Students from the Nashville Symphony’s Accelerando music education initiative – Angelina Bautista, Xayvion Davidson, Bernard Ekwuazi, Isabel Evernham, Aalia Hanif, Emily Martinez-Perez, Riya Mitra, Max Robinson and Antonio Thai – performed for nearly 150 attendees during their annual year-end recital on the evening of Monday, June 11, at Schermerhorn Symphony Center.

Nashville Symphony president and CEO Alan D. Valentine opened the event with welcoming remarks, followed by Rebecca Vest, vice president of Corporate Development and Social Responsibility for Nissan North America, Inc., who discussed Nissan’s support for Accelerando and praised the students’ hard work and dedication over the past year. A corporate education partner for all of the Nashville Symphony’s music education programs, Nissan had several representatives in attendance at the recital.

Launched in 2015, Accelerando seeks to shape the future of American orchestras by providing opportunities for students of diverse ethnic backgrounds to pursue serious music study. The nine students currently in the program were selected from an extensive pool of applicants, and each receives intensive instruction from Nashville Symphony musicians, along with other educational resources, including the opportunity to participate in master classes and performance juries.

Each year, Accelerando adds a new class of students to the program. The next class will be announced in August. Learn more about this groundbreaking program here.

Press photos from the evening are available for download here. All photos should be credited to “Sally Bebawy/Nashville Symphony.”