Blair School

This week, Blair School of Music welcomes more than 55 percussionists from 16 U.S. states and four countries for the 2026 Nashville Marimba Sessions, May 24-30. Now in its second year, the program was created by Blair percussion professor and internationally acclaimed marimbist Ji Hye Jung to provide an immersive… Read More

Tucker Biddlecombe, professor of music in Blair School of Music and associate dean of undergraduate education, will succeed Melissa Gresalfi, who has served since 2019 as dean of residential colleges and residential education and dean of The Martha Riv... Read More

Blair School of Music is now a partner university with Charmber Music America. Blair School of Music is pleased to announce a new partnership with Chamber Music America, a non-profit organization that supports ensemble music professionals, providing grants, professional development, and networking opportunities. “We welcome this opportunity to partner… Read More

This month, Blair School of Music viola professor David Samuel will lead three students to Medellín, Colombia, for ten days of performance, teaching, and cultural exchange. It’s an experience designed to extend far beyond the concert stage. David Samuel Samuel will arrive on May 18, a day before his students… Read More

The Blair School of Music jazz program is enjoying a moment that is both a culmination and a launching point. With two new DownBeat Student Music Awards, the release of a new Blair Big Band EP, and a steadily growing national profile, the program under Director of Jazz Studies Ryan… Read More

Catherine Brenmark has been named the recipient of the 2026 Founder’s Medal, the highest student honor at Blair School of Music. A senior bassoon performance major, Brenmark is from Plainfield, Illinois, and will be recognized at the 2026 Vanderbilt University Commencement Ceremony, Friday, May 8. Catherine “Catie” Brenmark is honored… Read More

Iris Shepherd When junior violinist Iris Shepherd stepped onto the performance room at the prestigious MTNA National Competitions in Chicago, a single 50-minute performance stood between her and a national title. What no one in the audience could see was everything that led up to it. From months of preparation… Read More

At first glance, Tyler Nelson’s Instagram feed looks like any other humor account, featuring quick cuts, oddball videos, and captions designed to make you laugh. But look closer, and a very specific world comes into focus: the strange, stressful, and often hilarious ecosystem of voice lessons, practice rooms,… Read More

A rare and ambitious collaboration between some of Middle Tennessee’s top collegiate music programs will bring one of the most powerful works in the orchestral-choral repertoire to the stage on Aprill 11. The Vanderbilt University Orchestra, conducted by Ernesto Estigarribia Mussi, will join forces with combined choirs… Read More

Thomas Verrier, conductor of the Vanderbilt Wind Symphony. There’s a moment in Princess Leia’s theme from Star Wars that most listeners feel without ever quite understanding why. The melody drifts, searches, and never quite settles. Because it’s not supposed to, Vanderbilt Wind Symphony conductor Thomas Verrier will tell you. Leia’s… Read More

Brian Woods When Brian Woods talks about being “saved” by a near-career-ending fall, he’s not being rhetorical. He means it literally, the kind of moment that rearranges priorities and clears away hesitation. He also means it figuratively: the injury that broke his elbow and sent him into surgery didn’t end… Read More

Galan Trio is (L-R) Petros Bouros, Marina Kolouvou, and Babis Karasavvidis. Internationally acclaimed Athens, Greece-based chamber ensemble Galan Trio will perform at Blair School of Music on Wednesday, March 18, at 8:00 p.m. Renowned for its innovative programming and virtuosic live performances, Galan Trio brings a fresh and energetic approach… Read More

Two Blair School of Music students, Joshua Jung and Ally Hansen, have been named among the 13 national winners of the 2026 Yamaha Young Performing Artists (YYPA) Competition, with fellow Blair saxophonist Jason Johnson earning Honorable Mention. The YYPA Competition recognizes exceptional young musicians studying in… Read More

Blair junior Elizabeth Li. On March 14, the stage of the Coeur d’Alene Symphony will welcome a young pianist whose résumé already spans some of the nation’s most prestigious concert halls. Elizabeth Li, a Vanderbilt University junior double majoring in piano performance and economics, will perform the first movement of… Read More

A collective of Nashville artists has decided that more might actually be better. The 10 multi-genre artists who make up Together We invite Nashvillians to imagine a world of abundance, in lieu of scarcity, through their exhibition and fundraising event on April 26, 2026, at RADAR615 located at 516 Hagan… Read More

New York Voices Grammy-winning jazz ensemble New York Voices brings its celebrated career to a close with The Grand Finale, a special farewell tour that stops in Ingram Hall at Vanderbilt University Blair School of Music on Thursday, April 2. Renowned worldwide for its sophisticated harmonies, innovative arrangements, and seamless… Read More

Steinway & Sons President Gavin English with Heather Conner. Blair School of Music Chancellor’s Chair of Piano Heather Conner has received the prestigious designation of being named to the Steinway & Sons Music Teacher Hall of Fame. She was recently inducted at Steinway’s historic factory in New York City, in… Read More

Blair School of Music will present the Tennessee premiere of Julia Wolfe’s acclaimed choral work Fire in my Mouth on November 14, 2025, in Ingram Hall. The program will feature a chorus of more than 100 voices performing with the Vanderbilt University Orchestra, including The Vanderbilt Sixteen, Vanderbilt University… 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

The Avedis Zildjian Company, a world-leading maker of cymbals, drumsticks, and percussion mallets, is bringing its Young Drummer of the Year Competition to the US for the first time, with finalists set to compete in Ingram Hall at the Blair School of Music on October 12, 2025. Read More

Update: A Gibson Garage pop-up store will be on site in Ingram Hall for the September 11 An Evening with Rick Beato event. The display will have acoustic and electric guitars you can play, Gibson gear, and more. Be sure to arrive early to check it out! Vanderbilt… Read More

Percussionists from five countries and 36 colleges and universities converged at Vanderbilt for the debut Nashville Marimba Sessions, hosted at Blair May 24-31. Spearheaded by Blair School of Music Associate Professor of Percussion Ji Hye Jung, the summer intensive featured a week of presentations, lessons, and performances. “My vision of… Read More