bernstein’s “Mass” exemplifies how Blair’s precollege and college programs build off each other
Jul. 8, 2016—By Bonnie Arant Ertelt, Photos by Daniel Dubois Mass takes place when the show’s lead character, the Celebrant, snaps, giving in to forces that make him question his faith. After a moment of uncomfortable silence, two children in his flock approach him, and through their innocence, begin to restore his faith in humanity. This is,...
A Conversation with alumnus Michael Rinne, B.Mus. ’10
Apr. 4, 2016—Name: Michael Rinne Blair Major/VU: Double Bass performance Year of Graduation : 2010 Where you live now: Nashville Profession: Bassist and producer Most recently: On tour with Miranda Lambert Assistant Director of Admissions Molly Jewell had the pleasure of catching up with Blair School of Music alumnus Michael Rinne (B.Mus. ’10), an in-demand bass player. Rinne stopped in on a...