The inaugural class of the Nashville Symphony’s Accelerando music education initiative – Bernard Ekwuazi, Isabel Evernham, Aalia Hanif, Emily Martinez, Cedric Quinn and Antonio Thai – closed out their first year in the program with a private recital for approximately 75 attendees on the evening of Monday, June 12, at Schermerhorn Symphony Center, performing works by Beethoven, Mozart, Bach, Poulenc, Telemann and more.

 

These six Middle Tennessee students in grades 7-10 were selected from a pool of nearly three dozen candidates to participate in the Nashville Symphony’s Accelerando program, which seeks to shape the future of American orchestras by providing opportunities for students of diverse ethnic backgrounds to pursue serious music study. For the past year, the students have received intensive instruction from Nashville Symphony musicians, along with other educational resources, including the opportunity to participate in master classes and performance juries.

Monday evening’s event also served as the introduction of Nissan as a corporate education partner for Accelerando. (Nissan press release available here.) Nissan’s vice president of marketing communications & media Jeremy Tucker opened the recital with brief remarks, discussing Nissan’s support for the Nashville Symphony’s full slate of music education programs and the importance of initiatives like Accelerando in shaping the future of orchestral music. Tucker closed his introduction by speaking directly to the six Accelerando students, encouraging them to build on their hard work and continue to make great music for the rest of their lives.

 

Prior to the recital, each student was presented a special Nissan backpack during a meet-and-greet with Vicki Smith, senior manager of corporate social responsibility for Nissan.

 

Press photos of the meet-and-greet and recital are available for download here. All photos should be credited to “Sally Bebawy/Nashville Symphony.”

 

The second class of Accelerando will be announced in August. Learn more about this groundbreaking program here.