Archived News

Laura Leigh Spillane is a Doctor of Musical Arts candidate in Choral Music at the University of Southern California, where her fields of study are Choral Music, Musicology, Instrumental Conducting, and Vocology.

Join us for this black-tie event featuring riveting performances, top-tier food, and lively auctions. All proceeds from this event will fund scholarships in the School of Music to bring the very best student musicians to the University of Tennessee.

The University of Tennessee School of Music is proud to announce two new faculty hires, who will join the University in August 2023.

This showcase will feature a wide variety of ensembles from across the School of Music, showcasing jazz, woodwind, percussion, brass, and string instruments, with a wide variety of musical styles both classical and contemporary. 

"You have the blues in Memphis, country music in Nashville, folk Appalachian over here — music is embedded in this state."

UT Music graduate student Sarah Buzalewski has a passion for community engagement and music education - a passion that has led to a prestigious internship with Silkroad.

Violinist Marki Lukyniuk raises awareness of his country’s culture in its time of struggle.

Seven seconds. That’s how long the last note of music hangs in the air in St. Paul’s Cathedral in London after the singing has stopped. And this past summer, those seven seconds held great meaning for junior Jasmin Power as she and her fellow Chamber Singers performed in the centuries-old building.

UT's Pride of the Southland Alumni Marching Band returns to play at several games due to students being off during winter break.

The UTK String Project at the University of Tennessee is one of only six national string programs to be awarded a recent grant from the National String Project Consortium, and one of three new programs to be a recipient.

Thirty minutes is just enough time for violinist Marki Lukyniuk to offer comfort to a group of strangers he’s connected to through war. The college student fled the City of Kyiv after Russian soldiers invaded Ukraine.

The University of Tennessee School of Music will welcome composer Kevin Day to campus for a three-day residency from November 15-17, culminating in the world premiere performance of his new concerto, Dual Strides for horn, trombone, and wind ensemble. This commissioned piece was made possible by a generous gift from Admiral Title, Inc.

Mikeila McQueston, a graduate student in the UT School of Music studying vocal performance and composition, is a rising star. This time last year, she was recognized with second place in the American Prize for student composition in choral works. This year, she has again placed second – this time for student composition in opera – and gained the opportunity of a lifetime to study under an internationally recognized composer.

The “Pride of the Southland” Marching Band is making waves internationally.  Feature Twirler Laney Puhalla competed this summer in baton twirling world championships, taking home six medals.  Feature Twirler Abbie Hadener has qualified to take part in the world championships next summer.

Ask Will Ryan (BM Opera Performance, ’22) about his post-graduation plans and he’ll tell you: to pursue a graduate degree at the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music.  But that’s not all – he’s also been selected for one of the most prestigious opera awards in higher education.

UT School of Music graduate student Zhaohan Wang’s piano skills were recently recognized with a significant honor: first place in the international Baroque Music Competition.

UT School of Music alumnus Michael Kurek (BM Music Theory, 1977) has been blessed with a rare honor: to be named composer laureate of the state of Tennessee. “I’m very deeply touched,” Kurek said.  “I’ve spent most of my life in Tennessee and to get this kind of recognition as a composer and a citizen on a state level is incredibly meaningful.”

In an effort to expand the slate of music commonly taught to young musicians, a group of School of Music faculty has assembled a collection of beginner repertoire for string instruments featuring Black and Latino/a composers.  The published collections, made possible by private and federal grants, will be distributed to schools and educators free of charge. 

In December 2021, WUOT—the National Public Radio station licensed to the University of Tennessee, Knoxville—named Artist in Residence and Lecturer in Jazz Piano Eric Reed the Monday host of its Improvisations jazz series.

A longtime mainstay in the School of Music will continue to add to his legacy in music education.

University of Tennessee, Knoxville, alumnus Rocky Sellers was on a four-day vacation in New Orleans, eating chicken étouffée at Antoine’s Restaurant and chatting with his friends about life, when he saw an email on his phone. “It was like a scene in a movie. I thought, ‘No, wait. What?’ I said to my friends, ‘I want you to read it to make sure.’ I read the email again and again.”

Sarah Nordin (MM, ’07) is a singer of diverse talents.  She can sing opera as well as Broadway style and has sung in nearly a dozen different languages.  But her most recent adventure was a new one.  She was asked: ‘Can you learn to sing in two new languages in two weeks?’

For Delbert Bowers, it was an honor just to be nominated. 

But the win is nice, too.

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - Brandon Bell (MM, ‘17), an alumnus of the University of Tennessee School of Music graduate program in voice, has been named one of two 2021 recipients of the premier scholarship in vocal performance.

A new book co-edited by School of Music Professor of Musicology Rachel May Golden analyzes gender and voice in medieval French literature and song.  It’s a project that merges a variety of different perspectives from a wide range of disciplines – one that Golden believes will aid in granting a fuller understanding of the period.

University of Tennessee School of Music Associate Professor Gregory Tardy has a rather unique proposition.  He is writing music inspired by classical literature.

University of Tennessee Graduate Student Mikeila McQueston has added another accolade to her slate of compositions – this time in the American Prize competition.

Contemporary music group Nief-Norf, led by UT percussion faculty Andy Bliss, will be performing at a Big Ears Festival event at the Knoxville Botanical Gardens on April 18 at 2:00pm and 5:00pm.

The inclusion of diverse viewpoints in musical curricula can be a challenge for educators—one that is often made harder by a lack of funding.

Each year, Dean Theresa Lee and members of her cabinet, with help from department heads, recognize faculty in the College of Arts and Sciences for their excellence in teaching, research and creative activity, and lifetime achievements. 

The School of Music's Aulos String Quartet is among seven finalists recently named to compete in the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) national string competition.

The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, announced the selection of Elise "Josie" Campbell as a 2021 Marshall Scholar, a prestigious designation awarded to no more than 50 US students each year to pursue graduate studies in the United Kingdom.

The hour before the announcement felt like one of the longest in Kami Lunsford's life. A 2006 University of Tennessee, Knoxville, alumna, she sat beside her husband, surrounded by blue, white, and gold balloons in the library of Karns Middle School.

Carolyn Gahan noticed the ringing in her ears one night after leaving a concert. It was normal for her ears to ring occasionaly. A junior vocal performance major from Knoxville, Gahan spends most of her time around music, whether at concerts, in studios, or while doing her homework.

Four weeks into social distancing, music performance student Zach Miller felt close to his breaking point. Away from his campus routine, he spent most of the day alone or in online classrooms. His recitals and performances were canceled or switched to a digital submission format.

Kimberly Schlapman, UT alumnus and female vocalist for the award-winning country music group Little Big Town, dropped into reVOLution's recent meeting for a tremendous surprise.

UT School of Music alumna Alexandria Shiner (MM '16) was one of five singers named winner of the 2020 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions during the Grand Finals concert in the prestigious Metropolitan Opera House in New York.

When Hillary Herndon came up with the idea for an instrument petting zoo, she envisioned an event that would bring kids from all over Knoxville together for a fun-filled experience. And that's exactly what transpired.

Victor Chávez's dedication to the clarinet community fueled the tremendous success of ClarinetFest 2019.

The University of Tennessee School of Music and the Stanford Eisenberg Knoxville Jewish Day School are excited to announce a performance by world-renowned violinist Itzhak Perlman on Tuesday, March 31, 2020 at 7:30 p.m. in the historic Tennesee Theatre.

One day last year, Greg Tardy, associate professor of jazz saxophone, received an unexpected call. It was a call he had been waiting for his entire adult life–an invitation to join famed jazz musician and trumpeter Wynton Marsalis on tour.

At 46, in the midst of a successful career as a commercial musician, music director, teacher, and performer, Dennis Belisle decided to enroll in UT’s School of Music to pursue a new dream—being a composer.

The School of Music is offering free behavioral and mental health consultations for all music students. 

The UT School of Music is set to kick off Octubafest 2019 with the first of three exhilarating performances during a three-night event celebrating the tuba and euphonium.

The UT viola studio is attending the 46th International Viola Congress this week in Poznan, Poland. Six students are traveling with Hillary Herndon, associate professor of viola and coordinator of strings.

Constance Starr, who revolutionized the musical landscape by bringing the Suzuki Piano method to the United States more than four decades ago, passed away August 26 at her home in Boulder, Colorado. Her impact in the music community at the University of Tennessee, however, continues. 

UT is one of only a few universities in the United States to offer specific certificate and degree programs for students who want to be music composers or music teachers, according to a recent article in the Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy.

For the second year, Rosalind Hackett, Distinguished Professor in the Humanities in UT’s Department of Religious Studies, will facilitate sessions at Big Ears Festival.

UT School of Music graduate student Kevork Esmeryan spent part of January traveling to schools around the Knoxville area playing violins once played by Jewish musicians during the Holocaust.

The School of Music, in collaboration with UT Libraries, is excited to announce a music and art performance, "Americana" from 2 to 5 p.m. January 13 in the Natalie L. Haslam Music Center.