Some of our Blair brass students perform with Nashville's very own British-style brass band, which has their last concert of the 2024 season coming up. Will feature soloists on Leroy Anderson's classic "Bugler's Holiday" among other holiday favorites, ultimately culminating with Alfred Reed's masterwork - "Russian Christmas Music".

This is their most requested piece that they program for their audiences, and look for the Vine Street Pipe Organ to be featured, and many other friends.
Learn more here: https://www.facebook.com/share/1M9KJRk62Q/

The Blair Brass Quintet will take the Turner Hall stage Monday, November 11, 2024, for a Blair Master Series faculty recital performance. Renowned for their musicianship and energetic live presentation, the Quintet’s all-star lineup features Jose Sibaja and Alec Blazek, trumpet; Leslie Norton, horn; Jeremy Wilson, trombone; and Bethany Wiese, tuba.

This is a free event with tickets required for admission.

For full event details, tickets, directions, and parking info, visit the Blair website.

Trombonist John Calma will perform a Junior Recital on November 2nd at 8pm in Turner Recital Hall.

For more info, head to Blair.vanderbilt.edu/events

Join us for a free community concert featuring the Vanderbilt Trombone Ensemble at First Presbyterian Church of Franklin on Sunday, October 27th at 3 PM, part of the church's Music-Worship & ARTS Series.

Prepare to be inspired as 15 trombonists from Vanderbilt’s Blair School of Music fill the sanctuary with immersive, powerful sound. From the grand works of J.S. Bach to the cinematic thrill of John Williams, this performance will take you on a musical journey through time and genres. The program includes pieces by Madeline Lee, John Mackey, Samuel Zyman, and many others.

This will be the group's first-ever full-length concert outside the Vanderbilt campus, and we're grateful for the chance to bring our artistry and passion to the heart of Franklin.

Whether you’re a classical music enthusiast or just looking for a unique and inspiring way to spend your afternoon, there’s something for everyone. From the antiphonal majesty of Gabrieli, to the soul-stirring experience of "surround sound" trombone chorales, to the epic theme from Superman, we are so excited to share music we love and connect with our Middle Tennessee neighbors through the beauty of music.

The Vanderbilt Trombone Ensemble is well-known for its musicality, expression, and virtuosity, and its members are some of the most talented young trombonists in the country. The ensemble's director (and Franklin resident) Prof. Jeremy Wilson will also step into the spotlight as featured soloist on John Mackey's "Hymn to a Blue Hour".

Admission is free and all are welcome!
For full event details and directions, visit the FPC Franklin website. See you there!

Trombonist Ian Boggs will perform a Junior Recital on October 17th at 8pm in Turner Recital Hall.

For more info, head to Blair.vanderbilt.edu/events

Join us Friday, September 27 for a Blair Master Series performance by tubist Bethany Wiese, accompanied by pianist Megan Gale, 8:00 p.m., in Turner Hall.

This is a free event with tickets required for admission. Reserve tickets.

Visit the Blair website for complete info: blair.vanderbilt.edu

This program will feature Romantic and neo-Romantic works for tuba – both original compositions and transcriptions. Featured works include Alexei Lebedev’s Concerto in One Movement, Trygve Madsen’s Sonata for Tuba and Piano, Clara Schumann’s Three Romances for Violin and Piano, selections from Sergei Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet Suite (arranged for bass trombone and piano by Charlie Vernon) and closing with J.S. Bach’s Badinerie from his second orchestral suite (it’s neither Romantic or neo-Romantic, but enjoyable nonetheless). This recital will be presented with the collaboration of Megan Gale on piano.

Trumpet player Nick Van den Bogaerde will perform a Senior Recital on April 20th at 8pm in Turner Recital Hall. Collaborators include Megan Gale, Rachel Stahel, Austin Root, Jack O'Nan, Omar Adada, Patrick Kenny, Luke Faessler, Caius Sutliff, Ben Black, and Spencer Bowden.

For more info, head to Blair.vanderbilt.edu/events

Join us for a Blair Master Series faculty recital by tubist Bethany Wiesewith pianist Emi Kagawa, Monday, April 8, 8:00 p.m., in Turner Hall. The program will feature all-string transcriptions for tuba, with works by Eccles, Bach, Schumann, Pärt, Korngold and Kapustin. This performance offers a preview of selections to be included in Wiese’s upcoming debut album, to be released in May 2024.

This is a free event with tickets required for admission. Ticket information coming soon!

Make plans to join us Monday, April 1 for a Blair Master Series faculty recital by celebrated horn player Leslie Norton. Performing as the principal horn and concerto soloist with the Nashville Symphony, Norton’s extensive credits include performing on more than 300 recordings for music and television. She is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music and has served as a member of the Blair faculty since 1989.

This is a free event with tickets required for admission.

Full event details available on the Blair website

The Blair Brass Quintet will take the Turner Hall stage Tuesday, March 19, 2024, for a Blair Master Series faculty recital performance. Renowned for their musicianship and energetic live presentation, the Quintet’s all-star lineup features Jose Sibaja and Alec Blazek, trumpet; Leslie Norton, horn; Jeremy Wilson, trombone; and Bethany Wiese, tuba.

This is a free event with tickets required for admission. RESERVE TICKETS

For full event details, directions, and parking info, visit the Blair website.

Join us for a Blair Master Series performance by Blair Professor of Trombone Jeremy Wilson, Sunday, March 3, 2024, 3:00 p.m., in Turner Hall. An acclaimed musician, recording artist, and educator, Wilson has performed in more than 28 countries around the globe and was a member of the legendary Vienna Philharmonic.

This is a free event with tickets required for admission. RESERVE TICKETS

Learn more about Prof. Wilson at jeremywilsonmusic.com

For full event details, directions, and parking info, visit the Blair website.

Junior trumpet player Charles Schmitt performs a classical and jazz recital featuring his own compositions and arrangements. Collaborations with Megan Gale, Nate Stratford, Zachary Williams, and Nick Pacella. The performance will take place in Turner Hall at 8pm on February 26th.

More info at Blair.vanderbilt.edu or on Charlie’s instagram @schm_tty

World-renowned trombonist Joseph Alessi will give a masterclass at the Blair School of Music on November 1st at 8pm in the Instrumental Rehearsal Hall.

Alessi, principal trombonist of the New York Philharmonic, will be in Nashville to rehearse and perform the Chick Corea trombone concerto with the Nashville Symphony and Maestro Guerrero. His visit to the Blair School is a fantastic opportunity to learn from a virtuoso in a small setting.

The Blair Brass Quintet will perform their Fall recital in Turner Hall at the Blair School of Music. Program will include works by Viktor Ewald, Paquito D’Rivera, Enrique Crespo, and more! This will be the first Vanderbilt performance for our new professor of tuba and euphonium, Dr. Bethany Wiese.

Details and livestream link at blair.vanderbilt.edu

Junior trombonist Seth Hahn presents his junior recital in Turner Recital Hall. Free and open to the public. More info at Blair.vanderbilt.edu

Spanning from the modernist French idiom to works written recent years, this recital seeks to emphasize the elegant and melodic nature of the trombone. Featuring the works of Steven Verhelst, Chris Sharpe, W. G. Turner, Tomasi, and Bernstein, there’s something for everyone on the program. Features Megan Gale, piano, and Jack O’Nan, bass trombone, as well as the Vanderbilt Trombone Ensemble.

Follow Seth on Instagram at @seth_han_solo

Michelle Baker will visit the Blair School of Music and work with our horn students in Turner Recital Hall. The event is free and open to the public.

More about Michelle:

Born in Gulfport, Mississipi, Michelle Reed Baker earned her Bachelor of Music from the Moores School of Music at the University of Houston – where she studied with Julie Landsman, Nancy Goodearl and Jay Andrus – and her Masters of Music at The Juilliard School under the tutelage of James Chambers.

Michelle was Second Horn at the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra from 1990-2017. Prior, she was a member of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra and regular substitute with the New York Philharmonic. Her new life finds her focusing on teaching, free-lancing (Mostly Mozart Orchestra, the newly formed Montclair Orchestra, ProMusica, San Diego Symphony) and spending time with family.

Michelle serves on the faculty of the Manhattan School of Music, Montclair State University, Mannes College of Music and is an assistant professor at The Juilliard School. She has given master classes at the Texas Music Festival, Boston University, Western Michigan University, Kinhaven, New England Conservatory, California State Long Beach and the University of Delaware. The International Horn Society featured her in its “Ask the Pros” series in 2009.She appears each Summer at Music of the Hill in Rhode Island and at the Round Top Music Festival in in Texas. She has also taught and coached at the Bowdoin International Music Festival in Maine and the Verbier Festival in Switzerland.

Michelle has performed several times with Michael Buble and Sting, recorded and performed with James Taylor and Harry Connick, Jr., and can be heard on the soundtracks for several movies such as The Good Shepherd, True Grit, Failure to Launch, Manchurian Candidate, Hail Caesar!, Moonrise Kingdom, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, and Zoolander 2.

Her recordings include the Hindemith Sonata for Alto Horn with pianist David Korevaar on the Kleos Classics label. Michelle recently commissioned a new piece for low horn entitled Imaginings, written by Dorothy Gates.

The Blair Brass Quintet will perform their Spring recital in Turner Hall at the Blair School of Music. Program will include works by Ingolf Dahl, Kevin Day, Astor Piazzolla, Steven Verhelst, and more!

Details and livestream link at blair.vanderbilt.edu

Playing primarily his own compositions and arrangements, McCourt will be accompanied by faculty member Susan Yang, piano.

Program:

Schubert, “Der Leiermann”
McCourt, “Wisp”
Vaughan Williams, “Tuba Concerto”
Nishimura, “Golden Hour”
Teleman, “Fantasia for Solo Flute in F# Minor” (unaccompanied)
Kevin Day, TBA world premiere
Schubert, “Der Lindenbaum”
Piazzolla, “Libertango”

The concert will be held in Turner Hall at the Blair School of Music at 8pm on Monday, February 27th. More info and details at Blair.vanderbilt.edu

Tuba legend Gene Pokorny will be on campus to present a recital in Turner Hall at the Blair School of Music. More event details at Blair.vanderbilt.edu

Vanderbilt Blair School of Music presents Heavy Metal, a faculty recital by Associate Professor of Trombone Jeremy Wilson. Inspired by Wilson’s recent trip to Egypt where he performed with the Cairo Symphony, the program features collaborations with several Blair faculty members.

Program:

The evening will begin with Andrew Markel’s “Souq!,” inspired by an Egyptian street market, with Mariam Adam, Assistant Professor of Clarinet. Wilson will then be accompanied by Malcolm Matthews, Adjunct Artist Teacher of Organ and Harpsichord, on the Dobson organ to perform Genzmer’s “Sonata for Trombone and Organ.”

Tyler Nelson, Associate Professor of Voice, will join Jeremy Wilson for Ewazen’s “Angel of Dreamers for voice, trombone, followed by Wilson’s performance of the first movement of Samuel Barber’s cello sonata with Megan Gale, Blair Collaborative Pianist.

The concert will conclude with the world premiere of Evan Zegiel’s “Event Horizon,” a piece for trombone, cimbasso, and fixed media (heavy metal band), for which Wilson will be joined by Jarret McCourt, Adjunct Assistant Professor of Tuba.

This is a free concert event and open to the public. with free parking available at the Vanderbilt West Garage, directly across from Blair School of Music on Childrens Way. Live streaming is also available at this link. 

Free

Junior trombonists Liam Barron and Austin Root join forces to present a Junior Recital in Choral Hall at the Blair School of Music. The program will feature Megan Gale and Jonathan Salcedo on piano, as well as two student brass chamber groups. Includes works by Vaughan-Williams, Albert, Puccini, Cook, and more! Free admission and free parking available.

The Blair Brass Quintet will perform its Fall concert in Turner Hall at the Blair School of Music building. The concert will feature the Vanderbilt debut of our new tuba faculty, Jarrett McCourt. Learn more about Jarrett at jarrettmccourt.com

Program will feature works by Koetsier, Bozza, Bach, Turner, and more! The event is free and open to the public. More info and livestream link at Blair.vanderbilt.edu

Guest artist Justin Benavidez will present a recital with Megan Gale, piano, in Turner Hall at the Blair School of Music. His program will include works by Saint-Saëns, McCollum, Goodman, and Piazzolla, and is free and open to the public.

Dr. Justin Benavidez is the professor of tuba and euphonium at the Florida State University College of Music and performs as principal tuba of the Tallahassee Symphony Orchestra. In the summer, he is on faculty at the Round Top Music Festival in Texas.

​With his playing noted for its "tremendous virtuosity and stylistic versatility", Benavidez has performed in venues throughout North America, Europe, and Asia. He has been featured numerous times on APM's Performance Today radio program. His debut solo album, EMBLEMS, won Silver Medals in the Classical Album and Instrumental Solo Album categories of the Global Music Awards. The International Tuba Euphonium Association Journal described it as "an impressive and highly entertaining record" on which Benavidez "shreds with enthusiasm, exuberance, and precision". 

​As an orchestral musician, Benavidez has appeared as guest tubist with the Charleston Symphony Orchestra, Charlotte Symphony Orchestra, Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra, Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, Santa Fe Symphony Orchestra, and Utah Symphony. He was previously the principal tuba of the Syracuse Symphoria Orchestra and the Syracuse Opera.

​Benavidez has been a prizewinner of multiple international solo competitions. He is the only tubist to have been awarded both the New Horizons Fellowship and the Orchestral Fellowship at the Aspen Music Festival where he was a student for six summers, held the principal tuba chair in the festival orchestra, and was the winner of the prestigious Aspen Music Festival concerto competition.

​Benavidez was the distinguished recipient of the Horace H. Rackham Merit Fellowship for doctoral studies at the University of Michigan and was presented with the UM School of Music, Theatre & Dance Paul Boylan Award for outstanding accomplishments and significant contributions in the field of music.

As one of today's leading educators, Benavidez is frequently invited to present master classes and perform as a guest recitalist at preeminent universities, workshops, and conferences. Notable invitations have included the Eastman School of Music, Indiana University, the University of Texas at Austin, the University of Michigan, the Kunitachi College of Music in Tokyo, the Bern University of the Arts, the Lyon Conservatory of Music, the Paris Conservatory of Music, the United States Army Band Tuba Euphonium Workshop, and multiple International Tuba Euphonium Conferences.

​Benavidez was awarded the FSU University Teaching Award in 2021. His students have distinguished themselves through numerous accomplishments and awards, including first place prizes at international competitions, assistantships for graduate study, performing positions with professional ensembles, and teaching positions at secondary and collegiate institutions.

​As a scholar, Benavidez was awarded the McKnight Faculty Fellowship to complete his research on the most significant solo repertoire for tuba, culminating in a critical volume that will be published by Oxford University Press for release in 2023. He currently serves as the editor-in-chief for the ITEA Journaland was the editor for Flow Studies through Mountain Peak Music, a daily routine regimen for tuba.

​Benavidez is a Melton Meinl Weston performing artist and Denis Wick performing artist. He proudly performs on his Meinl Weston 2182W F tuba and Nirschl York CC tuba. 

This recital was originally scheduled to take place in February 2022, but was postponed due to a family emergency.

Under the theme of “Trombone is Fun”, Jeremy Wilson will perform a varied program of (mostly) uplifting, inspiring, and fun selections. Program will also feature Blair’s professor of percussion, Ji Hye Jung, long-time collaborator David Rodgers, and current students Jonathan Salcedo, Riley Borklund, Austin Root, and Liam Barron. Works by Kevin Day, Barbara York, Alexander Bonus, Jonathan Salcedo, Thom Ritter George, and Ruben Dario Gomez.

The concert is free and open to the public, and will be held in Turner Recital Hall at the Blair School of Music in Nashville TN. The event will also be live-streamed from the Blair website (https://blair.vanderbilt.edu/live-streams.php)

Trombonist Riley Borklund will be performing her Junior Recital in Turner Hall at the Blair School of Music.

More details and livestream link at blair.vanderbilt.edu

The Blair Brass Quintet will perform their Spring recital in Turner Hall at the Blair School of Music.

Details and livestream link at blair.vanderbilt.edu

Senior trumpet player Jonathan Quiros presents his senior recital, entitled “A Blast, A Whimper, Nothing More”, an evening of trumpet and poetry. The concert will take place in Turner Hall at the Blair School of Music in Nashville TN, and will feature Megan Gale on piano.
Pieces by George Enescu, Dana Wilson, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Joseph Turrin, and James M. Stephenson

Additional performers to include Jonathan Salcedo, trombone; Liv Achcet, trumpet; Austin Root, trombone; Katherine Baines, horn; Dan Daron, tuba

More details and livestream link at blair.vanderbilt.edu

Trumpeter Olivia Achcet will be performing her Junior Recital in Turner Hall at the Blair School of Music. She will be accompanied by Rebecca Luppe and members of the Vanderbilt Trumpet Studio. Selections will include works by Peskin, Marcello, and Morales.

More details and livestream link at blair.vanderbilt.edu

Learn more about Olivia via Instagram @liv_achcet

The entire brass area is doing a showcase concert in Turner Hall at the Blair School of Music. It will be live-streamed via the Blair School of Music website. We will feature works for large brass ensemble, as well as studio spotlights, chamber works, and more!

More info and livestream at blair.vanderbilt.edu